Final Thoughts about the internship

I am looking forward to the end of this internship. I have worked harder than on any other class so far. But I am taking with me more than I can even begin to identify. The Long Branch PL Local History Room is a work in process but it has the strong foundations already in place. This means that I had the amazing opportunity to explore solutions within an defined structure which provided grounding but allowed me to push the boundaries because there was not yet a rigid standardization of process. There is a very complete list of policies and procedures for using the room - but an evolving set of standards for processing the collections. I feel that I was part of the development of the standards by virtue of being one of the first people to document a collection and create a Finding Aid.

I will be creating a pathfinder to the collection files on the computer so they can be accessed and updated after I am gone. The Elsalyn Palmisano Collection is an active collection and will be continually changing. The files will need to be updated periodically to reflect this.

We are also going to combine all the files that make up the Elsalyn Palmisano collection and create one file for Tonya Badillo who will create a .pdf file. This file will then be linked to the web page so that the finding aids will be available online.

Future volunteers will need a copy of the pathfinder and the steps to follow to update existing files or to process a new collection and document it according to the Local History Room new standards. I will create some kind of instruction manual.

*****

This is my last post - I would like to thank the Long Branch Public Library for being the host for my SCILS internship. Ingrid Bruck supported all my educational efforts throughout the past year. Francine Marks supported the entire internship by providing an environment that is technically top notch. Supplies, cataloging, computer support, whatever - we asked for it, we got it. And finally I would like to thank my mentor and supervisor, Elsalyn Palmisano, for not only agreeing to give up her time to be with me in the Local History Room, but also providing guidance, advice, training, wisdom and experience above and beyond what was expected. I not only will finish this internship with a wealth of new experience but I will have a large portfolio of material that I have created and that Elsalyn has encouraged me to collect. In even the tiniest things, Elsalyn finds a lesson and provides her intern with a toolkit that travels far beyond the walls of the Local History Room.

Always changing, never ending

At NJLA (4/30/08) I attended a workshop "Trash or Treasure" presented by Chad Leinaweaver (Newark PL) and Tim Corlis (Rutgers Special Collections). Tim spoke mostly about mold and the ruinous affect it can have on your collections. Don't accept moldy items which can infect the rest of your collection. Tim provided the terminology for a mold policy that Elsalyn P wrote down and presented to the LBPL director who will then go to the Board of Trustees. If the Board adopts the policy, the library has a position to take with all future donors. If a gift is even suspected of containing mold, will the donor provide funding so that measures can be taken immediately to remove the mold? If not, the library can refuse a gift unless they deem the gift valuable enough to use library funds to restore item.

New books being processed - cataloged, stamped and displayed.....older books being moved to shelves from display areas and duplicates removed from shelves (remember from an earlier post, not necessarily removed from the library).

In March I posted that the library director and volunteer consultant went to investigate the old photographs from Long Branch that were to be auctioned. The Board agreed to fund $175 - unfortunately we later found out that the winning bid was $185. Too bad! But worse the scuttle butt about the pictures is that the purchaser only wanted the frames. So upon taking the newly purchased antiquities home, the new owner removed the photographs from the frames and threw them away. Lessons learned? Make your interests known when purchasing a collection - you never know when the competition is competing for something completely different. Also, if possible, have some flexibility with price. Would $25 more dollars have made any difference?

Local History Room Transformation

Pre- Internship

Filing cabinets were unmarked, several collections were housed in boxes on the floor. There was no order to the collection of material, just years of accumulation.




Post - Internship

Vertical file collections are displayed neatly throughout the room. Boxes that were previously full of material are now stored in the attic ready to be reused. The Local History room has a good supply of archival material - clear sleeves, acid free folders, boxes and Hollinger style boxes. The room is well setup to process additional collections most of which are stored in the tall metal cabinets.




Filing cabinets are labeled with the name of the collection, binders hold the finding aids for the collections and title pages clearly identify each collection in the binder. The drawers originally had no identification of any kind. Now the drawers are well marked.

Parting Shots

In January, the Local History Room was full of boxes of materials.

