Peter Michel. (2005). Digitizing special collections: to boldly go where we've been before. Library Hi Tech, 23(3), 379-395. Retrieved May 1, 2011, from ABI/INFORM Global.
This article looks at issues in the digitization of academic special collections, both currently and historically. More and more digital libraries are being created, and where to special collections fall within this new trend? Libraries are seeking to put their potentially popular collections online, but is this because it is a popular trend or because it will help serve the needs of their users.
This article focuses on what UNLV has been doing with their special collections in terms of digitization. They have undertaken many different digitization projects, such as creating an Early Las Vegas project that is a gallery of photos, maps and manuscripts from the year Las Vegas was established. With technology ever changing, librarians need to constantly re-evaluate their goals and potentially switch their focus to fit any new needs, as well as help with funding.
Monday, February 28, 2011
Thursday, February 24, 2011
Deadsville
Tuesday night's shift at the Indiana Room desk was the slowest I have ever seen the Indiana Room. Although the desk is not usually very busy, there are generally a good amount of people in the room either studying quietly, using the microfilm, or researching in the genealogy and grant computers. On Tuesday there were never more than three (3) people in the room at a time, and two of those people were there the whole time I was (and they are regulars). I spent most of the time transcribing (which I finished on Wednesday! Such a relief).
The odd thing was, that although the room was the deadest I've ever encountered, I had one of the most frustrating phone calls in the whole time I've been interning at MCPL (although I guess 5 months is not very long - but I did work the main reference desk for 3 of those months! That has to count for something!). A woman called the Indiana Room wanting the number for the Bed Bath and Beyond store in Greenwood. She was already in an awful mood, and kept telling me not to take a really long time, and also launched into her awful experience she just had at the store she wanted the number for. She started insulting everyone under the age of 30 (of which I am one) because apparently we all think we know everything and are spoiled know-it-alls. While she is ranting, I Googled the number and when it doesn't show up there, I go to the stores website to do a store locater which usually has the phone number. Apparently Bed Bath and Beyond does not list their phone numbers online. I then have to try to put the phone down for a minute to go across the room to get the phone book. While I try to do so, the woman keeps going on about how she needs the number and not to take forever to get it. I was literally stuck listening to her rant about how long I was taking because she would not let me put the phone down to get the phone book! Finally I put her on hold, got the number for her and gave it to her, thinking that we would then hang-up and I could get back to my business and she could rant to the next person. Nope. That was not to be. She spent the next 5-10 minutes with her rant about Bed Bath and Beyond, as well as those horrible spoiled under-30's and how they don't have to work for anything. All I know is that I am under 30, and I was working very hard to keep my patience.
The odd thing was, that although the room was the deadest I've ever encountered, I had one of the most frustrating phone calls in the whole time I've been interning at MCPL (although I guess 5 months is not very long - but I did work the main reference desk for 3 of those months! That has to count for something!). A woman called the Indiana Room wanting the number for the Bed Bath and Beyond store in Greenwood. She was already in an awful mood, and kept telling me not to take a really long time, and also launched into her awful experience she just had at the store she wanted the number for. She started insulting everyone under the age of 30 (of which I am one) because apparently we all think we know everything and are spoiled know-it-alls. While she is ranting, I Googled the number and when it doesn't show up there, I go to the stores website to do a store locater which usually has the phone number. Apparently Bed Bath and Beyond does not list their phone numbers online. I then have to try to put the phone down for a minute to go across the room to get the phone book. While I try to do so, the woman keeps going on about how she needs the number and not to take forever to get it. I was literally stuck listening to her rant about how long I was taking because she would not let me put the phone down to get the phone book! Finally I put her on hold, got the number for her and gave it to her, thinking that we would then hang-up and I could get back to my business and she could rant to the next person. Nope. That was not to be. She spent the next 5-10 minutes with her rant about Bed Bath and Beyond, as well as those horrible spoiled under-30's and how they don't have to work for anything. All I know is that I am under 30, and I was working very hard to keep my patience.
