|
|
By admin, on February 8th, 2012
 The State Library has a really neat exhibit going on right now in the display cases on the 7th Floor of the Cultural Education Center. Since 1871, the Library has been a Patent and Trademark Resource Center. This means that they have almost every piece of information that the United States Patent and Trademark Office has ever published.
To celebrate Black History Month, the Library pulled from that information a collection of drawings and documents from some of the earliest African-American inventors.
Some very interesting stories emerge–such as that of Granville Woods. Often referred to as the “Black Edison” Woods had over 30 patents in his lifetime (1856-1910). These patents centered mostly around railroad technology. One, for a telegraph system that would work from train stations to moving trains and vice versa, came under scrutiny when Thomas Edison claimed it was his invention. Woods won the case for this patent, among others that Edison brought against him.
Other inventors featured include Lewis Lattimer, inventor of the water closet and the incandescent lamp, and Sarah E. Goode, first African-American woman to receive a U.S. patent and inventor of a cabinet bed that folded into a desk when not in use to maximize space.
For more information on the exhibit please visit the New York State Library’s website, and if you’re in the area please come up and take a look yourself!
By admin, on January 19th, 2012
 We’ve got another awesome lunchtime event on the calendar next week on Wednesday, January 25.
Author William Staats will discuss his new book “Three Centuries on the Hudson River: One Family–One Dutch House.” He will talk about Hoogebergh, a 1696 family homestead on the east bank of the Hudson River about five miles south of Albany, and share stories of the eleven generations of the Staats family who have lived there.
I’ve looked at his book, and Mr. Staats is an intriguing and amusing story teller with many stories to tell about his family home. This talk promises to be a good one!
Here are the details:
Date: Wednesday, January 25, 2012
Time: 12:15 p.m. – 1:15 p.m.
Place: Librarians Room, New York State Library, 7th Floor of the Cultural Education Center, 222 Madison Avenue, Albany
Hope to see you there!
By admin, on January 5th, 2012
It’s a bit early to jump into tax season, but for those of you who like to start early the New York State Library has both federal and state tax forms available to you.
The forms are in the Library on the 7th floor of the Cultural Education Center. Take the elevators up to the 7th floor and look to the right of the reference desk. They are right there on the table, free for the taking.
Currently, the Library is missing the instruction booklet for Federal Tax form 1040, but they expect to receive it in a couple of weeks. I’ll post updates when they receive the booklet.
For more information on these forms and changes to the tax system visit the State Library’s website.
Remember also that you can access your forms online instead by visiting the IRS website for federal forms and the NYS Department of Taxation and Finance for state forms.
By admin, on December 12th, 2011
If you’ve been wondering what we’ve been up to lately you’d be absolutely justified in doing so. It’s been pretty quiet on the blog front.
The reason for this is that the Friends have started sponsoring more programs. We’ve had some very successful events in the last three months and if you haven’t attended any of them you’ve been missing out on some great talks! In October we had Gladys Montgomery–a real estate agent who specializes in architecturally distinctive (historic) properties–come to speak. She gave a wonderful lecture on the Great Camps of the Victorian era in the Adirondacks, complete with hundreds of pictures to illustrate life there. In November, Janny Venema, Associate Director of the New Netherland Research Center, brought to life the world of Kiliaen Van Rensselaer. Our December program, cosponsored with the New York State Writers Institute, was with Willard Sterne Randall. He read from and spoke about his new book on Ethan Allen, who accomplished much more than his legacy suggests.
If you happened to miss these programs, don’t worry. We are in the process of planning some exciting events for 2012. Stay tuned to the events calendar and this blog right here for more information.
An even better way to stay up to date with our events is to become a member. For those looking to renew their memberships for 2012 (or to become a new member), remember that can you can do so online by clicking Become a Member here or in the sidebar.
As always, if you have any suggestions, questions, or comments you may leave a comment on one of our posts or email us at nyslfriends@yahoo.com.
p.s. Our weekly blog posts will be returning with gusto in the new year. 
By admin, on November 23rd, 2011
The Friends are co-sponsoring an event with the New York State Writers Institute featuring Willard Sterne Randall. If you’re in the area on Tuesday, December 6 at 8 p.m. stop by the Huxley Theatre in the Cultural Education Center for a reading from his newest book Ethan Allen: His Life and Times.
Willard Sterne Randall is author of biographies of Colonial and Revolutionary War period figures including Alexander Hamilton, Benedict Arnold, and Benjamin Franklin.
For more information on the program see the Willard Sterne Randall poster.
By admin, on October 4th, 2011
 In July 2011, Acanthus Press published a book written by Gladys Montgomery called, “An Elegant Wilderness.” In the Gilded Age, Upstate New York was the hotspot for millionaires in the United States. This book brings together pictures and stories from the Great Camps of the Adirondacks during this time.
On Tuesday October 11, 2011, Gladys Montgomery will speak about the evolution of the rustic style in architecture and decoration in the Adirondacks, why this area and style appealed to the wealthy of the 19th century, and the lifestyle at the great camps. The lunchtime event, sponsored by the Friends of the New York State Library (that’s us!), will take place at 12 p.m. in the Librarians Room on the 7th Floor of the Cultural Education Center.
By admin, on September 22nd, 2011
 A week from today, Assemblyman McEneny will give a talk sponsored by the Friends on the topic of Capital Region’s cultural heritage.
