Interlibrary Loan …and other happenings … at the

VIVA ILL Forum - July 18, 2008 Sweet Briar College

Interlibrary Loan …and other happenings

… at the

Suzy Szasz Palmer

Director of Research & Information Services


The ILL Staff(Cathy, Malinda, Dave & Ted)


Selected Statistics (since 2000)

BORROWING

• Average annual # of borrowing requests– 2,041

• Average borrowing fill rate – 88%


Selected Stats, cont’d.

LENDING

• Average annual # of lending requests received – 15,943

• Average annual # of loans to VIVA libraries – 2,145 (13.5% of total)

• Average lending fill rate – 56%


What Do We Loan?(annual averages since 2000)

• Books/photocopies = 3,442

• Microfilms – “Archival” = 4,374– Newspaper = 838– “Other” (theses & dissertations, census) = 210


Microfilming of Local & State Records at LVA

• Sometime prior to 1946: The State Library filmed land office records and some county records.

• October 1946: The Genealogical Society of Utah, or GSU (est. 1894 and funded by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints) first approached the State Library about filming Virginia records. – Proposed to station a camera operator at the Library to film records kept

here and another operator to begin filming records housed at the various county clerk’s offices.

– The plan would create one negative copy for the Library and two positive copies (one for research at the Library and one for Interlibrary Loan). An additional negative copy would be retained at the GSU.

– The Library encouraged the court clerks to cooperate and to take part in the project. Records were filmed up to about 1865.


Microfilming history, cont’d.• Early 1970s: A fire destroyed records at the Botetourt County

courthouse, prompting the General Assembly to legislate and fund a program of “security filming” for the remaining courthouse records. – Employees of the State Library were sent to the courthouses to create

microfilm copies of their records. The film was to be housed at the then-not-yet-built State Records Center.

– There was no provision in the legislation for copies to be made for use at the Library or through ILL.

• Mid 1980s: GSU again approached the State Library of Virginia for permission to make copies of this security film for their collection as well as providing the Library with public use copies. – Project continued into the 1990s. At some point during this project, no

Interlibrary Loan copies were made of the post-1865 film from most of the counties from Madison to York.


Microfilming history, cont’d.• 1987: The Virginia State Library is renamed the Virginia State Library &

Archives

• 1994: The Virginia State Library & Archives is renamed the Library of Virginia

• Early 2000s - present: The Local Records Services Branch of the Library begins a long-term project to fill in the collections of the Library Reading Room and Interlibrary Loan with copies of relevant security microfilm not chosen by the GSU for their use.

– Project also includes making ILL copies of those records not provided by the GSU in their efforts in the 1980s and 1990s. At the completion of this project, we should have ILL copies of all local records currently available at the Library.

– Duplication now underway is for film up to 1900 – not everything we may have for a county in the Reading Room.

– Next, we'll go back to duplicating another period, e.g., 1901-1925 or 1901-1950, depending on available funds and staff recommendations.

– Technology may changes these plans… microfilm may be dead!!




Form Used by OUR Borrowers Only





How to Find What We Have?

OPAC … but not everything is there!



Hard to Find, but Commonly Requested … on Microfilm

• County & City Records

• Vital Statistics Records

• Tax Records– Land Tax Records– Personal Property Records


County & City Records

• Introduction

• Research Notes Number 6 – “Using County & City Court Records”

http://www.lva.virginia.gov/whatwehave/notes/rn6_countycity.pdf




County & City Court Records

• Local records are the most basic resources for investigating Virginia’s past, documenting the daily activities of the courts in Virginia’s counties and cities.

• Original county and city records are often held in local courthouses, but Library of Virginia has a substantial collection of records for some localities.


How Are They Arranged?

• Processed holdings are arranged by locality and then into eighteen broad categories.

• They are then further divided into major record series.

• Holdings do not necessarily include records from each locality in each category.


Broad Categories

• Board of Supervisors Records: minutes of meetings of the administrative branch of local government.

• Bonds/Commissions/Oaths: qualifications for office and apprentice indentures.

• Business Records/Corporations/Partnerships: records of businesses, such as ledgers, daybooks, and accounts, usually submitted as exhibits in cases before the court.

• Census Records: local copies of the federal census.• Court Records: minute and order books, judgments, chancery records,

clerk’s correspondence, execution books, memorandum books, and docket books.

• Election Records: poll books and lists of voters.• Fiduciary Records: appraisals, inventories, estate accounts and audits,

estate sales (only when recorded in separate volumes), guardian accounts and bonds, and administrator’s and executor’s bonds.

• Free Negro and Slave Records: free negro registers, lists, and certificates.• Justice of the Peace Records: executions by justices and constables.


Broad Categories, cont’d.