Saturday, February 19, 2011
I need my own Microfilm reader...
During the course of my job, I spend a lot of time looking through the microfilms. There are some serious gems of randomness that I constantly find and I generally post them on the MCPL blog. This time I'll post something here too!
This is from an article in the New York Times from February 23, 1861. The title of the article is "Personal" and it has many little tidbits from around the country. Here is something about the best husband ever!
"A man living near Fentonville, (Wis.,) who shall be nameless for the sake of his children, was riding with his wife some weeks since, when, in crossing a railroad-track, he came in collision with a passing train of cars. His wife and both the horses were killed. At the time the wretch said that he did not care for the woman, but the railroad company would have to pay for his horses, and now he has brought suit to recover $400 damages, $200 of which he says is to remunerate him for the loss of the former and $200 for that of the latter."
What a gem.
This next bit from Monroe County is actually pretty sad,
"Miss Jones, of Monroe County, Indiana, was ruined a short time since by a scoundrel named Braham, who promised to marry her. She procured her seducer's arrest and made affidavit of the fact, but Braham introduced a witness who deposed that Miss Jones had told him that she had not been seduced under promise of marriage. The poor girl in her despair then said she would not disgrace her family, and calling for a glass of water suddenly emptied into it a deadly poison, and refusing all aid died in a few minutes. The people talk strongly of lynching Braham."
It's too bad that (almost) all the Monroe County newspapers from this time period were destroyed. I'm curious to know if they ended up lynching Braham...
This is from an article in the New York Times from February 23, 1861. The title of the article is "Personal" and it has many little tidbits from around the country. Here is something about the best husband ever!
"A man living near Fentonville, (Wis.,) who shall be nameless for the sake of his children, was riding with his wife some weeks since, when, in crossing a railroad-track, he came in collision with a passing train of cars. His wife and both the horses were killed. At the time the wretch said that he did not care for the woman, but the railroad company would have to pay for his horses, and now he has brought suit to recover $400 damages, $200 of which he says is to remunerate him for the loss of the former and $200 for that of the latter."
What a gem.
This next bit from Monroe County is actually pretty sad,
"Miss Jones, of Monroe County, Indiana, was ruined a short time since by a scoundrel named Braham, who promised to marry her. She procured her seducer's arrest and made affidavit of the fact, but Braham introduced a witness who deposed that Miss Jones had told him that she had not been seduced under promise of marriage. The poor girl in her despair then said she would not disgrace her family, and calling for a glass of water suddenly emptied into it a deadly poison, and refusing all aid died in a few minutes. The people talk strongly of lynching Braham."
It's too bad that (almost) all the Monroe County newspapers from this time period were destroyed. I'm curious to know if they ended up lynching Braham...
Wednesday, February 16, 2011
The family who's purpose in life is to drive me crazy.
In between helping patrons at the desk, I have been focusing on the man who was the editor and owner of the Bloomington Republican newspaper during the civil war. I was not able to do any more transcribing when I was working the desk - the computers there just did not want to load the newspaper images, so I had to take a step back. I started looking into Clement Whitaker. Finding him in Bloomington in the 1860 census was easy enough, as was finding out where he was born as well as where he was in 1850 and 1870. I even found some of his marriage records. However, he was not in the 1880 census - but his family was. Naturally, I started looking for his death records, while simultaneously researching more into what happened to his wife and children. I wanted to follow his family tree. Both searches were futile. There was no record of Clement's death, no divorce record, no cemetery record, no nothing on what happened to Clement Whitaker after the 1870 census. It was driving me crazy. I then also could not find a single trace of his wife or three sons after the 1880 census. This family just fell off the map. I searched for hours, enlisting the help and advice from any librarian that came across my path, and nothing panned out.
Dirk, one of the librarians at MCPL that does some shifts in the Indiana Room, did what I did not even consider. He googled Clement. What a shocking notion! There was one record that popped up, and it did give a date for when he died, but there were no accompanying sources, and the site seemed a little unreliable. I had given up. This family had been put on this earth in the 1800's to make me insane a century and a half later. All of this happened yesterday during my shift. I spent about four hours, when not helping patrons, looking into this family and was running around in circles, spending a lot of time sighing and putting my hands on my hips - I guess I thought the Superman pose would get the brain juices circulating.