Now the boxes are empty and the material has been processed into vertical files. It is the Elsalyn Palmisano Collection of Monmouth County and New Jersey

April activities more than slow budding of flowers

Okay – I am continuing this journal from my last entry as if no time as passed because it hasn’t. I just had to get that first part posted because I am so busy I can barely stop to keep the record of what I am doing but it is important to do. And I must get my thoughts down before more things happen….because they do keep happening. Just when we think the path is straight we get thrown a curve ball.

Space was a big curve ball in the previous entry. More weeding required, more creative thinking, more use of space “up top”. So Elsalyn requested a step ladder with thoughts towards how we will reach this crows nest of storage.

Another realization for me is that new books and donations are constantly coming. This is a dynamic environment. New books are cataloged and then put on display a top the filing cabinets so they can be “seen” before being relegated to the shelves. New book on New Jersey Baseball being ordered (2 copies – one for circulating). Very important to have this book as the author has been asked to speak at the annual Friends Dinner in June. The books will likely be signed by the author at that time. Also purchased the 2 Volume Encyclopedia of New Jersey. 2 copies also purchased of new book “Murders in Monmouth” and “Railroads of Monmouth County”. I went to hear the author of “Murders in Monmouth” speak at a local Borders store. He is incredibly friendly, works at the Monmouth County Library in the Art Dept, did his research at the Monmouth County Archives where I got my start and he is very eager to do speaking engagements as he loves to speak about his book. What could be better? Line up a program! I am finding the network of local authors is very small and very friendly. Everyone knows each other! Helen Pike, a lecturer at SCILS (in Communication) and author of several local books, did a great presentation last month at Monmouth Genealogy Society on getting published. I digress here. Suffice to say that my time in the Local History room is having benefits I never dreamed of.

Back to work.

Other items coming in need donation sheets – these items are valuable, or old, and become the property of the library after donation. We have to decide whether we can keep the item on display or store it away. If it is stored, how do we keep track of it? That is getting ahead of my internship but something Elsalyn and I speak about regularly. At a minimum, the location of the item is written on the donation sheet so we have some idea of where things are.

One recent donation was the picture of the first female postmistress of Long Branch – Ida Scholes or Showles. The date is unknown but the roads are dirt, the carriage is horse drawn and the clothing seems turn of the century. I’m sure there are web sites that use clothing to date pictures…..I’ll have to take a look in my spare time….. The interesting anecdote about this donation is that Elsalyn thought this woman looked familiar and she went rummaging in another collection of photos and pulled out a group photo of several postmasters and postmistresses. Elsalyn had remembered this photo existed somewhere in the Local History room and made the connection. Without a consultant/librarian overseeing a collection, this type of “connecting of the dots” would not happen. These two photos that link together (but have different spellings of the name and require further research) might never have been pulled together.

We have a second Microfilm machine now. 2 researchers can be researching 100 years of newspaper history at one time. This is great because we have a diligent volunteer who is always on one machine…..other people can get some viewing time now too.

Upcoming events. I am scheduled to attend a free all day workshop offered by NJSL and run by NEDCC on Preservation. This fits in perfectly with the internship. Last October I took the workshop on Disaster Planning, also run by the same group. It was a great day so I am looking forward to this upcoming event in May. I am also looking forward to the History and Preservation Section programs at NJLA. Of course, I am also looking forward to the Reference Section programs. My loyalty is split since I am the Student at Large on the Reference Section Board and I am interested in both sections events.

Other Local events that are coming up should be attended by the Local History Librarian. My time at LB as a volunteer may or may not come to end but someone should attend events held, for example, by the Long Branch Historical Association. The Slocum Murder evening program will be April 30^th and will be at Boro Hall in LB. We usually get a representative from LBHA coming to the library’s programs, so reciprocation is important.

Another thing that would have been nice for me to do and should be done by the local history librarian is putting a tidbit of history in the local paper each month. While I was working on Outreach I had to get news about the library’s programs in to the newspapers – I could have taken advantage of the time and maybe pulled some local history information. But that is not part of my internship and there wasn’t time in my work hours to cover the research. Also, it might have required that the local paper and I setup a schedule and set aside some space for the “monthly history corner” or some such space. But certainly food for thought for future work and publicity possibilities.

