"Doing What You Can, With What You Have, Where You Are:" Coping with Circumstances in the Research Room, Part Three

So let's say that you understand the BDC's adjustment in service delivery and that you have thoroughly explored all the BDC's content on the Library's website - and you haven't found what you hoped to find, that you cannot find the answers to the local history questions you have. Now it's time for you to contact the Library system's other reference librarians. The funny thing is: Reference librarians today do precisely what we have done since 1876 - though some of our tools have changed in the interim. 

Reference librarians: 

1. Teach people how to use the library and its resources

2. Answer questions for specific information

3. Recommend good vetted sources and reading materials

4. Promote the library within the community. 

While I am on FMLA and the BDC has no staff per se, the oft-unheralded BCL Reference librarians should be able to assist you with basic and fundamental questions about family history and local history. Each physical library building has at least one ALA degreed librarian on staff. Be sure to ask for one since not everyone who works in a library is a ALA degreed librarian.

Beaufort Branch 843-255-6458

Bluffton Branch 843-255-6503

Hilton Head Island Branch 843-255-6525

Lobeco Branch 843-255-6482

St. Helena Branch 843-255-6487  

Honestly, they won't be able to provide the level of service and institutional knowledge that my two advanced library science degrees, additional graduate level study in African American and American history, my certified archivist credential and 23 year tenure on staff here brings to in-person Research Room customers, but they can help you more than you might expect. But they can't help, if you don't ask. So ask. 

Image: Reference by Nick Youngson CC BY-SA 3.0 Pix4free.  https://pix4free.org/photo/1651/reference.html 

"Do What You Can, With What You've Got, Where You Are:" Coping with Circumstances Inside the BDC Research Room, Part Two

A few weeks ago, I outlined my management plan for the BDC going forward. There has been some necessary adjustments made that are likely to continue for some time. What can a person interested in Beaufort District's long and storied history do to help him/herself to educational materials about that tale in light of those necessary adjustments? Perhaps more than you might think.  

The BDC delivers local history information about the geographical area called "Beaufort District" along three distinct pathways: 1) To Researchers physically present in the Research Room; 2) At the Branch Libraries through local history programs and the local history sections of materials you can borrow; and 3) In virtual form via reference questions arriving by email or over the telephone or through the blogs or via digital collections we share through the Lowcountry Digital Library or one of the other 5 buttons you find towards the bottom of the BDC's home webpage on the Beaufort County Library website.

Through the years, I have posted a lot of content on the Library's website through the BDC's homepage. This content is available at no charge to anyone with access to the internet 24 hours a day/7 days a week/365 days a year. I would recommend that you explore what's hiding behind the buttons first. When the SunCity Carolinians came last month, I walked them through the the BDC's homepage. I'm going to do the same for you. 

Starting from the very top: If there's a notice that everyone needs to see, it is usually in a red bar with white letters just under the address bar. In this case, I'm writing this post on 30 June so the notice refers to the upcoming July 4th closure of the Library system. 

The next section contains the Library's logo on the left and three linked items on the right: the Contact Us button in teal - which allows you to send an email to the system; a blue outlined box that lets you "Search for an item" that links you to the page from which you can read magazines on Flipster; borrow items through the Library's streaming service, Hoopla, or see what's in the Library's SCLENDS based catalog. 

Proceeding towards the bottom of the page, for the time being there is a link to the Library's Strategic Plan survey document, here indicated with the words "Tell us what you think about the library." 

The next line of tabs is permanent and looks like this: 

If you hover over "Locations", you'll see a drop-down box of all the Library's service units: Beaufort Branch, BDC/Local History, Bluffton Branch, Bookmobiles, Hilton Head Island Branch, Lobeco Branch, and St. Helena Branch and their respective homepages. 

If you hover over "Books & Downloadables", you'll get access to the Library's SCLENDS catalog, Hoopla service, and the Flipster magazines. 

"Events" contains Book Club information and the Library system's calendar of upcoming programs and events. 

"Summer Reading" tends to appear in the late Spring and goes away in August or September. 

The "Research & Learn" tab has an extensive array of digital materials so many that I am including a picture of that drop-down box for you: 

Newest among them is access to the New York Times! The relevant ones for the BDC virtual services  are: Ancestry.com; Library History; Local History - which really just gives you another way to get to the BDC's homepage and buttons; and Obituary Index. The other resources in the dropdown box are important, too - just not as relevant to the BDC's mission. 

The "Services" tab has sections  "For Children," "For Teens," "Curbside," "Get a Library card," "Meeting Rooms," "Scan, Print, Fax, Copy" services, "State Park Pass," "Subscribe" to library e-newsletters, and the seasonally populated "Tax Help." 

The "About Us" tab has the most buttons. Hence this image: 

 

You could also think of it as the policies and partnerships tab. If you haven't yet completed the Survey, please do. The data gathered will inform the Strategic Plan now being created. 

