CHESTER, VERMONT
Present:
Deborah Mongeau, Univ. Rhode Island, dmongeau@uri.edu
Gail Fithian, Boston Public Library, gfithian@bpl.org
Connie Reik, Tufts University, connie.reik@tufts.edu
Kathy Berry, Boston College, berryka@bc.edu
John Fobert, Roger Williams University, Jfobert@rwu.edu
Tom Stieve, Brown University, Thomas_Stieve, brown.edu
Erhard Konerding, Wesleyan University, ekonerding@wesleyan.edu
John Lewis, Salve Regina, lewisj@salve.edu
Nancy Luzer, Castleton State College, VT., nancy.luzer@castleton.edu
Tim Hays, U.S. Army Corp. of Engineers, Timothy.P.Hays@usace.army.mil
Len Adams, UMASS Amherst, len.adams@library.umass.edu
Pam Hays, Acton Public Library, pamhays@comcast.net
Thelma Thompson, University of New Hampshire, thelmat@cisunix.unh.edu
Donna Koepp, Harvard, koepp@fas.harvard.edu
Scott Schaffer, University of Vermont, scott.schaffer@uvm.edu
Rebecca Ohm, Williams College, rohm@williams.edu
Sylvia Kennick Brown, Williams College, skennick@williams.edu
Hans Raum, Middlebury College, Raum@middlebury.edu
Chuck Lakin, Colby College, crlakini@colby.edu
Jim Walsh, Readex, jwalsh@newsbank.com
Bette L. Siegel, State Library of MA, bette.siegel@state.ma.us
Chair John Fobert called the meeting to order and there were introductions made.
Jim Walsh of Readex/Newsbank gave a brief history of Readex/Newbank then he divided the group into 3 units, and we left for a tour of the facility, which was across the street. Each group had a leader from Readex. We had a unique opportunity to see the entire process of digitizing the Serial Set from beginning to end. The tour took about 1 ½ hours. The attention to finite detail in the indexing phase was very noteworthy. We saw the scanning, indexing and OCR phase of the project. We returned to the conference center; Jim gave us some handouts about Readex/Newsbank and we then had our business meeting.
John announced that the Rhode Island group (CRIAL) under Deborah Mongeau’s leadership had fine tuned the talking points paper on why one should remain a depository. John will post this on the GPLNE website.
A letter regarding the closing of EPA libraries will be sent from John; representing our group. Rhode Island librarians are sending their own letter, and it was suggested the Boston Library Consortium (GoDIG) send one also. It was suggested that these letters be cc’ed to one’s Congressional Delegation. Letters may be mailed to: Michael Mcdougall, USEPA Region 1, 1 Congress Street, Suite 1100, Boston, MA 02114-2023.
There was discussion on training for use of STAT-USA. There was communication from Julie Linden of Yale that Connecticut Godort was considering doing this; those present suggested we do it with them or whatever. Incoming Chair, Donna Koepp, will look into this. We do have the monies for training. It is an all day 9 to 3 event.
Donna announced there was $1358 in the Treasury; minus the cost of the lunch.
The upcoming NEMO (New England Map Organization) annual meeting was announced by Thelma Thompson of UNH. Information will be sent to GPLNE list serv.
A suggestion was made to have one of next year’s meetings at the American Antiquarian Society in Worcester after Donna checks to see if we will be able to have access to all areas of the building. Concern was voiced that the last visit there was restrictive.
The officers for the upcoming year were announced; Donna Koepp of Harvard will be Chair, Bobbie Brooke of UMASS Worcester, Vice-Chair/Chair Elect; Bette L. Siegel of the State Library of MA will be Secretary and Julia Tryon of Providence College will be Treasurer.
John was thanked with a warm round of applause for his leadership during the past year.
Bette L. Siegel
Secretary
We then left the Conference Center and most of us drove to Hanover, NH for a visit to Dartmouth and the Baker and Berry Libraries. We spent over 2 hours at the Libraries under the leadership of John Cocklin, the Government Documents Librarian.
We visited the Preservation Department and had a detailed description of Dartmouth’s involvement in the Readex Digital U.S. Serial Set project. John then took us to the stacks to see their Serial Set collection. We toured the Library and shared John’s enthusiasm for his library.
The day was more than informative; it was rewarding to see different aspects of a project from beginning to end.
The staff at Readex/Newsbank, ESPECIALLY BARBARA WESTINE, was extremely hospitable.
BLS