Stillwater Public Library is hosting a three day family and local
history digitizing project in Room 119 of the library Nov. 29-Dec. 1. Included
in the project is a Wednesday evening program on African American genealogy
searching.
“The library is preparing to
digitize many of its historic materials,” said Lynda Reynolds, library
director. “We were the recipient of three preservation grants which enabled us
to move our local history collection from a hot, humid and cramped closet to a larger
room with collapsible shelving and space to preserve the material properly.
“At the same time, we built a “do
it yourself” open book scanner with funding from the Oklahoma Department of
Libraries that allows us to digitize books without causing so much damage to
them.”
As a kick-off to its Special
Collection area, the library is partnering with the Oklahoma Department of
Libraries who will be bringing three scanners to help Stillwater and Payne
County community members digitize their personal and local history.
“Our hope is that when community
members get a copy of their material in digital format, they will consider
allowing us to retain copies of the material related to local history,” said
Reynolds. “We receive hundreds of requests each year and will use donated
material to help people perform research and genealogy searches.”
Reynolds stresses that donating a
copy of material is not required for participation in the project.
Potential items to digitize include
family photographs, scrapbooks, letters, diaries, cards and other ephemera.
Participants are encouraged to bring a flash drive to save the digitized
material, but methods for saving will be provided for participants who do not
have a device.
The digital project will take place
Tuesday, Nov. 29, 9 a.m.-5 p.m.; Wednesday, Nov. 30, 9 a.m.-12 p.m.; and
Thursday, Dec. 1, 9 a.m.-5 p.m.
“Right after Thanksgiving is a
perfect time to hold an event like this,” said Reynolds. “When community
members travel across the country for the holiday, it gives them a chance to
bring back local history material that has migrated out of Payne County and
have it digitized.”
On Wednesday, Nov. 30, at 6:30
p.m., as part of the project, the library will also host a class on African
American genealogy. Attendees of that program are invited to bring their
material to be digitized during the program.
“We have long had difficulties
being able to answer local history questions concerning Stillwater’s African
American community,” said Reynolds. “Very little coverage was included in
history books. We are hoping that community members will bring in information
that will allow us to better answer questions, especially those related to
Washington School and the Black Chamber of Commerce.”
The genealogy class and the
digitization project are free and open to the public. To sign up for the class
or for an hour long session Tuesday-Thursday, stop by the Help Desk, call
405-372-3633 x8106 or email askalibrarian@stillwater.org.
Participants with larger
collections may be provided additional sessions or asked to leave material for
a short period so that it can be digitized.
The Stillwater Public Library is located at 1107 S. Duck St. (the
corner of Duck and 12th Ave.). Visit the
library online at http://library.stillwater.org.
No comments:
Post a Comment