Library Committee Chair Henry Snyder |
2014 Library Committee Members:
Henry Snyder (Chairman), Janet McDonald, Kristi Wessenberg, Shirley Hoye, Arlene Miles, Carrie Fruzza, Gibran Roth, Nancy Schlegel, Marcelle White.
Libraries are out-of-date. The internet has made libraries obsolete. These statements appear more frequently as the use of digital resources grows. No one can deny that the internet has become a powerful force in making information available but not everyone is ready to give up the ability to personally hold and examine the resource they are consulting. Library Committee members agree with the need for the existence of libraries and at the same time acknowledge that online access is also crucial. Every single committee member interviewed emphasized how dynamic and important the library is not only for society members but for anyone doing genealogical research.
In the more than 100 years of its existence, the library has been located at several sites in San Francisco. The original collection was destroyed by fire during the 1906 earthquake and had to be recreated from scratch. In the years following it shared locations with a number of different institutions and organizations such as the Sutro Collection Library, the San Francisco Public Library, the Sons of the American Revolution Library (in the War Memorial Building) and the California Historical Society before moving to two locations of its own in San Francisco and eventually to its present home across the bay in Oakland.
The committee has been fortunate to have had the expertise of professional librarians over the years and continues to attract enthusiastic volunteers who tend to the ongoing tasks needed to keep the library functioning. According to Dr. Snyder, “A major accomplishment this past year was the processing to completion of all the books, and problems awaiting attention on the shelves behind our desk. They are all cleared out! Moreover, we cleaned up three drawers of cards, all pulled because of some cataloguing issue. The backlog dated back to 2005.”
Shirley Hoye and Arlene Miles |
Marcelle White and Arlene Miles |
The combination of regular library tasks and special projects makes it possible for volunteers of different skill levels to make significant contributions as part of the Library Committee. Many volunteers are active in more than one area at a time. Long-time volunteer, Arlene Miles, manages the serials as well as assisting with or managing a myriad of other essential projects. Arlene and Shirley Hoye are at work doing a long overdue shelf list check to make sure everything on the shelves is in the online catalog. Carrie Fruzza has joined the team and has taken over some of the responsibilities for serials allowing Arlene to help in other areas. And there are still many projects to be done. One project that needs volunteers is checking the publications of California county historical and genealogical society publications against the CGS library resources to see what we need to acquire. Not many members are aware that the library owns pedigree charts recorded on long rolls of paper. These have just been unrolled and need to be reviewed and analyzed before they can be useful. For aficionados of maps, there is a whole map case that has to be organized. You do not have to be a professional librarian to help; the role of the library itself is diverse and there is a need for many different kinds of talents to assist in keeping it vital and relevant.
Copyright © 2014 by Kathryn Doyle, California Genealogical Society and Library.
FEB
2014