Awesome!

In my last post I spoke about how the library I am working with for my project seemed to kind of be "out of date." But something must have happened that sparked a fire within the director and when I went to the library yesterday to continue my projcet...she was passionate about getting new technology and learning. She had a completely different attitude than she did the last time I met with her and it was really amazing to see a passion that I hadn't seen in that library before. I met with someone who is getting us a "companion" scanner for this microfilm digital reel called ST200x, which was $10,000 and the companion is $2,000. But the director says that this technology is definitely a need within this library and she is totally into my project. I am sure many other libraries have already done this but she made the comparison to when she worked in Alabama and needed an Appalachian transcript but at that time they wouldn't even fax it to her...she had to drive and pick it up and sign for it...she says she hates that people now who are looking for family records and live in Montana would have to drive to Taylorsville if they wanted access. So that is where my project will help this library tremendously. I can't say much for the small town that I grew up in and love...but I can say that family is the most important thing to almost everyone here and thus even if someone has moved away there is an almost eerie connection with family and family history here. I know it in my family and I know so many others who just have a connection with this small town because of family ties. So in that, I am so thankful that this project has panned out. I may even be able to find some good things on my own family as I scan and revamp these documents. Phalbe, the director, says my project is going to really be "made" by the man who sells the ST200x, because this technology will allow me to scan faster, make corrections to old documents - by way of typing in letter that are no longer readable and such, and also allow me to put them on the internet. I have already gotten permission from the county as well to place these documents on the county website and have copyright permission from the newspaper to also put some old news clippings up. How exciting! Right now I have met with the gentleman who is getting me the companion. Then I will learn how to use it, when I get the manual, and the project will also involve me teaching other librarians how to use the machine...so it can be useful after I am finished with my project. I think I am beginning to feel a sting of "love" for this small town library and like Dr. Sanders said before...I may just become so woven into the project that it extends way past the class. Hurray for Passion!

Finally!

Finally I have figured out my topic for my active learning project and its great to have something in concrete. I am going to meet with the library again on Thursday after I get off work and then make a game plan. I am going to use this blog post to answer a few questions...
What do I need to know to help the Library with this? How to scan on the machine I will be using. Therefore, I am going to meet with ther person who has offered to do a training with it. The library at first opted not to have the training so now the machine just sits in the back room with nobody using it! Hopefully, then I can also teach some of the staff how to use it for the future. What resources might be useful in conducting this project? I am going to also have to work alongside of the person who keeps the libraries website up. She will be useful in creating a place on the website for easy access to these documents. I also will probably work through many different technology difficulties because even though you want something to go smoothly...with me and technology...it never happens that way. So I may also utilize the IT department for the county. Is there anyone else I could talk with who has done this before? Not sure about this but I am interested in looking into Belk Library's section on this and probably contacting the librarians there. What might I need to consider in the design of the website? The website is already designed and I won't have control of that because the library pays someone to do that but for a while I think it would be useful to have a banner announcing the new link.
So for now I am excited that I can help the library advance by way of technology and also by way of preservation. Onward!!!