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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.
By admin, on July 28th, 2011 Senior Librarian Stephanie Barrett will teach her popular program “Historical Newspapers” this Saturday July 30 from 10:30 to 11:30 in the 7th floor computer classroom. She will focus on three databases we have at the library: 1) America’s Hisorical Newspapers, 2) Historical Newspapers and 3) Civil War: A Newspaper Perspective.
If you are interested in this popular program be sure to register either by calling 518-474-2274 or going through the library’s website.
By admin, on July 18th, 2011 Hello readers. Although we have continued with our regular Monday blog postings, we fell out of a theme for those posts. Beginning today we have a new theme: navigating the State Library’s website. Each week I will highlight a different aspect of the website, hopefully revealing collections that some of you had no idea existed.
This week we will look at the Library’s digital collections, pieces of which we’ve written about here (New York State Museum Memoirs, Natural History Survey). The library has a collection of over 65,000 documents (over 2 million pages)! These are split into three main collections:
- New York State Government Publications (including Regents exams from 1957 through the current year);
- New York State Library Scanned Documents Collection (including scanned monographs and selected broadsides, maps, mansucripts, and scores from the Library’s Manuscripts and Special Collections), and
- Education Laws and Policy Documents.
While writing this post I realized it was a lot of information to digest so here’s a visual aid and a breakdown of what’s on this page:
First off, you can get to that page by clicking the screen capture above or this link. The links on the page perform the following functions:
1. To search the collections, click “Search Digital Collections” (marked 1 on the screen shot). This will bring you to the catalog. If you cannot find what you need by searching “content” then click the “metadata” button and try searching on that setting. Sometimes the content does not register in the search.
2. If you click “Browse the Complete Digital Collection,” marked 2 above, you will find 4 broad folders labeled New York State Goverment Publications, New York State Library Scanned Documents, Education Laws and Policy Documents, and United States Government Documents. Click on these folders to drill down into the categories you would like to explore.
3. The links marked 3 allow you to browse select historical and New York State documents that the library possesses. This is a great place to start if you just want to get a sense of the type of documents that the library has in these collections. It is less overwhelming than starting from scratch.
4. If you are looking for historical pictures rather than documents, you will want to look here or click on link number 4. At that website you can search for specific pictures or browse through them (they are arranged in categories).
5. For more information on the digital collections, see the Digital Collections FAQ. This further explains the structure of the digital documents. If you are having a technical problem, the answer may also be on that page.
6. & 7. I added these links last because they do not really bring you to a specific digital collection. They do, however, take you to pages where you can access finding aids and explore the different areas of the library.
By admin, on July 11th, 2011  The State Library has two new exhibits in the display cases on the 7th floor of the Cultural Education Center. In the cases across from the elevators you will find old July covers of Collier’s magazine. In the cases surrounding the elevators you will find book jackets from the books purchased in memory of Melinda Yates. Both these exhibits will remain available for viewing through July.
Melinda Yates
Melinda Yates was a librarian at the State Library from 1974 to 2005. She passed away in 2010 and in her memory friends, colleagues and neighbors donated to a fund which the Friends used to purchase books for the library. Each book has a commemorative bookplate noting the significance of the donation.
As Melinda was an avid literature lover and responsible for selecting literary materials for the State Library’s collection, most of the books fall into that category, but the collection also includes books on United States history, New York history, African-American history and other related topics.
The exhibit only covers a selection of the collection. For the full list of the books in her memory see Melinda Yates books.
Collier’s magazine
Collier’s was launched as a weekly magazine in 1888 by Peter Collier, an Irish immigrant who tried for a career in the priesthood but ended up founding the largest subscription house in America at the time. By 1892, only four years after its launch, Collier’s Once a Week (as the magazine was named at that time) was one of the most popular magazines in the country with a circulation of over 250,000.
Collier’s Magazine soon became a proponent of social reform, publishing investigative reports written by prominent writers at the time. One of these articles (actually, an 11 part series), written by Samuel Hopkins Adams in 1905 and titled “The Great American Fraud” analyzed the contents of patent medicines, arguing that these medicines didn’t work and actually caused harm in some cases. Due to the popularity of this article, Congress passed the first Pure Food and Drug Act in 1906.
