Library of Congress Comes to Ohio
by Jami Goldstein
The Library of Congress (LOC) has developed a new program that will share the library’s incredible resources with communities across the country. The national tour, entitled, The Library of Congress Comes to Your Hometown, is slated to kickoff in Ohio, November 14 -17. The Ohio Arts Council has partnered with LOC and Congressman Bob Ney to bring the tour to the people of Ohio.
Host sites include: Pritchard-Laughlin Civic Center in Cambridge; Cleveland Public Library and Cleveland Museum of Art; and the Columbus Metropolitan Library.
The Library of Congress Comes to Your Hometown will present a rich array of exciting programs in the Ohio venues. Through these local presentations, LOC hopes to bring home the importance of preserving the national cultural heritage and, concomitantly, of supporting the nation’s library.
The Library of Congress is the largest library in the world and the nation's oldest federal cultural institution. The LOC's mission is to make its resources available and useful to Congress and the American people and to sustain and preserve a universal collection of knowledge and creativity for future generations. Congressman Ney is Chair of the House Administration Committee which has oversight of the Library of Congress.
WORKSHOP DESCRIPTIONS:
Conservation Across America Clinic
Everyone needs advice on the care of books, manuscripts, documents, photographs, videos, and other materials in your home. The professionally trained staff of the Library’s Preservation Directorate will present a clinic on preservation methods used at the Library. In Cleveland, Library conservators will work in collaboration with some conservators from the Cleveland Museum of Art, the Cleveland Public Library and other Ohio-based preservation and conservation groups to advise visitors on caring for family treasures.
In addition, the Library will make available materials developed on topics ranging from how to care for family treasures to how to locate a conservator and whom to contact at the Library or other institutions to learn about conservation methods and classes.
American Folklife Center and the Veterans History Project
The American Folklife Center (AFC) encourages communities to study and record their own histories and traditions. In an effort to promote such projects, AFC staff will conduct oral history workshops featuring its Veterans History Project. These workshops, designed to fit the Ohio context, will address: 1) how to plan and conduct your own oral history project, 2) how to organize your collection of sound recordings and related documentation, 3) how to interest your community in documenting local history and traditions, 4) how to find a home for your collection where it will be accessible to the public, and 5) how to take part in the Veterans History Project. In order to demonstrate techniques for effective interviewing, a "live" Veterans History Project interview will be conducted as part of the workshop.
American Folklife Center has prepared materials for classroom instruction as part of its educational outreach program. These materials advise teachers and students on ways in which folklife can be included in their curricula. The AFC offers “A Teacher's Guide to Folklife Resources for K-12 Classrooms.” The AFC has produced an educational poster that is a mini-course in folklife in the classroom. These guides, along with the AFC's fieldwork guide, “Folklife and Fieldwork,” would enhance any presentation on the Library of Congress in the classroom.
American Memory Web site Demonstration
In Cleveland, an ongoing demonstration of the Library’s vast Web site will feature American Memory, the Library of Congress' gateway to digitized primary source materials relating to the history and culture of the United States. Families and educators will be introduced to additional online resources found on the Library of Congress web site, such as the Learning Page, Today in History, and America's Library. The Library of Congress’s online services offer multimedia collections of more than 8 million digitized documents, photographs, recorded sound, moving pictures, and text from more than 100 of the Library’s historical collections.
Ohio Arts Council and Columbus Metropolitan Library Board Member Charlotte Kessler is Chair of the Ohio Library of Congress visit.
For more information and specific workshop locations and times visit the LOC site or contact Gregg Dodd at 614/466-2613 or email gregg.dodd@oac.state.oh.us
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