The home is the center and circumference, the start and the finish, of most of our lives. ~ Charlotte Perkins Gilman

Local History Room: A Place for Research and Learning for all Ages

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• In October of 2004 the Milan-Berlin Township Public Library Planning Committee decided to make local history and genealogy part of the Long-Range plan for 2007-2009.  To help carry out these service goals and objectives the following initiatives were implemented: change administrative forms to follow usage of the local history room in products (collections) and services, offer local history programs, and find an archival software progra

• After my arrival in April of 2007, the forms used for the Local History room were changed to help better understand who we serve and how we provide service to them locally and through the Internet. We accomplished this by updating our sign-in forms, designing a request for research form, and by tracking outside research requests through phone calls, emails, and letters. All of this data has shown that our patrons vary from young adults working on family heritage projects to academics, and to serious genealogists working on extended projects. Somewhere in between we also have the one question dealing with a historic home or looking at a historic photograph.

  Promoting the local history room as a place for research and learning for all ages as well as overall promotion of the room has been an additional goal.  Reaching out to schools and scouting groups to help aid in their curriculum objectives and badge requirements has been successful. Last year we had a couple of scouting groups use our local history room to meet badge requirements and just recently we aided a student working on her 4-H project. Almost every month local history materials are featured in a showcase in the adult circulation area here at the library. Many patrons take time to view this showcase while standing in line for checkout.

  A few months ago I contacted the Interactive Media Technology Instructor at EHOVE Career Center in Milan to see if his students would be interested in a project to help our local history room. The instructor agreed that it would a good project for his students. The result of this project will be the transformation of all oral history cassette tapes to CD.

• Now with the addition of Past Perfect, a software program for the local history/genealogy room (along with our new website), we will be able to continue our outreach to the local community and beyond. The library will be able to better manage the materials in the local history room. Patrons can visit the library and utilize the software program to research items in the local history room. When staff members receive outside research requests, they will be able to perform searches to find materials that serve our patrons here and world wide.