Assemblyman McEneny received his B.A. in history from Siena and was Albany County Historian. Widely known as an expert teacher and speaker on local history, and author of the illustrated book “Albany: Capital City on the Hudson,” he is a wealth of knowledge on the subject of cultural heritage in Albany and its environs.
If you would like to attend the event, here are the details:
Date: September 29, 2011
Time: 1:00 p.m.
Place: Huxley Theater, 1st Floor of the Cultural Education Center, 222 Madison Avenue, Albany, NY
This event is free and open to the public; there is no need to register.
If you would like to attend a pre-talk buffet lunch ($10/person) please do register by calling 518-474-5957 or sending a message to nyslfriends@yahoo.com by 10:00 a.m. on Monday, September 26.
We hope to see you there!
By admin, on August 9th, 2011
 The New York State Library’s August exhibit is on the New York State Fair, held this year in Syracuse from August 25 to September 5.
From humble beginnings in 1841 as a fundraiser for the New York Agricultural Society, the fair has grown to one of the largest in the nation, attracting 1,000,000 visitors per year. It is also the oldest fair in the nation.
The State Library has a significant number of items documenting the State Fair from its inception up until recently. Here are some of the items on display in the cases surrounding and across from the elevators on the 7th floor of the Cultural Education Center:
- Report of the Committee on Cheese, at the Fair of the New York State Agricultural Society, for 1851 (circa 1851)
- New York State Agricultural Society Annual Rosters of Members (scattered dates 1842 – 1858, MSC SC6999)
- 54th Annual New York State Fair (1894 broadside)
- New York State Fair Spelling Bee List: 5000 Words Adopted for the Spelling Contest Held Yearly in Syracuse at the N.Y. State Fair (circa 1932) -Premium List, New York State Fair: Youth Department L (1975)
- The Fair, the Great New York State Fair: Cornucopia of Good Eating (1981)
- Journey Out of the Ordinary!: The Great New York State Fair, August 25 – September 5, 2011 (2011 poster)
- See the complete display list here.
By admin, on August 4th, 2011
If you are interested the the genealogy of your family or someone else’s the New York State Library is the place to be this Saturday. Join Senior Librarian and genealogy subject specialist Shawn Purcell for an hour-long tour of the resources you can use for research in this area including published genealogies, local histories, church records, Daughters of the American Revolution (DAR) records, United States and New York State Census records, newspapers on microfilm, city directories and more.
Space is limited and this program is very popular. Sign up now by visiting this page or by calling 518-474-2274.
By admin, on August 2nd, 2011
Today as part of our weekly library website tours we will explore some of the elements of the electronic resources page. You can get to that page by navigating to http://www.nysl.nysed.gov and clicking on “electronic resources.” This page will appear:
We’re going to save the Catalog for another day. Today we will focus on the next two links there: Databases, Indexes & Reference Sources and e-journals. This post will only touch the surface of what’s there. You’ll have to explore yourself to see the breadth & depth of the collection.
Databases, Indexes & Reference Sources
This link will bring you to a page of databases listed by category. The databases contain full-text articles, citations, and abstracts. Under each title and description you will see a little box that tells you who has access to these journals offsite. Novel databases can be accessed with a New York State license number, “NYSL R Card” databases can be accessed by anyone with a library card whose number starts with “R” (available to all residents of New York State), and “NYSL P Card” databases can only be accessed by people with library cards with a number starting with “P” (which you can get by joining the Friends at the $50 level or above). All of the databases can be accessed at the library on one of our computers or on a laptop using our wireless.
The databases fall into the following categories:
- Agricultural Sciences
- Anthropology and Archaeology
- Art and Architecture
- Biography
- Biological Sciences
- Business
- Education
- Engineering
- Environmental Science and Ecology
- Genealogy
- Geology
- Government
- Grants
- Health and Medicine
- History
- Law
- Language and Literature
- Library and Information Science
- Multi-Subject
- Newspapers
- NOVELNY Databases
- Political Science
- Psychology
- Reference
- Standards
- Statistics
- Technology
Some of the more well-known databases include HeritageQuest and Ancestry (library edition) for genealogocial research, JSTOR and Academic Search Complete for academic texts, and Foundation Directory Online for searching grants. If you take a look at the list, however, you will find information in almost every category of which you can think.
If you’re not quite sure of the information for which you are looking, it is easiest to search by category. If you want to find out whether or not we have a specific database, you may want to look at the alphabetical list of databases.
E-journals
One of the options if you are looking for a specific article or citation, or if you want to know if the library has a specific journal title in its holdings, is to search the list of e-journals. This list is ordered alphabetically, giving you links to the journals themselves as well as links to the databases in which you can find them.
For a person browsing or someone just starting a research project this is probably not your best option, as it contains a lot of dense information. You will be able to find what you need by using the search engines found within the databases (which collect many journals together). The e-journals section of the Library’s website is essentially just another way to search the same titles that are in the databases, just in a different format.
Conclusion
There you have it! If you have any questions, leave your comments below and we will do our best to answer.
Next week we’ll look at what the “e-books” and “internet bibliographies” section of the site has to offer.
|
The State Library has a really neat exhibit going on right now in the display cases on the 7th Floor of the Cultural Education Center. Since 1871, the Library has been a Patent and Trademark Resource Center. This means that they have almost every piece of information that the United States Patent and Trademark Office has ever published.