Now we're going to get to the meat of the BDC's Homepage. On the left under the tab line is "Beaufort District Collection There is now limited access to the Research Room. Contact gracec@bcgov.net or call 843-255-6446 for details" and then the BDC's address. I'm here to tell you that while I am away, Ileana Herrick, the Library's Administrative Assistant is the person to contact. Her email address is iherrick@bcgov.net; her telephone number is 843-255-6452.                                                                                                      I want to draw your attention to the About the BDC section under the logo. This describes in broad terms the types of materials the Research Room has and the basic outline of services this unit provides. Researchers will want to pay particular attention to the details about the parking situation.                                                                                    Under the About the BDC is two lines of buttons: Digital Collections link to the 8 collections we have posted to the Lowcountry Digital Library; Connections Blog is actually this format; BDC on Facebook page, Local History Materials is the Library's Marketing director's term for the BDC's Lists, Links, and Finding Aids Blog on the WordPress platform; Beaufort County Moments is a short video series consisting of 17 topics  that the County Channel produced in 2010-2011; Ancestry.com Library Edition provides access to this venerable genealogical database on the Library's computers inside our buildings; and the Local Obituary Index.

  

There's a duplicate "Contact Us" button in the big teal box along the bottom of the BDC's webpage that is repeated on every webpage on the Library system's website. You'll also see a "Subscribe" button, the Facebook icon that will take you to the Library system's Facebook page; and the YouTube icon that will take you to the Beaufort County Library's YouTube Channel. 

On the Library's YouTube Channel you will currently find 4 BDC produced local history programs: "The Means of Grace" with Dr. Eric Plaag;  "Duels in Beaufort District" with Neil Baxley; my "Tide of Death"; and "The Hidden Senator" with Anne Christensen Pollitzer. 

There is an alternate way to get to all these features on the BDC's homepage. Using the "Research & Learn" tab, select "Local History" from the drop-down box to get this array of the same material: 

I encourage you to thoroughly explore and search all the content made available through the Library's website about local history. 

Diversify Your Reading Challenge: Contemporary Fiction

Because as a person I am not particularly interested in fiction, and as manager of the BDC I don't have to "do" fiction, I had to look up what the July 2022 category meant.  According to Novelist+ the key aspects of "Contemporary Fiction" are that it is based in current times, has human characters, and includes no elements of fantasy. The pickings are pretty slim for this category in the BDC. If not T.D. Johnston and the Short Story America series published in Beaufort, SC, I would have little to share with you today. 

T.D. Johnston is a  Beaufort resident and award winning short story writer. We purchased a copy of Weeding for Eisenhower: Stories (2021) a collection of 18 stand alone tales that one reviewer called "oral storytelling written down with an honesty and urgency of a writer at the top of his form." The BDC is the only unit within SCLENDS to hold this particular title. We also purchased a copy of his  Friday Afternoon and Other Stories (2016) which contains a dozen of Johnston's tales. The Beaufort County Library holds 4 of the 6 copies of this title within SCLENDS. (Literary history is important too.)  

In addition to being a writer of the short story form, Johnston edits the Short Story America series. According to the Short Story America website, its "mission is to bring the short story back into the mainstream of American culture, to bring the short story author back into prominence in American literature, and to enhance American students' awareness and education in the art and value of the short story." 

Volume 1 (shown above in shiny orange) entitled Short Story America Anthology contained "56 Great Contemporary Short Stories" (and no copyright publication date on the title page or the verso of the title page but which came out in 2011). Each subsequent volume has fewer short stories but seems to have stabilized around to 30 - 35 selections per volume. I like that Johnston included Author Biographies in volumes 1 - 4. You can see the Table of Contents (abbreviated v. TOC) on the Short Story America website under the "Anthology" tab as shown in the image below.

There are at present a total of 6 volumes containing more than 225 short stories that you can enjoy inside the Research Room, subject to staff availability to sit with you. 

"Do What You Can, With What You've Got, Where You Are" : Coping with Circumstances inside the BDC Research Room, Part One

Following the "Do what you can, with what you've got, where you are" dictum has forced me to seriously revisit all the services and activities that the BDC has provided and to focus in on the few that have the most impact and/or are the most important for a cultural heritage professional to put the BDC in the best shape I can before I turn the responsibility over to the next BDC manager/staff person when I retire within the next 6 to 31 months.   

Bottom line: Good stewardship of the community's records entrusted to the Beaufort County Library is now and has always been my #1 priority. 

The enduring loss of staff  has made delivery of the special collections and local history assets much more difficult. Thus you will see some diminution of services that is a direct consequence of relying solely on one person to manage and deliver an array of special collections and local history services over an extended period of time as the BDC enters yet another Fiscal Year with a ravaged department staff. Therefore from this point forward until my retirement - whenever it may come -  this is how I plan to manage delivery of local history materials and services as long as there is only one employee working fulltime inside the Research Room: 

MATERIALS-FOCUSED

• I will focus on getting already prepared Finding Aids to the Archives written by former BDC support staff edited and posted for the BDC's WordPress blog. 
• Technical Services staff is already working on getting a baseline BDC collection inventory and replacing all the faded BDC spine and barcode labels before I exit the building for the last time. 