And then it happened. The revelation. Unfortunately (or fortunately) the Superman pose had nothing to do with it. Just my long suffering father who has to listen to my rambling on the phone.
I realized that all of the dates on the googled website were correct, so why didn't I just look at the newspaper following his supposed date of death to look for an obituary or death notice. It would only take a few minutes, and would be another thing to cross off of my list of where I looked. Of course, this revelation did not occur until 10 minutes after my shift ended and the library closed. I had to patiently wait until my shift today to act on my revelation. And there it was. A short write up about the death of Mr. Clement Whitaker in 1873 at the age of 47. There was not much information given, just that he seemed to have died of old age, or just plain sickness. No mention of his family, but I did not really need his family's information for my purposes as they had nothing to do with the newspaper. I do, however, still consider Mrs. Whitaker and her three sons to be my nemeses. It is amazing how such a small thing such as when a man died in the 1870's can become such a large issue. It is also amazing how relieved I felt once I finally found his death notice. I feel as though a large chapter of my life has been closed, when really it was only a chapter about a day long. And I owe it all to my dad, who probably cursed himself for answering the phone while trying to remodel the bathroom.
Dirk, one of the librarians at MCPL that does some shifts in the Indiana Room, did what I did not even consider. He googled Clement. What a shocking notion! There was one record that popped up, and it did give a date for when he died, but there were no accompanying sources, and the site seemed a little unreliable. I had given up. This family had been put on this earth in the 1800's to make me insane a century and a half later. All of this happened yesterday during my shift. I spent about four hours, when not helping patrons, looking into this family and was running around in circles, spending a lot of time sighing and putting my hands on my hips - I guess I thought the Superman pose would get the brain juices circulating.
And then it happened. The revelation. Unfortunately (or fortunately) the Superman pose had nothing to do with it. Just my long suffering father who has to listen to my rambling on the phone.
I realized that all of the dates on the googled website were correct, so why didn't I just look at the newspaper following his supposed date of death to look for an obituary or death notice. It would only take a few minutes, and would be another thing to cross off of my list of where I looked. Of course, this revelation did not occur until 10 minutes after my shift ended and the library closed. I had to patiently wait until my shift today to act on my revelation. And there it was. A short write up about the death of Mr. Clement Whitaker in 1873 at the age of 47. There was not much information given, just that he seemed to have died of old age, or just plain sickness. No mention of his family, but I did not really need his family's information for my purposes as they had nothing to do with the newspaper. I do, however, still consider Mrs. Whitaker and her three sons to be my nemeses. It is amazing how such a small thing such as when a man died in the 1870's can become such a large issue. It is also amazing how relieved I felt once I finally found his death notice. I feel as though a large chapter of my life has been closed, when really it was only a chapter about a day long. And I owe it all to my dad, who probably cursed himself for answering the phone while trying to remodel the bathroom.
Sunday, February 13, 2011
Article #3: Ivory Towers
Allen, S. M. (2003). Special Collections Outside the Ivory Tower. Library Trends, 52(1), 60-68. Retrieved from EBSCOhost.
Contrary to public thought, special collections are not only in academic libraries. They can also be museums, public libraries, state and national libraries, and independent libraries. These such libraries hold some of the greatest and more valuable special collections out there. This article focuses on special collections in independent research libraries.
Independent research libraries have no affiliations, are private, and are not-for-profit. Often their collections are of national or international significance, rather than just being for local use. In 1972, fifteen such libraries formed the Independent Research Libraries Association (IRLA). The creation of this association was in response to previous threats to funds for independent research libraries. Currently there are 18 member libraries of the IRLA. These libraries focus their collections to support research rather than an academic curriculum. Funding and visibility are the two main challenges that these libraries face in the coming years in order to stay alive.