Cataloging problem that is a holdover from the conversion to SIRSI system. An anonymous MARC record has as many as 50 sub entries – books that couldn’t be easily converted because a MARC record didn’t exist that books could be attached to. It costs $10 to create a new MARC record so many of these unique reference books were relegated to the anonymous MARC with I’m sure the intent to resolve it once everything was up and running. But guess what – no one ever had time to go back, find the books, find the records, recatalog them as appropriate. So if a patron comes in looking for a book on Healey Poetry for example, the Long Branch copy is not in the catalog. It is not searchable by title – but they own it. And if someone could pull all the books in this limbo status and fix them it would be great. Another job for a volunteer……

Glassine folder from Gaylord. These are archival folders for photographs. We have a pretty good supply of materials in the Local History Room thanks to the forethought of Elsalyn. She has a good relationship with the staff at LB so asks for supplies whenever she needs them.

“Artifacts” - Long Branch Marathon T Shirts were in archival box. NOT the sort of thing the Local History has room for. Great material for a display since the next marathon is coming up. We gave these T Shirts to the director and kept any paper record of the marathon for the collection.

I thought I was going into April with my foot on the brake....

Journal – finishing up March moving into April and some serious decision making

The internship is getting harder – or perhaps more thought provoking is a better way to say it. It is an iterative process. Revisiting decisions and changing them when appropriate. If I was forced to stick with all the previous decisions I might have been frozen by fear of making mistake. But in fact we made decisions as necessary to move forward, discovered new things and found better ways to describe, order, label or organize the information. An onion or artichoke of a project.

One change has become clear that could only have occurred when we reached this point of filing away all the boxes of paper. We don’t have enough room. We need more filing cabinets to store the collections but there is no room, nor are there any spare filing cabinets around. Elsalyn is rapidly rethinking the design of the room and her collections. Should Library Archives remain downstairs in Reference and what other material might be combined there? How can the collections be logically organized so they are easily accessed and described so people can find things easily.? We are mainly concerned with the materials in the vertical files. Material that will be housed separately in acid free boxes will definitely remain in the Local History Room. But perhaps the Long Branch Library and City of Long Branch part of the Elsalyn Palmisano Collection will be moved to filing cabinets in the Reference area, freeing up space in the local history room for some expansion of the Monmouth County and New Jersey Collection. This makes sense since the Library archives are stored in Reference and the newspaper clipping files of Long Branch are stored in Reference.

We’ve been doing a little peeking at some of the other collections that need processing. BIG MISTAKE! So tempting to take things out and look for treasures. This material has been stored for years and never processed. It is all manuscript or photographic material with a few unrelated books thrown in. Future volunteer work for my spare time!

Speaking of unrelated: We have seen the importance of a clear mission statement several times in the past few weeks. Both with recent donations and with some of the items we uncovered while exploring the older treasures. You can’t keep everything and you can’t accept everything that is offered. I’ve mentioned before that books were sold that weren’t part of the mission of the special collection and this money was used to improve the room. As mentioned above we have a space problem. You want to keep anything that improves the collection and maintains the focus of Long Branch, Monmouth County, New Jersey. But it is imperative that ownership of an item is transferred from the donor so the library has every right to sell anything that doesn’t enhance the collection. Sometimes duplicate items provide an opportunity to select the better item, antique books are fun but might be better appreciated in a different collection. Photographs need special care – too many unknown photos just create a storage problem.

And more iterations of naming conventions. We are making more decisions about folder titles and even about the best way to go about quickly labeling several hundred folders. Teamwork helps. One person reads and the other one types. It is much quicker than handwriting a list by yourself. And more fun and interactive. The fun begins when the “discussions ensue”.

One thing EP mentioned that would be important to store away for future reference is her hindsight shared with me the other day. The Elsalyn Palmisano Collection covers all of Monmouth County and all of New Jersey. Instead of creating folders as we uncover material and wondering if we already had a folder for this subject or geographic area, EP would have made a list of municipalities and counties in the region and automatically setup a folder for each one. This way we would know we have a folder for any material and any new material would already have a folder. These folders would be part of the Finding Aid and Authority List and would not have to added later. The prework would have saved some effort later. But we didn’t think of it.

Seeing the forest through the trees.....

Another busy day – March 10, 2008

More labels, more sorting of the collection into logical files. Papers everywhere on the table, slips of paper on each pile identifying the folder title. Logically trying to get the folders into the drawers where they might eventually reside. This makes it easier to find things, see the space remaining, continually revisit the breakdown of the series within the collection.

