GPLNE May Meeting
Warwick Public Library
Warwick, Rhode Island
Friday, May 2, 2008
Attendance
Len Adams, UMass/Amherst
Naomi Allen, State Lib/MA
Deborah Angelo, Phillips Memorial Library/Providence College
Sonita Cummings, Warwick Public Library
Betty Febo, Clapp Library/Wellesley College
Jacqueline Fitzpatrick, Clapp Library/Wellesley College
John Fobert, Roger Williams University
Ben Hood, UMass/Amherst
Jim MacDonald, Connecticut College
Deborah Mongeau, URI
Nancy Peluso, CT State Library
Thomas Steve, Brown University
Connie Reik, Tufts
Bette Siegel, State Lib/MA
Jim Walsh, Readex/Newsbank
2 guest public librarians
GPLNE May Meeting Agenda
The GPLNE May 2nd Meeting was held at the Warwick Public Library in Warwick, RI, on Friday, May 2, 2008. Fourteen members were in attendance, as well as Jim Walsh from Readex/Newsbank, and two public librarians who came to hear Connie’s genealogy presentation.
We were welcomed by Sonita Cummmings, of the Warwick Public Library.
Business Notes:
Jim Walsh updated the group on David Heisser. He is recovering nicely since his multiple bypass surgery, and any members interested in contacting him can still use his Citadel e-mail address.
The Secretary’s Notes were not approved, because they had not been properly posted. Jacqueline apologized to the group and promised to send off the revised copy at the close of the day. John Fobert said he would also post.
Debbie Angelo, reporting in Julia Tryon’s absence, told the members that the current amount in our bank account is $675.20
Betty Febo and Debbie Mongeau announced the slate of officers for 2008-2009:
Jim Walsh – Chair
Ben Hood – Vice-Chair
Jacqueline Fitzpatrick – Secretary
Julia Tryon – Treasurer
Jim announced that the first GPLNE meeting in the fall will be held on October 31, 2008, at the Boston Public Library. Members of GODIG and the Boston Library Consortium will also be invited. Gail Fithian and Barbara Preece will discuss the BLC/OCA Project for Digitization.
The group presented Len Adams with a gift and card to celebrate his retirement and took him out to lunch at the close of the meeting. The group also extended a sincere thank you to Connie Reik for her work as Chair for 2007-2008.
The meeting was then opened up for discussion, begun by Len Adams, updating the members on the GovDocs renovations planned for UMass/Amherst. He will end his tenure with the university on May 22, 2008, and the Gov Docs area will be renovated and become a “closed collection,” although when is the question. Their collection has been cataloged from 1976 on, but the earlier titles have not been cataloged. A paging selection to find titles is being proposed. The MA Census has been scanned back to 1845 and Massachusetts pamphlets and ephemera should be on the Archives site within the next couple of weeks.
Bette Siegel reported that they are continuing to scan state government documents at the Massachusetts State Library.
Jim MacDonald commented on the difficulty users have trying to figure out what has been digitized. Though a lot of material is “out there,” it can be difficult to track down. When a patron is searching for older materials, use of the word “historical” can be helpful with other specific search terms.
If one wants to find Harvard’s digitized titles, a Google search needs to be done, since the school is one of the major universities involved in the Google Project.
Nancy Peluso talked about the CT digitization process and how the user has to scan down on the information in alphabetical order by city. They also have regional survey information, but none of that is yet online.
Debbie Mongeau announced that URI has purchased the Readex American State Papers & Serial Set. Since all Rhode Island colleges are members of a consortium, patrons can search the catalogs of any of these schools. The state has also allotted money to purchase databases that would be available for all Rhode Island residents, but no acquisitions have been made at this time.
Betty Febo told the group that the BPL has the Readex Serial Set and MA residents can get a BPL card in order to access all available databases in their collection. There is also a 6 month BPL e-card that allows students to access their databases.
This completed the group’s business information.
Genealogy Presentation:
Connie did her presentation on Soldiers & Sailors of the 18th, 19th, & 20th Centuries in Government Publications for Historical & Family Research. She provided the group with a complete printed bibliography of the sources mentioned in her talk and additional sources.
Information on Army and Navy personnel can be obtained from a number of sources including the Department of Defense, Army and Navy branches, U.S. Statutes, Historical Bills, House and Senate Reports, the Department of Agriculture, National Archives, the Department of the Interior, the Library of Congress, and Census Reports from the Commerce Department. Another good resource is American Military History, Vol. I: 1775-1917 & Vol. 2: 1917-2003. Most of the information in these two print volumes is now accessible online.
Connie began with the Army & Navy information and sources from the Revolutionary War and ended with resources discussing the Vietnam War.
She also talked about some of the better Finding Aids. “Browse Topic GPO,” Readex’s specialized online indexes, and the GPO Catalog
WorldCat has yielded her better results than First Search’s Monthly Catalog, and it is a much-used resource. A newer source is the Public Documents Master File. This product costs about $2000, and the information is not full text, so the user has to track down the actual document. However, it does provide facts dating back to 1789 and up to the present. Other institutions with valuable genealogy titles are the Boston Public Library, Worcester Public Library, and UMass/Amherst. There is a ProQuest database, Colonial State Papers. Papers dating back to the French & Indian War are included, but some sites charge for information retrieval.
Bette Siegel mentioned the richness of the Harvard and Yale collections and those of local historical societies such as the American Antiquarian Society and the Boston Athenaeum.
Many print titles in Connie’s bibliography can be purchased from the U.S. Government Bookstore site, and there is no charge for shipping.
At the completion of the genealogy presentation, she gave a short history on depository libraries. The first designated depository was the American Antiquarian Society of Worcester 1814. Newport Public Library was the first public institution to receive the depository designation. Presently, there are 1,250 depository libraries, with 53 comprehensive institutions throughout the United States. The Boston Public Library is the main depository for the New England states.
Connie ended her presentation with a Q & A for audience members with specific questions. The meeting ended, and Sonita conducted a brief tour of the Warwick Public Library’s main floor.
Submitted by Jacqueline B. Fitzpatrick
May 2, 2008