• Land Records: deeds, processioners’ returns, plats, and surveys.• Marriage Records and Vital Statistics: marriage bonds, ministers’

returns, and local copies of birth, marriage, and death registers.• Military and Pension Records: militia returns, Revolutionary war

and Civil war pension records, and muster rolls.• Organization Records: minutes and accounts for non-business

and non-government institutions, including churches, granges, and fraternal societies.

• Road and Bridge Records: accounts for building and maintaining roads and bridges.

• School Records: lists of students and textbooks used.• Tax and Fiscal Records: local copies of land and personal property

tax books and lists of tithables.• Wills: wills and probate records recorded in will books.• Miscellaneous Records: overseers of the poor records, estrays,

and lists of physicians.








Southampton County



City of Lynchburg


Vital Statistics

• Includes the official recordation of marriages, births, and deaths. Bible records, cemetery records, and church records are private sources that may supplement the official records.

• Research Notes Number 2 – “Using Vital Statistics Records in the Archives at the Library of Virginia”

http://www.lva.virginia.gov/whatwehave/vital/rn2_vitalstats.htm




Dates Covered

• April 1853 – law requiring systematic statewide coverage passed by GA (continues in effect through 1896)

• 1896-1912 – no statewide recording of births/deaths. – Some metropolitan areas kept records after 1896.

• Statewide registration began again in 1912 (contact Office of Vital Records)





Birth, Marriage & Death Registers on Microfilm


NOTE: “missing” means no original is known to exist


NOTE: Death Certificates, 1912-1939 …reels are NOT available through ILL


Tax Records

Land:• Frequently used for the direct information recorded:

name of the property owner,quantity of land owned, location of land, amount of tax imposed, or changes in ownership.

• Also used to help date structures

• Research Notes Number 1 – “Using Land Tax Records in the Archives at the Library of Virginia”

http://www.lva.virginia.gov/whatwehave/land/rn1_landtax.pdf








Tax RecordsPersonal Property :• Frequently used for the direct information recorded:

name of the property owner; type and quantity of property owned; and amount of tax paid.

• Comparative analysis of personal property tax records from year to year may lead to conclusions about social, economic, and agricultural history, as well as the status of certain individuals or groups of property owners within a locality.

• Research Notes Number 3 – “Using Personal Property Tax Records in the Archives at the Library of Virginia”

http://www.lva.virginia.gov/whatwehave/tax/rn3_persprop.htm







Accomack County


Now for the short cut: go to the site index …


…and use the alphabetical listing.


How to Order?Use a blank workform from OCLC…




Only 3 mandatory fields: 1)lender (VIC), 2) title…


… 3) verified (no specific format required)


Interlibrary Loan StaffContact Information

• Ted PolkInterLibrary Loan Manager – [email protected]

• Dave GrabarekILL Specialist/Borrowing – [email protected]

• Cathy Holmes ILL Specialist/Lending – [email protected]

• Malinda MortonAdministrative Assistant – [email protected]

mailto:[email protected]





Newspapers

• Go to “What We Have” or the Site Index– Online databases (available at LVA only)

– Collection guides

– U.S. Newspaper Program• Virginia Newspaper Project

– National Digital Newspaper Program (NDNP)


Partial list of collection guides


U.S. Newspaper Program &

Virginia Newspaper Project• U.S. Newspaper Program (USNP)

– national effort to locate, describe, inventory, preserve, and provide public access to the United States imprint newspapers

• Virginia Newspaper Project (VNP)– part of USNP; focused on providing access to newspapers

housed in the commonwealth– established at the Library of Virginia in 1993 with grant funds

from the National Endowment for the Humanities– sponsored by and headquartered at the Library of Virginia – The University of Virginia, the College of William and Mary, and

the Virginia Historical Society have served as co-sponsors– Contact: Errol Somay ([email protected])



Search titles in the VNP




National Digital Newspaper Program

• partnership between the NEH and the Library of Congress to provide enhanced access to United States newspapers

• over a period of approximately 20 years, NDNP will create a national, digital resource of historically significant newspapers from all the states and U.S. territories published between 1836 and 1922

• a searchable database will be permanently maintained at LC and be freely accessible via the Internet.

• NEH and LC launched a prototype of this digital resource, "Chronicling America: Historic American Newspapers," in March 2007

http://www.loc.gov/chroniclingamerica/



Other News

• Web site– Redesign

• OPAC– redesign

• Digital Collections– Many listed under “What We Have” (e.g.,

photographic collections”)– New web site under development, “Virginia Memory”– Link in new OPAC to “Images & Indexes”


Thanks!

Questions?

Suzy Szasz Palmer

[email protected]

804-692-3620


Documents

Interlibrary Loan …and other happenings … at the