For example, the collection of Monmouth County and New Jersey History has already been broken out into an Administration series which includes all kinds of information on special collections around New Jersey. This is a “how to” collection with reference material from places like Rutgers Special Collection and Newark Public Library. It is very interesting to see different collections and different write ups of these collections.

Also, the Long Branch specific material has been broken out into its own series. It has turned out to be a serious collection of material so didn’t fit into a folder or two within Monmouth County. This evolution of design happened after exploring the material and examining the detail of the content. This would not have been possible by just going by the original collection description. Sometimes material is well organized and folders already exist and just need to be examined for paperclips and perhaps re-housed in acid free folders. And sometimes a collection might be huge, containing many thousands of items and the process I’ve been going through with Elsalyn P might take years.

Some of the material in the folders may need repair. Folded manuscripts should be opened if possible and stored that way to limit the wear on the folded section of the paper. Newspapers should be copied onto acid free paper if possible. Put the name and date on the paper if it is known. Its not always possible to get this information from a scrap of newsprint. Whether you throw away the original once you have a copy is a matter of policy generally. In our case we are only removing duplicate information – and even duplicate information may not be thrown away. It may be given to other repositories or even to the reference department for their archives. Every item is reviewed.

While sorting the material into folders, we are also identifying as we go the authority file or index. We are doing this on slips of paper also. If this collection was hundreds of boxes in size, this solution would not work. I think a laptop on the table with entries made immediately would be a solution or perhaps index cards that are constantly updated and reshuffled according to changes. In hindsight, I think I would have been comfortable with index cards with this collection, wrapping a big rubber band around the stack each night, everything sorted and tagged, ready for the next visit.

I had an interesting opportunity to witness the proposed accession of some material for the LB Special Collection. The director received an offer from a customer who knew of an auction of some material and had put in a silent bid for the grouping. The director asked Elsalyn Palmisano, consultant for the Special Collection, and the librarian responsible for the collection what their thoughts were on the topic. Elsalyn immediately posed, in writing, several questions about appraisal.

1) Had anyone actually seen the photographs that were being offered?

2) Do we know who is in the photos?

3) What is the size of each of the photos?

4) What is the condition of the photos and the frames?

5) Are they part of a bigger collection?

6) Where would the money come from to purchase these photos?

7) Where would we put them?

My initial reaction was kind of negative since the walls in the room are full and I couldn’t conceive of how we’d store these additions but Elsalyn’s logical questions clarified the situation. First, if we know who these are pictures of they become more valuable to library. We can do an exhibit, we can place them properly in the collection, we can confirm our mission statement and confirm that they fit within our collection policy. Size is an issue if we have to store the items and condition is imperative to know. If the material is damaged then how much money will it cost to repair them? Conservation can be very costly – do we have the budget to purchase AND preserve these items? This ties into the budget line question and where exactly would we get the money from. Is there money available in the budget? The question about whether the photos were part of a bigger collection is interesting. It raises other questions about provenance and rights to ownership along with possibilities that there might be more pictures we would eventually consider purchasing. So many issue stemming from one seemingly simple question.

In the end, the Board makes the decision to buy or not. They must approve the expenditure so all the answers to the above questions must be provided to them so they make their decision with full knowledge of the situation.

Another discussion item – we sometimes change our minds but its fun to talk through a problem and come up with a solution. Anyway, we have several very famous women who have their own folder of materials. Dorothy Parker (annual event in Long Branch is Dorothy Parker Day), Alice Paul, Mary Philbrook. We also have one very famous rock musician, Bruce Springsteen. The question is, do I file them under their last name or first name? Right now I’ve put them under their first name with a See Also entry requirement by last name. But this may change…..

Ok - more stuff on what to keep and what to remove.
Duplicates - what is retention policy of non unique material? For Long Branch the policy is two for the file (in case one gets lost) and one for an exhibit. If you have more than three of anything you consider tossing it or bartering it with another organization. Or even giving it to another organization.

What about collecting outside the policy? Maybe another repository can use it - dont' keep anything that doesn't fit nicely into your collection otherwise you'll wind up with no "collection" but a mass of unrelated material.

