Save Your State Library – Follow us on Facebook

As announced in a previous post, Governor Patrick is considering closing the State Library of Massachusetts as a cost-saving measure. If you would like to show your support for the library remaining open, please sign our petition. You can now follow us on Facebook by becoming a fan of Save Your State Library! You can also visit our Facebook site without being a member by visiting http://www.facebook.com/saveyourstatelibrary. Click over to view photos of library treasures and unique resources, such as the Haitian medal awarded to Charles Sumner in 1871, pictured at left. We will continue to grow this collection of photographs, so check in with us often!

Save the State Library of Massachusetts

At a press conference on Thursday, October 29, the Governor's Office announced that Governor Patrick is considering closing the State Library of Massachusetts as a cost-saving measure. This closure will have a monumental impact on the cultural heritage of the Commonwealth.

Open to the public since 1826, the State Library has developed comprehensive collections in the areas of government documents, law, Massachusetts history, and public and current affairs. From the Bradford manuscript "Of Plimoth Plantation" to the ever-expanding digital repository, the State Library has collected items of crucial importance to the record of Massachusetts' historical wealth.

Please sign the petition to ensure that Massachusetts' heritage continues to remain freely accessible to all members of the public. To contact the Governor's Office directly, please visit http://www.mass.gov/?pageID=gov3utilities&sid=Agov3&U=Agov3_contact_us.

If you would like to make a donation, please visit the Friends of the State Library page at www.mass.gov/lib

Profiles of Legislators

The State Library has a Legislative Biography file with information on legislators going back to the 1700's on 3 x 5 index cards. Over the decades staff recorded data about each person serving in the General Court. Recently someone called the State Library and asked for information on Captain John Bayley from Maine. Maine was part of Massachusetts until March 15, 1820. The information I found on Capt. John Bayley's card is:

Massachusetts House of Representatives: 1791.

Birth place and date: Weymouth, Feb. 2, 1737; son of Rev. James and Sarah Bayley

Occupation: Farmer and soldier

Death place and date: Woolwich, ME on July 29, 1813

This card file is currently being digitized for the Library's electronic collection.

Other biographical sources are the Official Gazette for the years 1885 through 1890, the Souvenir of Massachusetts Legislators covering 1893 through 1917, and the Bird Book (a series of volumes published under various titles) for 1908 to the present. All contain brief profiles. Photographs of individuals began appearing in 1908. These items are accessible through the Library's digital collections.

Naomi Allen, Reference Librarian

Blast from the Past: Library Rules

Over the summer, I completed a course on preservation management as part of the archives management concentration at the Simmons College Graduate School of Library and Information Science. The class took a field trip to the State Library, its Special Collections, and the preservation lab. It was fascinating to see behind the scenes and how a number of preservation techniques that we were learning about were applied in a real situation. After finishing the class, I am fortunate enough to intern here at the State Library’s preservation lab and gain some hands on experience.

The project I am working on is rehousing documents from the Massachusetts Room that are fragile and thin. The items that I have worked on so far have a wide range in dates and cover a number of different topics. One of the best things about this project is that each document is unique. Many are different sizes or different formats and every day I find something new and interesting.

The first thing I do is remove any deteriorating paper or plastic folders. I then take out any staples or ribbons that have been holding multiple sheets together. These steps are taken to prevent further damage to the documents caused by unstable enclosures or fasteners. Next, I measure and cut a new acid-free folder so that it will give a close fit for the document with just a little extra room on the sides. The last thing I do is place the folder inside an envelope that is labeled with its call number, title, and author. This allows patrons to identify the contents of each envelope without having to pull out the item. Now the documents have a little more support and protection from light damage and shelf wear.

One of my favorite things that I have found so far is a document called Massachusetts State Library Rules. They went into effect on December 1, 1926.

A few of my favorite rules are:

#11: It is requested that users of the library shall refrain from removing their coats and appearing in shirt-sleeves in the main reading room

#13: Telephone calls will be delivered only in cases of emergency.

The rules are fascinating because they highlight changes in social conventions, technology advances, and differences in library procedures. Stay tuned for more interesting finds!

- Corinne Philips, Preservation Intern

Medicaid Audit and All Other Audits

The State Library has received a copy of the recent audit entitled:
REPORT ON CERTAIN ACTIVITIES OF THE OFFICE OF MEDICAID AS ADMINISTERED BY MASSHEALTH IN THE PAYMENT OF CERTAIN CLAIMS FOR PERSONAL CARE SERVICES JULY 1, 2004 TO JULY 31, 2008.

