SMU Underwood Law Library Week 9

Oct 14 & Oct 16 7:30-11:15 (TOTAL HOURS: 63)

This week I decided to test a theory I had about automating part of the archival workflow. Specifically, I wanted to see if I could create a Python script to automatically sort all the text files generated by the Pen-to-Print software. I hadn’t touched Python since high school, but with some trial and error (and a little help from ChatGPT), I managed to write a fully functioning script that compiles and organizes the files into an Excel spreadsheet. The process took some patience, but the result has made the entire project run much more efficiently.

One of the finished archives in the basement about school integration in Dallas County

With no classes or meetings with Angela this week, most of my time was spent troubleshooting and refining the script. It was a week full of problem-solving (and more than a few moments of fussing at my computer like a real software engineer). Still, the uninterrupted time paid off, and it was deeply satisfying to see everything finally come together.