Contrary to public thought, special collections are not only in academic libraries. They can also be museums, public libraries, state and national libraries, and independent libraries. These such libraries hold some of the greatest and more valuable special collections out there. This article focuses on special collections in independent research libraries.
Independent research libraries have no affiliations, are private, and are not-for-profit. Often their collections are of national or international significance, rather than just being for local use. In 1972, fifteen such libraries formed the Independent Research Libraries Association (IRLA). The creation of this association was in response to previous threats to funds for independent research libraries. Currently there are 18 member libraries of the IRLA. These libraries focus their collections to support research rather than an academic curriculum. Funding and visibility are the two main challenges that these libraries face in the coming years in order to stay alive.
Thursday, February 10, 2011
Long time, no blog
I can't believe how long it has been since my last blog. Time is going by amazingly fast. I've got to get better at remembering to write here!
Since I last blogged, I have finally chosen my research topic to work on for the Monroe County timeline. Christine wanted us to focus on something or someone from the Civil War due to a grant that we have until April. I kept waffling between a prominent family or a business. When I finally sat down and looked at the list of research areas that has been compiled for the librarians to choose from, I narrowed it down to the Bloomington Republican newspaper, or one of the (in my opinion) more interesting families. The Lilly Library here at IU, has several original copies of the Bloomington Republican and has scanned and emailed the pages to Christine. After looking over one of the pages, I decided that the newspaper would be my topic to research. I think it offers a more varied research venue than a family would have. This way I can research the building it was housed it, the editor of the paper during the war, and also use the paper itself for additional research. The concept of an actual Republican or Democrat newspaper was very foreign to me before starting this internship, so that was also a factor in my final choice.
Right now, I am slowly transcribing the paper. The Lilly had four dates from the Civil War, and I am working on November 1, 1861. Transcribing is a new experience for me - there are so many things you need to consider while you are doing it, especially in the old newspapers. There are misspellings aplenty, major grammar errors, upside down letters, words that I don't even know what they mean or if they are just so badly misspelled that I can't figure out what they are. As the transcriber, you need to make your own judgement calls in those situations and keep it consistent. I think I finally got the hang of it, and I am really enjoying reading this 150 year old newspaper. The odd organization (really the lack thereof), the letters from soldiers detailing their companies movements and various battles, advertisements - the newspapers from so long ago are totally different from what we have today.
One letter from a soldier (at least that is who I think these updates are from, maybe the paper had people traveling with the companies as correspondents - definitely something I'll need to research), detailed the movements of the 22d Indiana. He also noted that the "boys" would steal whatever they needed from whatever town they were currently residing near. They would take cows, pigs, chickens, etc - and in fact the writer himself had just stolen someone's chicken the night before. He said "all's fair in war." Another correspondent detailed a major battle, in which the Union quite destroyed the "rebels" - only 5 Union soldiers died, whereas 600 rebels died. He wrote about the battle in Missouri for three full columns, and went on to note towards the end in a very small paragraph, that the soldiers (Union) were so angry at the townspeople for not joining their side that they burned down houses, and destroyed peoples belongings. This was said so nonchalantly and matter-of-fact that it really struck me. The senseless violence and destruction to the townspeople, and only because they would not betray their state. On the flip side, the people were also not fighting for the Confederacy, and did nothing to deserve their homes to be destroyed.
I am very glad that I chose to research the newspaper, rather than a family. I am even more glad that the Lilly Library actually had copies of the paper from the Civil War times - they are the only ones left from that time. It is such an interesting topic to study, especially in that time period.
Since I last blogged, I have finally chosen my research topic to work on for the Monroe County timeline. Christine wanted us to focus on something or someone from the Civil War due to a grant that we have until April. I kept waffling between a prominent family or a business. When I finally sat down and looked at the list of research areas that has been compiled for the librarians to choose from, I narrowed it down to the Bloomington Republican newspaper, or one of the (in my opinion) more interesting families. The Lilly Library here at IU, has several original copies of the Bloomington Republican and has scanned and emailed the pages to Christine. After looking over one of the pages, I decided that the newspaper would be my topic to research. I think it offers a more varied research venue than a family would have. This way I can research the building it was housed it, the editor of the paper during the war, and also use the paper itself for additional research. The concept of an actual Republican or Democrat newspaper was very foreign to me before starting this internship, so that was also a factor in my final choice.