This detailed audit found the program has inadequate internal controls, policies, procedures, and regulations over the Personal Care Attendant Program.

The State Library receives all the audits conducted by the State Auditor. We have them available in Room 341 of the Library in paper copies.

We also film them, so that we will have a permanent copy of the audits.

Bette L. Siegel, Documents Librarian

South Coast Rail Corridor Plan

The South Coast Rail Economic Development and Land Use Corridor Plan integrates planning with economic and land use development on a regional scale. The gateway cities of New Bedford, Fall River, and Taunton will be reconnected to Boston by commuter rail and revitalized through smart growth strategies. This blueprint clusters jobs and residences around new stations, maximizes the economic benefits of transit investment, preserve farms, fields, and forests in each community, and minimizes sprawl. By reducing the need for auto trips, the accumulation of greenhouse gas emissions will be slowed. Renewable energy will be incorporated into the design of the stations. Thirty-one municipalities, three regional planning agencies, the Southeastern Massachusetts Commuter Rail Task Force, and multiple state agencies participated in creating this vision for the corridor through 2030.

Preservation Update

It has been a busy couple of weeks in Special Collections and Preservation! Two major initiatives are underway and in the midst of these projects, I traveled to New Jersey to finish up my term at the Preservation Management Institute.

The Massachusetts Room Preservation Project
This is a multi-year project focused on rehousing unique documents produced by state agencies and concerning the Commonwealth. Many of these items were produced during the era of brittle paper (approximately the 1850s to 1950s) and are very fragile as a result. The preservation intern for the fall is working on rehousing fragile and thin items into acid-free folders and envelopes to provide support on the shelf and protection from light damage that can further degrade brittle paper. So far this season over 150 items have been preserved as part of this project. Stay tuned to the blog for updates on the project and posts about interesting items discovered in the process.

Mapping Massachusetts: the History of Transportation in the Commonwealth
This year the State Library received a grant as part of the Library Services and Technology Act to digitize collections relating to transportation systems in the Commonwealth. These materials include manuscript maps of railroads (built and proposed), materials from the Land and Harbor Commissioners, and materials relating to canals and tunnels in the state. Preparation for digitization has begun and that includes making sure that items look their best before they go under the cameras. Over the next few weeks I'll be cleaning up and making any minor repairs necessary to our first batch of items to be scanned, approximately 300 railroad maps. It is a great experience to see and work on these hand-drawn maps. With some stretching to over six feet long, they are really a testament to the care and diligence of state mapmakers of years past.

Preservation Management Institute
As mentioned in previous posts, the Library was awarded a National Endowment for the Humanities Preservation Assistance Grant last year to support my year of study at the Preservation Management Institute, a program of the Rutgers University School of Communication and Information. This October I traveled to Rutgers to complete my third and final week of the program. The class had some very interesting discussions about mission statements and current trends, the future of libraries in light of growing digital collections, managing change during times of restructuring and budget shifts, and a very enlightening presentation on digital imaging and what saving as a jpeg means for data/image loss. This week of discussions and presentations brought together ideas discussed in the previous two weeks of class and the hands-on experiences I've gained at the State Library over the past year.

The highlight of week three for me was our "backstage" tour of the New York Public Library (Mid-Manhattan Library). We spent a rainy afternoon there touring the preservation and conservation labs, the microfilming lab, the Office of the Registrar which handles exhibits, the main reading room, and the map room.
There were so many amazing things it is hard to express all we saw, but I guess I can sum it up by saying, we walked right by a Gutenberg Bible and only noticed it on a second pass through. What could be the crown of some collections is just sitting quietly in its own exhibit case with no fanfare. A slightly dark picture of the Bible is included at left. (No flash photography was allowed.)

We ended the day by visiting the Lionel Pincus and Princess Firyal Map Division. I know their collections are amazing, but I was most taken by the compact map shelving and beautiful decor of the reading room. Below at left is a picture of the ceiling of the reading room. While I appreciate that new technologies can provide library services in remote locations, there's something to be said for providing library services in amazing reading rooms.

For those of you looking for a beautiful space to access library resources and wi-fi here in Boston, the State Library has huge windows for natural light, a beautifully renovated reading room, and a flat screen television on the balcony for viewing House and Senate sessions.

- Lacy Crews Stoneburner, Preservation Librarian