All these empty boxes - we must be finished, right? No Way!!!


We have just begun to fight! Or rather, redistribute the stuff. We are now seriously creating the series, folders and thinking how they might be organized, eliminating duplicate material and tossing irrelevant stuff. Everything was out on the table - what a mess! But it was neat as a pin when we left for the day....Elsalyn is very tidy!

19th Century Photographers - March 2008 Exhibit

The notice to the left has been distributed to local newspapers and the listserv of several history organizations. I created this publicity notice using a photograph that Gary Saretzky provided - it is a sample of the 1870 - 1900 photography that he specializes in, particularly the work of the Pach brothers.

The books and photographs came from the Local History Room - the photographs were donated by George R. Moss Jr, who was the Monmouth County Historian at one time.

Elsalyn Palmisano is responsible for a lot of these materials becoming available through this Special Collections room at the Long Branch Public Library.

March Display

March exhibit needs to be created asap. The February exhibit came down, with little fanfare as the author that we highlighted in the exhibit was a no show. Very disappointing since I'd done the publicity etc.

Gary Saretzky will do a presentation on 19th century photographers in Monmouth County and the display will incorporate the books and photos the library has in the local history room. Apparently we actually have some of the Pach photos.

Getting to the Heart of the Matter

Due to so many other priorities, I have been putting my time in the Local History room in smaller increments – no big blocks of time. This does mean that I have to re-establish myself mentally each time I sit down to pick up the task I was last working on. 4 hours on Monday, 2 hours on Wed and Thurs before starting my real job, stopping in on Friday to clean up and organize for the following week. I wonder if you work full time in an archive do you also have distractions? Emergency accessions to address, reference questions to field, perhaps online updates or conversions etc. How often do you get a full 8 hours everyday of the week? Forces some organization and documentation at the very least. I was reminded recently by my supervisor of certain key things that I have been told, learned, have witnessed or otherwise have picked up over the course of the past few weeks. I need to express them here in order to solidify my understanding and clarify that I understand the technique or concept.

Very early in the semester we wrapped up some old decrepit ledgers that were very heavy, very dusty with rot and very awkward sitting on a needed low lying shelf. With used brown paper from book deliveries, we wrapped and identified each ledger with the name of the ledger, the dates they covered, the donor of the object and then hoisted them up on top of the book shelves, label information displayed outward! This gets them out of the way, the dust enclosed but still provides visibility for researchers and donors if they come looking. These items are considered oversized and therefore would not usually be stored with the rest of the collection as they take up too much valuable space.

I was also given several pairs of rubber gloves. In the course of our work so far I haven’t had to use them. But they are an important part of an archivist’s tool kit. You don’t want to pass mold amongst your collection, you don’t want to touch delicate objects with perhaps sweating hands etc. A pair of cotton clothes would also be a part of the tool kit but I don’t have those yet.

I am registered for an all day preservation workshop on May 6th which will provide more information on the handling of delicate and decaying items. This program is funded by the NJSL, with the Northeast Document Center providing the instructor and materials. I attended a similar program in October 2007 on Conservation, also provided free of charge by the State Library and it was a fantastic program. I am looking forward to another fact filled day.

A preservation related topic is the marking of items for ownership or security purposes. We have an stamp (ink pad) that reads “Long Branch Local History Room”. I would stamp certain items belonging to the room – however manuscripts and books should not be stamped as their value would be affected by the marking. Books that were sold to raise funding for the local history room would have commanded a lower price if Local History Room was stamped or, heaven forbid, DISCARD.

Have I mentioned Donor files already? Not sure. Anyway, I have created files by year of the Deed of Accession documents for all gifts. This provides immediate access to source, provenance information, perhaps some needed descriptive information. It would be nice to cross reference the files by subject I think but that is a task for another day.

Postcard album is complete – a copy of each page was made for security purposes. A listing of some kind which is called an inventory and takes different forms depending on the media is necessary not only for research but also for security. A postcard, purchased at an antique fair, would have resale value and therefore needs to be identified in case it goes missing.