The magazine, over time, left muckraking behind and shifted its focus to fiction, publishing big names such as Willa Cather, J.D. Salinger and Sinclair Lewis. It did not completely leave politics aside, however, covering both World Wars with revealing articles from the front lines.
In 1957 the magazine closed its doors, even though it had a circulation of over 4,000,000. It simply could not compete with television for ad revenue. Plans are in the works to resurrect the magazine.
If you search in the State Library catalog you will find copies of all the issues from 1895-1957. You will also find yearbooks from Collier’s for the years 1951 to 1956. We also have copies of “The Great American Fraud” published on its own.
By admin, on June 27th, 2011  This is the last Monday post in the June series on different items and events at the State Library. To round out the month, I would like to introduce you to a really neat collection housed in Manuscripts and Special Collections.
Reader, meet the Almanac Collection, where you’ll find everything you ever wanted to know and some things you didn’t. This collection contains over 10,000 paper copies of almanacs dating from 1684 to the present.
What exactly is an almanac, you ask? The earliest versions were simply calendars, with notations of holidays, holy days, and astronomical information (rising and setting of sun, moon phases, tides). Some, like Poor Richard’s Almanac, contained quips, poems, and astrological information as well.
Later the almanacs took up specific subjects. The State Library’s collection has almanacs in some of the following areas:
- Causes & Organizations;
- Humor;
- Medicine;
- Niche Topics;
- Politics;
- Promotions;
- Specific Regions;
- Religion.
You may see more subjects, and individual Almanacs that the Library has within these subjects on the Library’s website. That link will also give you background on almanacs, pictures of their covers, and a link to the almanac finding aid.
At one point, these books were second only to the Bible in popularity, and offer a great historical look into society during the time that each individual almanac was published.
By admin, on June 20th, 2011 The Friends of the New York State Library are sponsoring a program this week on The Washington Spirit. This alternative newspaper was published bi-weekly from 1971-1975, covering many of the political and cultural events happening in the area at that time. Here is the description of the program:
Long before the internet, the blogs and the social media, Albany had an alternative source for news and arts information, in the early 1970′s. The Washington Park Spirit combined a progressive political bent, investigative reporting, coverage of the emerging cultural scene and a little bit of community organizing to win a loyal following among city dwellers and state workers. Peter Slocum and Kathy Schofield Zdeb, two veterans of that experience, will recall those days of exciting journalism on the streets of Albany. Sponsored by the Friends of the New York State Library.
If this description piques your interest here are the details of the event:
Date: Thursday, June 23, 2011
Time: 12:15-1:15 p.m.
Place: Librarians Room, 7th Floor of the Cultural Education Center
Registration (strongly encouraged): Click here or call 518-474-2274
We have some copies of the Washington Park Spirit in our collection at the library. We have 1971-1973 in book form and 1971-1974 in microfilm format (see the catalog). Copies of the Washington Park Spirit will also be at the program if you would like to see them there.
We hope to see you on Thursday!
By admin, on June 13th, 2011 This year marks the 6th official year of June as Carribean-American Heritage Month. As in years past, President Obama issued a proclamation at the very end of last month, marking this month as the one in which we (as Americans) celebrate our friendship with the countries in the Caribbean.
The State Library houses thousands of items on the Caribbean. The Friends take particular pleasure in a collection we purchased recently with funds from a grant of $5,000 sponsored by Assembly Member John J. McEneny. The collection consists of African-American and African-Caribbean culture and history items.
The following are a few items from the collection related to this topic, but if you would to see the full list click here:
- Cul-de-Sac People: A St. Martin Family Series by Mathias S. Voges
- Freedmen of Barbados; Names and Notes for Genealogical and Family History Research by Jerome S. Handler et al.
- Researching Your Jamaican Family by Jennifer O’Sullivan-Sirjue with Pansy Robinson.
- Tracing Ancestors in Barbados, A Practical Guide by Geraldine Lane. Baltimore, MD: Genealogical Publishing Co., Inc.
- Tracing Your West Indian Ancestors Second Expanded Edition by Guy Grannum.
