Is the Idea of Libraries in Danger?

 A bestselling English author named Terry Deary recently came out against the idea of libraries in The Guardian newspaper.

"I'm not attacking libraries, I'm attacking the concept behind libraries, which is no longer relevant," Deary told the Guardian, pointing out that the original Public Libraries Act, which gave rise to the first free public libraries in the UK, was passed in 1850. "Because it's been 150 years, we've got this idea that we've got an entitlement to read books for free, at the expense of authors, publishers and council tax payers."

The article itself attracted well over 300 comments, as well as a discussion on the LinkedIn group "Genealogical and Historical Research."

Deary is an extreme case; most authors and municipalities still have a broader notion of the public good. But we should recognize that his attitude is on the rise. In more and more cases, there's a tendency to say that everything should be paid for, that there should be no free public goods available to all and supported by our taxes. (The ongoing attempt to improve public schools by privatizing them can be seen as another aspect.) The recent removal of Cook County, Illinois, record images from FamilySearch appears to have grown out of this mindset. Images of the records are still available for $15 apiece from the county clerk. Note that this is not a case of a clerk charging for copies but allowing anyone to view the records themselves; the records themselves are apparently now a commodity.

Genealogy will be rather different if the idea that everything is for sale comes to prevail. Public libraries and archives, supported by taxes, embody the philosophy that everyone is entitled, up to a point, to learn stuff on their own for free. Mr. Deary's philosophy implies that everyone is entitled only to whatever he or she can pay for.




Alison Flood, "Libraries 'Have Had Their Day,' says Horrible Histories Author," The Guardian, 13 February 2013 (http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2013/feb/13/libraries-horrible-histories-terry-deary?goback=.gde_106885_member_217038814 : accessed 28 February 2013).


Harold Henderson, "Is the Idea of Libraries in Danger?," Midwestern Microhistory: A Genealogy Blog, posted 6  March 2013 (http://midwesternmicrohistory.blogspot.com : accessed [access date]). [Please feel free to link to the specific post if you prefer.]

More on endangered libraries

David Morris of the Institute for Self-Reliance:

"The word 'public' has been removed from the name of the Fort Worth Library.
Why? Simply put, to keep up with the times."
From the Media release on the rebranding of the Fort Worth Library

Fort Worth, you leave me speechless. You’re certainly correct about one thing. The public library is indeed an institution that has not kept up with the times. But given what has happened to our times, why do you see that as unhealthy? In an age of greed and selfishness, the public library stands as an enduring monument to the values of cooperation and sharing. In an age where global corporations stride the earth, the public library remains firmly rooted in the local community.

Morris has much more to say. (I was interested to learn that no public library closed its doors during the Great Depression.) He points to an alleged villain I had not heard of, the library privatization firm Library Systems & Services (LSSI).

In genealogy, we have gained useful access to a lot of information via some forms of privatization. Those who did research before Ancestry.com existed can tell stories, and do. I think most would agree that Ancestry has been a net benefit to the field, even though there are aspects of its work that do not meet professional standards. With that rather general comparison in mind, are there librarians or library users out there who have a good word for LSSI?

(Hat tip to Sam Smith's "Undernews" newsletter.)

What is happening to libraries -- Michigan and Indiana

The spring issue of the Michigan Genealogical Council newsletter chronicles the ongoing process.

On the positive side, state census films are being indexed by Ancestry, and are expected on SeekingMichigan.org by this fall. Naturalization records from at least 59 of the state's 83 counties are expected on SeekingMichigan.org within a a year. After that, look for "survey notes, plat maps and land state patents." (Note also information on GenealogyWise's Michigan discussion group about changing URLs for some Michigan resources, including cemeteries.)

On the other side, the Library of Michigan now staffs only three service desks 10am-5pm. "If additional information is needed feel free to call the reference desk phone line at 517-373-1300 and they will return your call as time allows." (The Archives of Michigan is already open from just 1-5 weekdays.) And draconian cuts in state help for local libraries will cause the Troy library to close May 1st and Detroit Public to reduce staff by 20 percent.

It's not just Michigan. The Indiana State Archives, although dreadfully understaffed, has put up a number of useful databases on line as the Indiana State Digital Archives, and volunteers there are working on more. But the physical state archives (the vast majority of which are unique records that are not microfilmed or digitized) are located in an old warehouse that would not stand up to a tornado and whose roof leaks. As Indiana librarians and county genealogists were informed at their April seminar, the governor isn't interested in fixing that situation until he can find private contributions for the project.

Just to be clear: this is what's happening, read it as you will.

Personally, I do not think that the expansion of virtual libraries justifies or compensates for the short-sighted cuts being made to physical ones. A library that you can get to easily is a ladder that even a bad student, a nonconformist, an outsider can climb. Cutting and closing them takes rungs off the ladder. No one rung is essential. You can usually find a workaround. But when enough rungs are gone, it's not a ladder any more. It's just some sticks on the ground.