Main Collection I am working on are the Elsalyn Palmisano Collection – Vertical Files of Monmouth County and New Jersey information. This collection is divided into two series: Administration – this includes information of the working of the LB Local History Room. Included in this series are folders on local history rooms from all over the state. Monmouth County/New Jersey Collection – materials collected over the years which include newspaper articles, original documents, pamphlets and other materials such as pictures. I am not far enough into the arranging to determine dates or descriptive information. But suffice to say the vertical files will fill several filing cabinets. Some material currently in the Palmisano collection will be transferred to the Long Branch library archives. And other items will be cross referenced under several subject headings.

This leads me to something I learned on Feb 25th that I hadn’t understood before. Many items fall under several subject headings. How do you file them so researchers can find them? You certainly don’t want to copy them and file them in multiple places. Instead your Folder list or Authority File will contain entries which actually contain nothing, much like the yellow pages in the phone book. You will point to the location of the information under these “false entries”. “See” and “see also” entries are devices which prevent duplication or confusion. “see” means there is nothing in the entry but it is a valid search topic. “see also” means there may be some information under the original search topic and there may be more related information somewhere else that the researcher should be informed of.

Be consistent in naming of folders. Last name, first name of person, abbreviation or full name of repetitive information. When to exclude repetitive information. Examples – exclude Monmouth County from all folder titles but include New Jersey for anything outside of Monmouth County. Closed Files – no further additions will occur to the collection. This is usually due to the death of the creator of the collection. Open files – ongoing collection. Each year additional items may be added as the subject is active or creator is still adding to the collection. This affects the description of the collection of course. The Scope and Content can’t be updated each time a single item is added. The description of the collection should allow for growth and be written in such a way that the Finding Aid isn’t outdated immediately. This topic was covered in my archives and manuscripts class. Use of present tense for a collection that is currently active – eventually the collection may become closed. Do you update the Finding Aid? Folder titles at least should be closed, particularly if dates are inclusive. Add another folder, numbering increased by letters so that folders can be inserted when new material is added.

The Long Branch Library provides a budget line for materials purchased for the Local History Room. Some items are non circulating like the New Jersey Encyclopedia and some items are cataloged as circulating such as popular easy readers like the Arcadia Book. The Arcadia Books publish local subjects written by local authors and have in depth coverage of a particular subject. Many people like these books.

Donations are made to the local history room in memory of benefactors or family members, etc. A recent gift of $30 enabled the library to purchase a local history book and the stipulation was that a nameplate be inserted in the book identifying the donor or the person the book was honoring. This would be a non circulating book on display in the Local History Room. The catalog entry would/would not include the name of the donor???

Weeding? I think I covered this earlier. Space is at a premium so duplicate books, out of date books are removed so that new purchases and donations can be added to the collection.

Feb 13

Have had a whirlwind of activity at the Local History room. Monday I put in 8 ½ hours and really made a dent in the project. Up to now I’ve been doing sort of preparatory work which has been interesting but not challenging – that is, I’ve been setting up display binders, creating title pages, creating labels for file drawers, labels for folders, creating a flyer for the Local History room etc. Lots of the work has been using my new skills on the computer and paralleling my current job (and my other class) which I really like. I wonder how manual these same tasks might have been if I didn’t have these new skills? Oh well, it doesn’t matter now. But I see there are benefits and drawbacks to working and interning in the same place – certainly I have free rein with the copy machine, the computer, the color printer but would a visiting intern have to pay for access?

I completed the photograph binder which reflects the changes over the past few years to the Local History Room. Similar work effort as postcards – title page, printed copies of the photos in slip sheets rather than the original photos – however, instead of documenting Long Branch history through the old glimpses and a scrawled note, these recent photos reflect the growth of the room through the construction and through the donations of file cabinets, furniture, new rug (obtained from money received from the sale of old books no longer required – note, comment on Deed of Gift) etc. So now I think we want to display these binders or classify them somehow so visitors can see them.

About the notes to self:

As I was reviewing the Authority File (something new to me – new term, concept) for an existing collection with my supervisor, we discovered an entire page of the file was missing. This page was a list of all the folders containing material on Long Branch – everything between Long Branch and Middlesex County was missing. If all the folders themselves were missing, we would have no way to cross reference. Luckily this was just an oversight and the page existed on the computer and the situation corrected. But it was interesting to see the immediate response.

