5 hours
Total hours to date: 90.5 hours
Last week, I found out that the YA Coordinator is taking another position at a nearby facility as a librarian, so the YA position at the library will be opening up. Since then, I've been trying to help out with whatever loose ends she might need help with. So. I checked in with her first, and made arrangements to check back at 1pm, when Kimberly would be helping with YA. Then, I went upstairs to work with Gale. It has been a while since I've been able to work with her, so she was excited to see that I would be able to spend a good bit of time helping out. I think most of the other staff members do not have an idea of the amount of work that Gale does in the NC room because she is in a room by herself, largely out of sight, and out of mind. She helps patrons who come into the NC room with individual research requests, but she also does research for the Picture Burke project as well as research and copying for patrons who email her with research requests. Today, I helped with one of those email research requests, and I ended up copying about 100 pages of material from several different books. Gale is able to charge a fee for these research and copying services, but they do take up a portion of her time. I am glad I was able to help out today, because Gale was able to work on Picture Burke research in a separate room, while I worked on copying and helping patrons.
First, I continued working on the archive project. While cataloging a book that was in the archive records, we discovered that it was a book also found in the NC room collection, and after searching WorldCat and finding the book in 4 other libraries in the area, and searching Abebooks to determine its value, we determined that it should be filed with other duplicate books rather than with the archived books. The title is Climbing the Mountains with God, by Rev. Luther Snipes, a local educator and preacher. It was printed by a local printing company from Lenoir in 1959. Because there is already one copy in the collection, there are other copies available at local libraries, and the value was estimated around $5, we filed it with duplicate books.
There was an older couple who came in, who had traveled from Macon County, to research some specific questions on their family history. They were searching for a specific book, contained in the NC room, that discussed Burke County records before the courthouse fire. They found the book, and located some information they were looking for, but I was also able to help them using an online resource I learned about in my Genealogy class. They were trying to find the name of the spouse of one of their ancestors who lived in the mid-1700s, a Joseph Gibson (b. 1749). In their family, there are two names family members have found for this spouse and they wanted to try and find out the truth. I suggested that they might try looking in cemetery records because sometimes husbands were buried beside their wives, so we looked in the cemetery records for Burke County but we did not find the man listed. So I suggested that we try findagrave.com. Since I had my laptop at the library, I was able to use the wifi to get online and search for them. I did find a grave for a Joseph Gibson, born in 1749, and buried in Statesville, which is about an hour away from here. This gravestone indicated that he had served in the Revolutionary War, and the grave was contained in a church graveyard. We searched for other Gibsons in the graveyard, but did not locate a possible spouse. They said that the spouse had died much later, so they might not be buried together. We may not have had a lot of success, but I did teach them how to use findagrave.com at home and they were very excited to try it out to see if they could find other family members. I showed them how to do a basic search, then to search specific cemeteries, and to look for photographs that they could copy and paste for their own family records. I was also able to show them a photograph I had found of one of my own ancestors. I realize that helping people in the NC room has been one of my most enjoyable experiences while I've served in this internship. Family history has become an interest of mine since I took Genealogy in graduate school, and I love helping others find what they need. I was also able to help a patron researching her church's history, other patrons with family history, and another patron looking for information on gold panning history of Burke County.
At the end of the day, I helped out in Children's Services, cutting out bird cut-outs, for the Taste of Culture event coming up in May.
First, I continued working on the archive project. While cataloging a book that was in the archive records, we discovered that it was a book also found in the NC room collection, and after searching WorldCat and finding the book in 4 other libraries in the area, and searching Abebooks to determine its value, we determined that it should be filed with other duplicate books rather than with the archived books. The title is Climbing the Mountains with God, by Rev. Luther Snipes, a local educator and preacher. It was printed by a local printing company from Lenoir in 1959. Because there is already one copy in the collection, there are other copies available at local libraries, and the value was estimated around $5, we filed it with duplicate books.
There was an older couple who came in, who had traveled from Macon County, to research some specific questions on their family history. They were searching for a specific book, contained in the NC room, that discussed Burke County records before the courthouse fire. They found the book, and located some information they were looking for, but I was also able to help them using an online resource I learned about in my Genealogy class. They were trying to find the name of the spouse of one of their ancestors who lived in the mid-1700s, a Joseph Gibson (b. 1749). In their family, there are two names family members have found for this spouse and they wanted to try and find out the truth. I suggested that they might try looking in cemetery records because sometimes husbands were buried beside their wives, so we looked in the cemetery records for Burke County but we did not find the man listed. So I suggested that we try findagrave.com. Since I had my laptop at the library, I was able to use the wifi to get online and search for them. I did find a grave for a Joseph Gibson, born in 1749, and buried in Statesville, which is about an hour away from here. This gravestone indicated that he had served in the Revolutionary War, and the grave was contained in a church graveyard. We searched for other Gibsons in the graveyard, but did not locate a possible spouse. They said that the spouse had died much later, so they might not be buried together. We may not have had a lot of success, but I did teach them how to use findagrave.com at home and they were very excited to try it out to see if they could find other family members. I showed them how to do a basic search, then to search specific cemeteries, and to look for photographs that they could copy and paste for their own family records. I was also able to show them a photograph I had found of one of my own ancestors. I realize that helping people in the NC room has been one of my most enjoyable experiences while I've served in this internship. Family history has become an interest of mine since I took Genealogy in graduate school, and I love helping others find what they need. I was also able to help a patron researching her church's history, other patrons with family history, and another patron looking for information on gold panning history of Burke County.
At the end of the day, I helped out in Children's Services, cutting out bird cut-outs, for the Taste of Culture event coming up in May.
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