Birth and Death in Willard, Ohio

A tip o' the hat to the October 15 issue of NEHGS eNews for highlighting the Willard Memorial Libary's online databases of birth and death announcements. (Willard's not a place you're likely to visit by accident. It's a small railroad town in Huron County, Ohio, south of Norwalk -- about halfway between the east-west arteries of the Ohio Turnpike on the north and the near-interstate-quality US 30 to the south.)

Each database contains just over 10,000 entries from the local newspaper, the Willard Times-Junction. My quick and possibly superficial check didn't find any entries prior to 1950. Volunteers continue to add to the system, but it's not clear whether they're keeping up with the present or moving back into the past, or both. Thanks to them in either case.

On my way out I noticed the library's front page: "Willard Memorial Library SYSTEM LIBRARIES CUT HOURS DUE TO SECOND HALF BUDGET REDUCTION." Something similar has happened at my local library in Indiana. Librarians may not be in a good position to speak out, but as genealogists we should let our elected officials know that libraries are a public service that should not be crippled by short-sighted budget freezes and tax cuts.

Two Michigan Libraries, from a devoted user

Jasia at Creative Gene has an eloquent and substantive appreciation of the Library of Michigan in Lansing and the Burton Historical Collection at Detroit Public Library. Read and file for when you take on those difficult Michigan relatives. And for those of us who think of libraries as eternal and unshakeable, her story of what happened to the Burton Collection is worth paying attention to.

Reasons to wish your ancestors died in eastern Ohio and central Wisconsin

The New England Historical and Genealogical Society eNews for 5 March (which should be archived here but doesn't seem to be) highlights two Midwestern libraries' online databases:

nearly 25,000 obituaries from the weekly Louisville Herald in Stark County, Ohio, by way of the Louisville Public Library, and

more than 200,000 newspaper records from the Marshfield [Wisconsin] Public Library, covering Wood, Marathon, and Clark counties.

Michigan Genealogist covers everything from Virginia to Ontario

Michigan Genealogist (PDF) isn't a publication of the Michigan Genealogical Society, because there isn't one (the only statewide genealogy organization is a council of local groups). It's the quarterly newsletter of the state's Department of History, Arts, and Libraries, and it's an on-line publication.

The fourth issue of 2007 -- mostly written by librarians and archivists with reference to their employer's holdings -- covers an amazing amount of ground. The following is a selection:

"Map Guide to German Parish Registers," by Kendel Darragh

"Researching Your Ontario Ancestors"

"Using Online Indexes to Michigan Land Records," by Gloriane Peck

"Research with Probate Records," by Kris Rzepczynski

"The First Three Years of the Michigan First Vital Records Act" (i.e., 1867-1870), by Charles Hagler

"Virginia Genealogy Sources for Michiganders" (this is not a joke!), by Edwina Morgan

"The Birth and Death of Lansing's Black Neighborhoods," by Robert Garrett

And where else are you going to learn that the Library of Michigan holds a microfilm index to the 1855 state census of -- Illinois?

Genealogizing outside the lines...

The wonderful Genblogfinder tempts me to stretch my definition of the Midwest:

On our far right-hand side, Pittsburgh will be hosting the August 1-3 meeting of the FEEFHS, the Federation of East European Family History Societies. The conference blog lists speakers and topics including "Austria-Hungary" (in two parts, naturally), "Recruiting Rules of the Austrian Army," "Russian Empire Research," and "Polish Archives: Behind the Scenes in Gdansk & Poznan." Conference blogs don't tend to be cutting-edge, but it does give me a warm fuzzy feeling that people are working these resources.

On our left-hand side, the Davenport (Iowa) Public Library's Richardson-Sloane Special Collections Center, AKA "Quad City Memory," is blogging at "Primary Selections from Special Collections." Recent posts include generous excerpts from Capt. Chester Barney's unique and wry recollections of the Civil War, and a cliffhanger about Davenport barber, foot doctor, and ex-slave General Houston.

Genealogy Gems (not a blog)

It's the email newsletter of the second biggest genealogy library in the country, the Genealogy Center in the spanking new Allen County Public Library in downtown Fort Wayne. Subscribe at their website; it's a quick read with useful information (including a new orientation video in Quicktime format) even if you can't physically visit this Midwestern genealogical mecca. The January 31 edition of "Genealogy Gems" has a couple of articles on a source type close to my heart -- directories.

The library's online presence is growing and pleasantly idiosyncratic: so far it offers three searchable Indiana statewide databases: Indiana artists, Indiana WWI deaths, and the mortality lists for the Indiana Farm Colony for the Feeble-Minded (AKA Muscatuck Colony, in Jennings County), 1924-1937.