Asbury Park/Local History Display

IMG_0004_1
Originally uploaded by emscils598s07

Collection of items displaying the history of Asbury Park. Picture downloaded from Flickr
This display coincides with a major program at the library on Feb 20, 2008 featuring an author from Asbury Park, NJ. Sponsored by the Long Branch Historical Association, the program is in honor of Black History month. I did all the publicity - flyers announcing the program, newspaper publicity and the display case. I have been in touch with the author as well, requesting some of her photos from the book for display.
The materials for the display came from a combination of sources but all the books are from the Local History room, where I am currently interning.

Friday Night Discussing my online Journal

2 hours!
This is a stream of consciousness - what I know or don't know at a particular point in time. By the end of the internship I will know or not know even more things!

Asbury Park/Local History Display

Second Photo - full view

Asbury Park/Madonna C. Jackson
Originally uploaded by emscils598s07

First photo - good to test it out. I see the glare etc so will try to fix and take another photo

Posting today, talking about yesterday

I had the time Thursday to pull together the Asbury Park Exhibit with Elsalyn's help. We had already put the books from the local history collection aside, I had been holding the Asbury Park postcards on loan from a generous donor for two weeks and Elsalyn brought in her own collection of Asbury Park ephemera. So we had a colorful collection to work with.

Outside the local history room is a glass enclosed shelf used for displays that need to be locked up. This display case is perfect for a local history exhibit. Valuable materials are safe but visible - this encourages people to ask about the room and what is inside.....or at least that is the idea. We don't usually get questions about the displays....but now that we are focusing on the local history aspect, perhaps we will.

Going Back in Time, starting with today

So much to talk about - I'll start with today's project (s) and work backwards.

Today I was on my own. I had been left several small size projects which I could work on whenever I dropped into the Local History Room between major visits. Today I managed to free my afternoon up so I could get some of these projects behind me.

One project seemed oh so simple but I came up with question after question. I was putting a binder together of old postcards depicting Long Branch - these postcards had been purchased at local fairs/antique markets specifically for the local history room by Elsalyn Palmisano. There were two batches of cards, purchased at different times at different locations. And there were photocopies of all of the postcards - black and white, two to a page, a record keeping device.

I had asked a few days ago if I should put the postcards in the binder in the same order as the photocopies. This seemed like a good way to know if one of the cards were to disappear we would know which one was missing. Well, when I started to arrange the postcards in the binder, I discovered I preferred a different grouping. Neither sequence was related to provenance or original order so probably wasn't important. But now I'm wondering 1) do I take new photocopies of the postcards in their protective sleeves and 2) what do I do with the old photocopies and/or new photocopies - do I create another binder for the copies? Also, the original postcards are in plastic sleeves with the price tag on them. I did not remove these sleeves because I thought the price was pertinent. Is this correct?

One of my other projects today was creating external labels for the filing cabinets scattered around the library which have no identification on them to distinguish them as local history information. Why is a Word Table so difficult? Trying to get the font size and label size reasonably clear took forever.

Note to self: when I showed the librarians in reference the labels I would be adhering to the file cabinets they asked for a few more for the microfilm cabinet. I need to speak with the person who created the existing microfilm labels about how she got them to fit precisely in the slot.

Email is another task. Since I work in the library I am on the central library network. I request technical support and ask questions related to the local history room via email - I use this means of communication for the same reasons anyone would. Multiple people can be copied, you have a copy yourself if the request goes astray, etc. But this also takes a bit of time each day.

Suffice to say 4 hours just flies by

Some Exhibits

I am putting together the publicity for a program in February - the author of a book of photographs on Asbury Park. I am going to combine this program and publicity with an exhibit using materials from the Local History Room. We have 5 or 6 books on Asbury Park, EP has some great Asbury Park pics and ephemera and we have a collection of old postcards of Asbury Park on loan from a patron. I will manage to pull something together which reflects the program,being sponsored in honor of African American History Month, and the great material in the Local History room.

Stay tuned.

Getting my bearings

Nobody ever seems to go into the Local History - and now that I am learning about it it seems like there are constant interruptions.