 PEOPLE-FOCUSED 

• I shall emphasize delivery of materials and services to In-room Researchers.
• I will acknowledge all incoming requests for assistance within 72 hours of receipt.
• I will only undertake those tasks that can be successfully completed within 1 hour of research time per off-site customer request. 
• Deliverables will be processed within 15 working days of receipt of request.

PROGRAMS-FOCUSED

• BDC local history programs and outreach efforts will be reduced to 10 - 18 outings per performance evaluation period. 

SOCIAL-MEDIA FOCUSED

• Social media posts will be reduced by 66% to free up time for preservation and archival projects. 
  

LOWCOUNTRY DIGITAL LIBRARY

• Digital projects will be reduced by 33%. 

I will be out on the office on FMLA beginning at 5 pm on 8 July 2022. Contact Library Administrative Assistant, Ileana Herrick, iherrick@bcgov.net; 843-255-6452 in my absence. 

"Oceans of Possibilities": Summer Reading Program 2022

Summer Reading Program 2022 is underway. A porthole is on the Research Room door, the display case has an oceanography theme, and those who wish can learn more about the local marine environment by reviewing these items - and more -  in the BDC. Several of the featured titles also have copies in one or more of the the BCL's branch libraries.  

The underlying assumptions behind summer reading programs are : 1) Summer is an interruption in school-based learning that has a negative impact on the retention and development of children’s reading skills and 2) Summer reading programs help to make-up for this “break” in learning and result in positive reading achievement outcomes when children go back to school in the fall. But SRP can be extended to all ages - and the BCL does that too. The BDC focuses in on the tier of Young Adults, aged 13 to Centenarians. 

The Collaborative Summer Library Program determines the themes, slogans, and does a lot of the graphics work. Libraries decide how to implement the theme. Luckily, the BDC does have some ocean-related and shoreline-related resources to share with our customers. I tried to pick the ones with the most colorful or interesting covers for the display case. 

Shelf 1 contains some sea shells and sea glass and two books: A Coast for All Seasons: A Naturalist's Guide to the Coast of South Carolina by Miles O. Hayes and Jacqueline Michel (2008) and Where Have all the Shrimp Boats Gone? : A 100-Year History of the Shrimping Industry in the South Carolina Lowcountry by Woody Collins (2020).  A Coast for All Seasons discusses the formation of coastlines, the difference between coastlines along the state's shore, and the future changes expected to come along the interface between ocean and land. Collins' book examines the development of the trade from the end of the 19th century through oral histories and images. 

Shelf 2 features sea creatures: Sharks, Skates and Rays of the Carolinas by Frank J. Schwartz (2003); selections from the County Channel's award-winning Coastal Kingdom series presented by Tony Mills including "The Salt Marsh" and "Sharks & Rays" on DVDs; Of Sand and Sea: Teachings from the Southeastern Shoreline by Paula Keener-Chavis and Leslie Reynolds Sautter and published by the SC Sea Grant Consortium in 2002 and Sharks in the Shallows by W. Clay Creswell (2021) about shark attacks on humans along the North and South Carolina coasts as well as a copy of the Oceans of Possibilities CSLP poster for adults, pieces of sponge and sea glass, and a shell. 

Shelves 3 and 4 cover natural and commercial history of tasty edible sea creatures. Beaches are a common feature along all of the state's coast - some more accessible than others. William W. Starr offers A Guide to South Carolina Beaches (2001): Shrimp Tales by Beverly Jennings (2020) examines the commercial history of shrimping from Florida to North Carolina; while the Hilton Head Turtle Book by Leslie E. Parker (1997) and the Dolphins of Hilton Head by Cara Gubbens (2002) discuss the animals from a natural history perspective.

History of the South Carolina Blue Crab Fishery by Victor G. Burrell (2009?) is a companion to Burrell's South Carolina Oyster Industry : A History (2003). Burrell was a well-known and highly respected marine scientist who retired as Director of the South Carolina Marine Resources Research Institute in 1991 after which he devoted some of his time and expertise to gathering and writing these histories. 

Nature Guide to the Carolina Coast identifies common birds, crabs, shells, fish and other animals who live along the coasts of North and South Carolina, many in color photographs. 

Tideland Treasure is the ideal book to bring on walks on the beaches of Hilton Head Island and the Southeast coast. This book grew out of a 5-year span of articles that Todd Ballantine published in Island Events Magazine. It is charmingly hand-scripted and replete with his drawings of typically observed plants and animals of the beaches and salt marshes of Hilton Head Island and the Southeast coast. Ballantine even offers ecologically friendly tips such as: Beachgoers should leave living sand dollars on the beach and/or in the surf. Once a sand dollar is bleached white by the sun then it is dead. Dead sand dollars can be picked up. 

Be sure to check out the features - and prizes - that can ensue from joining the Library's Summer Reading Program! The program ends July 31, 2022.