- A Tree Without Roots: The Guide to Tracing British, African, and Asian Caribbean Ancestry by Paul Crooks
The Library also has a good number of books by Caribbean-American writers. Here are just a few:
Jamaica Kincaid
- A Small Place – a short nonfiction prose piece about the Caribbean island of Antigua.
- At the Bottom of the River – collection of short stories centering on a nameless, blossoming Caribbean girl.
- Lucy – novel about Lucy, a teenage girl from the West Indies who works as an au pair for a seemingly happy family.
Claude McKay
- The Negroes in America
- The Passion of Claude McKay; Selected Poetry and Prose, 1912-1948
- A Long Way from Home – McKay’s account of his long journey from Jamaica to Harlem and then on to France, Britain, North Africa, Russia, and finally back to America.
Paule Marshall
- Brown Girl, Brownstones – Somewhat autobiographical, this groundbreaking work describes the coming of age of Selina Boyce, a Caribbean-American girl in New York City in the mid-20th century.
- The Fisher King: A Novel – novel about a family trying to redeem itself after years of hurt and recrimination.
- A heavily annotated typescript fragment of Marshall’s most popular novel Brown Girl, Brownstones, published in 1959 (in Manuscripts and Special Collections).
To find out more information about the authors, click on their names. While you’re at it, take out one of their books and enjoy.
By admin, on June 6th, 2011  Each month since the beginning of the year we’ve had a new theme on which to focus our Monday blog post series. January was Black History Month, April was National Poetry Month, May welcomed Spring, etc.
June does not lend itself so well to to a theme which we can connect to the New York State Library collection, as other months have so kindly done. Some examples of observances for this month include “Adopt a Shelter Cat Month,” “Lemon and Mango Month,” “Dairy Month,” and “National Accordion Awareness Month”–clearly not topics on which we could easily write a month’s worth of posts.
So this month, we’ll be looking at a bunch of different resources and points of interest at the New York State Library. Some will center around one of the (not so silly) observances for the month of June, others will have no such center.
This week, we will focus on one of the Library’s digital collections (no observances today). To find it, we have to take a little journey through the catalog. Use the following steps:
1. Navigate to the State Library’s Catalog.
2. Click on “Digital Library” in the grey navigation bar at the top. A box will pop up.
3. Click on “Hyperion Hierarchy” to browse the digital collections.
4. Choose the “New York State Library Scanned Publications Collection” folder and then “PRINTS” (feel free to get sidetracked along the way).
Once you get to this folder you will see a list of prints you can browse depicting a wide range of New York State’s history (including this post’s picture). Some of my favorite include the “Structure of the government of the Iroquois confederacy” and “New York City in 1660.” Be warned once you start clicking the links you’ll get lost in the history of the great Empire State!
By admin, on June 2nd, 2011  Are you a World War II buff? If so, the exhibit for this month, June 2011, will please you very much.
Come to the 7th floor of the Cultural Education Center to see dozens of World War II posters, culled from a collection of over 1000 WWII posters housed in Manuscripts and Special Collections on the 11th floor.
I’m currently working on this collection and it’s a very interesting one indeed. It seems to me, as a person who did not live through this time, that these posters sum up an era unlike our own. The blatant propaganda is at times morbidly amusing, and at other times downright eerie. This was clearly an all-hands-on-deck war, the posters serving as one kind of call to action.
One series, one poster of which is in the exhibit, went through a number of ways you could hurt yourself and others (by slipping on oil, by getting in a car accident, etc), noting that by hurting Americans (including yourself) you were helping the 7th column. Another series, called “Prevent Forest Fires” (not in the exhibit, but in the collection) listed ways to avoid setting a forest fire, which, they noted, by harming the land would help the enemy.
Although the war was happening overseas, these posters brought the war front home as well. The more that civilians became involved at home, the more they felt they had a stake in the outcome of the war, which meant an increase in support for the war. Every person, even children, could help by donating old clothes or metal scraps, by buying war bonds and stamps.
These posters are better seen than described in words. If you want to come and look, they will be in the display cases surrounding the public elevators and right across from the elevators through June. They’re a real treat–don’t miss this exhibit even if you’re just mildly interested!
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