There are multiple things going on:
- weeding of old books. These books must be removed from the catalog* and then boxed according to their destination - general sale, special collectors sale, destruction.
*slight confusion for me about cataloging - libraries use classification system and archives use provenance and original order for grouping and classification. The Local History room has both types of materials so it appears that books are classified using Dewey and I will have to explore the other items. But if the title page of a publication goes against the local history room policies, I think we would override the published classification

I have a work space (see picture) which has a computer. I had a few issues with the computer starting out so will determine if configuration is correct or if I need technical help. I want to be able to access my journal and any web sites related to my topic while I'm in the room so this is a priority to me.

EPalmisano has already organized supplies for the project - filing materials such as folders, pendaflex files, postcard holders, binders, etc

I must catch up on my reading. I have a copy of the Policies and Procedures that were approved by the Board of Trustees in 2006 before the room opened to the public. (room was created in 2004 but not opened to the public until 2006). Important to get an understanding of this document before getting too far into any project. There is also a "guidebook" which I must review. Is this the same as the white binder that has the mission statement, guidelines for use of the room, registration form etc? Not sure.

Orientation at LBPL

Even though I work in the LBPL my orientation started off with a tour of the library. Very few people may know everything about the library holdings but I have not had much exposure to the reference dept so it was very useful (and some what surprising) to see all the additional materials that would fall under the "local history" label.
There are 2 librarians and 2 additional staff members in Reference. They are responsible for clipping the Long Branch articles from newspapers, training and maintaining the Microfilm Collection, buying and weeding pertinent books (reference and lending material*) on the local, county and state topics in additional to their regular work (reference, computers, etc). Reference material that might be of interest to a researcher includes almanacs, legal and government related texts that are specific to New Jersey.

The reference librarians keep files on the answered reference questions, particularly I'm guessing, reference questions related to local history that might come up again. Not much reason to keep the answer to the date of the NJ primary, for example, after next month but I would have to confirm this theory. It may also be easier to keep everything as long as you can find the information when you need it. But this is slightly off topic. Unless of course the librarian used source material from the local history room in which case I would be very interested in knowing that information.

In addition to the file drawer of questions, there are file drawers for the library archives - board of trustee minutes, friends of the library and Elberon Branch. The Library Archives also include events, programs (actual publicity material etc) that occurred each year. Since none of the filing cabinets are labeled I will be making labels so it is easier to put my hands on the material if necessary.

I have worked with the staff already on different projects, including in particular an evening program publicizing the Microfilm Collection. I helped create the trifold brochure and cover sheet for the Microfilm directory as well as sent mailings to key people in area libraries and historical associations. The librarian in charge of the microfilm has worked for some time with Elsalyn Palmisano on the local history collection and so will be another good resource.

*The library often buys two or more copies of books because the copy in the Local History room does not circulate. One collection question I have is how to decide if you need more than one copy.

Local History Collection background

This internship parallels my other class so very nicely. I am studying Manuscripts and Archives with Mimi Bowling and working with Elsalyn Palmisano in the LB Local History Room. This room houses not only recent publications covering the topics of Long Branch, Monmouth County and New Jersey but also unique books, directories, collections and documents that span the history of the local area and provide researchers a wealth of primary sources. The collection also includes items housed in the reference department of the library and includes newspapers recently transferred to microfilm, clipping files for the city of Long Branch, and library archives including Board of Trustee Minutes, Friends of the Library papers and Elberon Branch historical papers.

This room is a local gem that is not widely publicized or used at the moment because staffing is an issue. My internship does not include staffing the room but will hopefully be the resourcing needed to review, categorize, describe, and file some of the many boxes of papers and records so the room and materials are more accessible. I have already written an article for the local genealogy newsletter - Monmouth Connection - on the contents of the room and the wonderful resources available for genealogists but the lack of regular hours may be off putting.

In addition to working with the collections, I will review the mission statement, policies and procedures, the library web site and other materials that already exist. This process will hopefully parallel the topics in my other class and perhaps I will be able to make suggestions or updates but will, at a minimum, see the actual implementation of a special collection

>> A further note about the Local History Room - it was created as a separate entity in 2004 during the renovation of the library. There have been a few volunteers over the years working with the existing collection but the concept took shape and the collection solidified with the help of EPalmisano. A database for collecting data was created by Dr. H. Drucker - I will find out more about this data base and what it is used for. <<

Internship journal/blog

First entry - lots to add. Commencing internship.........................











State of the collections............................