Right now, I am slowly transcribing the paper. The Lilly had four dates from the Civil War, and I am working on November 1, 1861. Transcribing is a new experience for me - there are so many things you need to consider while you are doing it, especially in the old newspapers. There are misspellings aplenty, major grammar errors, upside down letters, words that I don't even know what they mean or if they are just so badly misspelled that I can't figure out what they are. As the transcriber, you need to make your own judgement calls in those situations and keep it consistent. I think I finally got the hang of it, and I am really enjoying reading this 150 year old newspaper. The odd organization (really the lack thereof), the letters from soldiers detailing their companies movements and various battles, advertisements - the newspapers from so long ago are totally different from what we have today.
One letter from a soldier (at least that is who I think these updates are from, maybe the paper had people traveling with the companies as correspondents - definitely something I'll need to research), detailed the movements of the 22d Indiana. He also noted that the "boys" would steal whatever they needed from whatever town they were currently residing near. They would take cows, pigs, chickens, etc - and in fact the writer himself had just stolen someone's chicken the night before. He said "all's fair in war." Another correspondent detailed a major battle, in which the Union quite destroyed the "rebels" - only 5 Union soldiers died, whereas 600 rebels died. He wrote about the battle in Missouri for three full columns, and went on to note towards the end in a very small paragraph, that the soldiers (Union) were so angry at the townspeople for not joining their side that they burned down houses, and destroyed peoples belongings. This was said so nonchalantly and matter-of-fact that it really struck me. The senseless violence and destruction to the townspeople, and only because they would not betray their state. On the flip side, the people were also not fighting for the Confederacy, and did nothing to deserve their homes to be destroyed.
I am very glad that I chose to research the newspaper, rather than a family. I am even more glad that the Lilly Library actually had copies of the paper from the Civil War times - they are the only ones left from that time. It is such an interesting topic to study, especially in that time period.
Sunday, February 6, 2011
Article #2: Genealogy Research
Davidson, R. I. (2004). Providing Genealogy Research Services in Public Libraries. Public Libraries, 43(3), 142-143. Retrieved from LISA.
"It is a challenge for librarians, as information professionals, to provide themselves with the
knowledge and ability to assist this special client group in the library." This article presents case study of the Palm Beach County Library System. In 2002, the library system added three new services to aid researchers in genealogy research: Gale Publishing's "Ancestry Plus" database; an interactive "Genealogy Research @ your library" website; and an email question-response service on the Genealogy Research website. Prior to this, the only recourse researchers had was using the reference librarians at the desk, and a separate serials section librarian that performed obituary searches. The Genealogy Research website receives about 700 "hits" monthly, and the library system averages 20 email requests for genealogy research per month.
The genealogy industry has become a $200 million/year industry, with more and more people being interested in such research. Many novice historians and researchers search inaccurately, and many genealogy information providers are having to review the ethics of their services due to potential identity theft, invasion of privacy and misinformation.
"It is a challenge for librarians, as information professionals, to provide themselves with the
knowledge and ability to assist this special client group in the library." This article presents case study of the Palm Beach County Library System. In 2002, the library system added three new services to aid researchers in genealogy research: Gale Publishing's "Ancestry Plus" database; an interactive "Genealogy Research @ your library" website; and an email question-response service on the Genealogy Research website. Prior to this, the only recourse researchers had was using the reference librarians at the desk, and a separate serials section librarian that performed obituary searches. The Genealogy Research website receives about 700 "hits" monthly, and the library system averages 20 email requests for genealogy research per month.
The genealogy industry has become a $200 million/year industry, with more and more people being interested in such research. Many novice historians and researchers search inaccurately, and many genealogy information providers are having to review the ethics of their services due to potential identity theft, invasion of privacy and misinformation.
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