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The Library History Buff’s Top 10 Library History Websites

November 6th, 2010
There are a number of top 10 library related lists around. George Eberhart even has a book about them - The Librarian's Book of Lists. I was pleased to be selected as one of the 10 Librarian Blogs to Read in 2010 by LISNEWS. So I thought I would do my bit to promote more good library history websites by identifying what I consider to be the top 10 library history websites. I would be happy to get your nominations for additional sites - just use the "comments" feature below.

The Library History Buff website
http://www.libraryhistorybuff.com/
What can I say. I have to toot my own horn. A comprehensive library history website with special emphasis on United States library history and library memorabilia (librariana). If you Google "library history", it comes up second out of over 600,000 hits.

The Wisconsin Library Heritage Center
http://heritage.wisconsinlibraries.org/
A virtual library heritage center, the only one (virtual or otherwise) in the nation. It also includes the only active library hall of fame in the nation. A model for other states. Did I mention that I was the Chair of the Steering Committee for the Center?

Libraries Today - Canadian Library History
http://www.uoguelph.ca/~lbruce/
This comprehensive Canadian library history website was created in 1996 and is maintained by Lorne Bruce. It greatly influenced the development of my own library history websites.

South Carolina Library History Project
http://www.libsci.sc.edu/histories/
A great site by the University of South Carolina School of Library and Information Science to showcase the library history of a state.

The Legacy of Public Libraries in North Carolina
http://statelibrary.ncdcr.gov/dimp/digital/publiclibraries/index.html
A digital project of the North Carolina State Library focusing on public libraries. A model for other states.

The Library Postcard site of Judy Aulik
http://home.comcast.net/~jaulik/index.html
Started by Judy Aulik in 2003 (about the same time as my first website), this constantly expanding site is a great effort by an individual to introduce the world to library postcards.

Archives of the American Library Association
http://www.library.uiuc.edu/archives/ala/
A good start with the potential to do great things. More digitization of those wonderful archives please.

Libraries & the Cultural Record (Journal) http://sentra.ischool.utexas.edu/~lcr/index.php
The "Archive" tab leads you to lots of interesting stuff about library history.

Glenn A. Walsh’s Carnegie Library History Site
http://andrewcarnegie.tripod.com/
Links to everything you ever wanted to know about Carnegie libraries.

Carnegie Libraries in Iowa Project (CLIP)
http://clip.grad.uiowa.edu/
An excellent project of the University of Iowa's School of Library and Information Science. Another great model.

For other library history links go to:
http://www.libraryhistorybuff.com/historylinks.htm
http://www.libraryhistorybuff.com/historylinks-world.htm

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Government Printing Office Comic Book

November 1st, 2010

The Government Printing Office Publishes Its First Comic Book

The U.S. Government Printing Office (GPO) recently published the agency’s first comic book, Squeaks Discovers Type, as part of the agency’s 150th anniversary. GPO employees created the comic book as a teaching tool for children to illustrate the important role of printing throughout history.

What is the GPO?

The GPO prints documents produced by and for the federal government and is basically charged with making government information from the 3 branches available to the American Public.  GPO’s Federal Digital System (FDsys) is a digital system still in development that provides free online access to government documents.

Watch a video or read about GPO history in Gleeson’s catalog.

You can also check out the GPO blog, Government Book Talk, which features favorite  publications from the Federal Government.


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War Library Bulletin & Books By Mail

November 1st, 2010




































Another gift from a Library History Buff blog reader was two issues of the War Library Bulletin of the Library War Service of the American Library Association. Thanks Nancy. The issue featured in this post was Volume I, No. 9, for May, 1919.  The back cover of this issue reprints an advertisement for the Library War Service books-by-mail program that was contained in the Stars and Stripes magazine for May 2, 1919. A note at the bottom of the page indicates that the free mailing service that was in the advertisement was organized in October, 1918, and that one day's mail has brought as many as 2,000 requests for non-fiction to the Paris Headquarters of the Library War Service. General John J. Pershing, Commander of the American Expeditionary Forces (A.E.F.) in Europe had approved the postage free mailing of books through the Army Postal System to make this service possible. The mailing of books by libraries to patrons in the United States had been feasible since 1914 when the Post Office Department first allowed books to be mailed at the parcel post rate. A number of state library agencies implemented such a service. Burton E. Stevenson, ALA's European Representative, was undoubtedly aware of this development in the U.S. when he proposed the service to Pershing.

The photograph on the cover of this issue of the War Library Bulletin shows soldiers using the Chaumont, France Library War Service Regional Library on a March evening. The caption below indicates that more than one hundred men are crowded into the library - "the average attendance between the hours of six and seven of any evening".

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ALA WWI Bookmark

October 29th, 2010


One of the benefits of maintaining a blog and a website which feature librariana is that people sometime contact you to find a home for some piece or pieces of librariana that they have collected or retained over the years. Such is the case with the American Library Association Library War Service bookmark featured in this post. Thank you Carol. I was doubly pleased to receive this bookmark since it pertains to both my interest in ALA's role in World War I and my collection of library bookmarks.  The ALA bookmark is basically a plea for books or money to assist ALA in its Library War Service along with a list on the back of the bookmark of all the activities being undertaken by the Library War Service. Two activities related to my postal interests are listed. As indicated on the bookmark, the Library War Service "Distributes the Magazines Given by the Public through the Post-Office Department. More than 5,000,000 copies of periodicals have been placed in the hands of our forces."  Postmaster General Burleson established a program that allowed the public to put a one cent stamp on a magazine and place it in a mailbox. The magazines were then delivered to one of the service organizations including ALA that served the troops. ALA camp libraries were sometimes overwhelmed with the number of magazines they received, and unfortunately many of the magazines were of little interest to the troops. Also on the bookmark is the following: "Has Sent More than a Million Books Overseas and Must Send Millions More. By General Pershing's order books are carried free of postage in the Army Post-Office System of the A.E.F." This last development allowed the Library War Service to implement a books-by-mail program in France and Germany (more on this in a future post).

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the mighty silver family

October 27th, 2010

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