History department at PCPL wants to partner with schools

Thursday, May 28, 2015

Putnam County Public Library Head of Local History and Genealogy Tony Barger informed the board of trustees he would like to build a partnership with area schools.

Barger said he would like to reach out to local schools in order to be a readily available resource to the students and staff.

"A lot of people have put us in a box with genealogy. We are more than just boring facts," Barger said during his presentation at the regular meeting Wednesday night.

"Our strength is that we are a repository of historical documents. Original documents such as diaries, speeches, letters."

Barger stressed the importance of seeing these primary documents first-hand. Reading the original documents would allow students to see information in the original context and see the emotion that is evident in the letter writer's handwriting.

"As the letter becomes more distressed, the handwriting changes," Barger used as an example.

Trustee members Lisa McCoy and Tona Gardner, who are both educators at area schools, expressed their interest in having these resources readily available to their students.

"Would you bring this to the school or have a digital archive? It's hard to get to the library with our classes," McCoy said.

Barger said these questions would be among the many asked when it came time to start making contacts within the schools.

Gardner noted the conversation Barger has started is very timely because Indiana standards now require fourth-grade students to utilize primary and secondary sources. She said teachers are frantically searching for these original letters and information or scholarly articles to bring into their classrooms. The library has an entire section of the library dedicated to these documents.

Barger noted there are roadblocks his department would face in preparing this information for student consumption, including himself and two part-time staff being the only ones available to digitize the information.

Gardner suggested utilizing online tools when working with the schools, such as Skype or Google Hangouts. This would allow Barger to go through a box of documents and information from the library while teachers project his presentation in the classroom.

She added by allowing students to use the information to do research, they could also use that time to build on to the digitization or creating a log of the information.

"We could involve the kids in the process and give them a sense of ownership," Gardner said.

McCoy stressed, "You have a valuable commodity that teachers need."

In other business, the Putnam County Public Library received good news from the Putnam County Community Foundation in the form of endowment grants.

PCCF board member Phil Gick attended the regular meeting with two checks totaling $33,008.60.

Six of the funds from which the library received grant payouts are focused on the library and programs. The endowments include the Library Author Series, Putnam County Public Library Fund, Cyril Johnson Genealogy Room, Albin-Rector Memorial Fund which focuses on materials for the visually impaired, Betty Hughes Memorial Fund which focuses on the children's department and the Imagination Library Fund.

Gick noted this is the first time there has been a payout from the Imagination Library Fund since its inception.

The library also received payouts from three funds which are not focused solely on PCPL, including the Andrew and Aura Durham Fund, Orville Webb endowment and Jewel Wright Fund.

The library board approved resolutions for the following position appointments:

* Lesley Stimpert as children's outreach librarian.

* Jean Walter as part-time reference assistant.

* Michelle Jordan as part-time circulation appointment.

Meanwhile, Monica Martin was hired to serve as the head of technical services. She will be replacing Pat Newman, who has retired from the library.

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