By GAIL FINEBERG
Citizens of three Ohio communities did not have to visit the Library of Congress in Washington to learn about the Library's resources and services to their region. Accompanied by Rep. Bob Ney (R-Ohio), chairman of the Committee on House Administration, Librarian of Congress James H. Billington and a team of Library staffers visited Columbus, Cleveland and Cambridge for four days in November.
In speeches, workshops, clinics and a concert, they introduced local audiences to a variety of Library services, such as online Web resources, including American Memory and the Learning Page; digital reference and genealogy; conservation practices; and the Veterans History Project and other efforts of the American Folklife Center to document the history and culture of the United States and its regions.
Partners in this project were the Ohio Arts Council, the Columbus Metropolitan Library, the Cleveland Public Library and the Pritchard Laughlin Civic Center in Cambridge. The Ohio trip, the first of its kind in the history of the Library, launched a pilot program to take the Librarian and the Library out to communities to tell people directly about the nation's library and give them a chance to meet, listen and talk to Billington.
"He was the big attraction everywhere we went," said Giulia Adelfio, Interpretive Programs Office, who coordinated the pilot effort that the 2001-02 Leadership Development Program, of which she was a member, developed from a concept proposed 10 years ago by Jill Brett, Director of Communications, and Angela Evans, then in the Congressional Relations Office.
Adelfio said the Library's reception in Columbus Friday afternoon and evening, Nov. 14, was particularly enthusiastic; large banners in the Columbus Metropolitan Library welcomed the Librarian, and an eager crowd greeted him after he and Ney spoke at an afternoon program.
Adelfio said people were impressed that "this grand scholar" would come out to Ohio to talk to them. "They were moved by what he said. His passion for books and reading and the Library of Congress comes through in his talks."
Speaking at the Columbus program, Ney said, "When Dr. Billington first told me that he wanted a way to bring the resources of the Library—its staff and expertise—closer to American communities, I knew I wanted Ohio to be the first host."
Ney enumerated services that the Library provides to the nation as the home of the Copyright Office and repository of "the mint record of American creativity—literature, music, manuscripts and recordings, photographs, maps, and film and television collections—128 million items in all." He also mentioned the Library's international collections and services to the U.S. Congress by the Congressional Research Service.
The congressman emphasized Library services to Ohio—through the Veterans History Project, which collects veterans' stories; the Learning Page and America's Library on the Web, which make primary-source materials available to schoolchildren and their teachers and librarians; and the Ohio Center for the Book, which promotes literacy and learning.
"I want to thank Dr. Billington for bringing the Library to your hometown here in Ohio," Ney said. "We thank him for his leadership in building the Library of Congress into the great institution it is, for creating the National Digital Library to share the Library with all Americans, and for making the Library a leading contributor of first-rate content for our schools and local libraries," Ney said.
"We are pleased to bring some of the resources of the Library of Congress directly to Ohioans," said Billington, adding that the "Library has a long association with the state of Ohio." He noted that two of the Library's 13 Librarians came from Ohio: Ainsworth Rand Spofford, a Cincinnati bookseller, publisher and newspaperman who served from 1864 to 1897; and L. Quincy Mumford, who during his tenure (1954-1974) "greatly expanded the Library's legislative, national and international roles."
In remarks at Columbus, Cleveland and Cambridge events, the Librarian noted that the Library holds the papers of some famous Ohioans, such as five generations of the Taft family, including former Supreme Court Justice William Howard Taft, and Wilbur and Orville Wright.
During its bicentennial celebration in 2000, the Library collected nearly 60 Local Legacies projects from Ohio, including those documenting the Pro Football Hall of Fame in Canton, Annie Oakley Days in Darke County, and the manufacture of the first U.S. Army Jeep in 1940 in Toledo, as well as the Barnesville Pumpkin Festival in Ney's district.
The Columbus Metropolitan Library presented Billington with a gold library card, and the Friends of the Columbus Metropolitan Library gave him a lifetime membership "in appreciation of a career devoted to opening the doors of knowledge to people everywhere."
"Dr. Billington's visit has increased our awareness of the Library of Congress and its resources and focused attention on the importance of recording our experiences for the benefit of future generations," said Columbus Metropolitan Library Director Patrick Losinski.
The Library expedition began its Ohio visit on Friday morning at the Cleveland Public Library. There they celebrated new life for the Ohio Center for the Book, which was relocated to Cleveland from the Ohio State Library in Columbus, where it was established in 1987. When the state library could no longer support the center, Ohio's book community rallied to the support and relocation of the center. Both Ney and Billington spoke.
"As the new home of the Ohio Center for the Book, the Cleveland Public Library will build on a powerful tradition of library cooperation and resource sharing in Ohio," Billington said.
Library staff conducted a number of workshops over the four-day visit. On Friday afternoon in Columbus, the American Folklife Center demonstrated the art of conducting oral history interviews. Tim Lloyd, director of the American Folklore Society, based at Ohio State University, interviewed World War II prisoners of war in front of a large group of local high school students. Ellen Lovell, director of the Veterans History Project, and folklorist David Taylor participated in the workshop.
The same afternoon, Claire Dekle of the Library's conservation staff and Jennifer Koerner of the Intermuseum Conservation Association conducted a conservation and preservation workshop for library and historical society professionals.
In Cleveland on Saturday, Dekle conducted a public clinic, which focused on the conservation and preservation of family artifacts, such as papers, books, prints and manuscripts. The Cleveland Museum of Art and the Intermuseum Conservation Association co-sponsored the clinic. Christine Pruzin, a member of the Library's Digital Reference Team, demonstrated the sources and usage of the Library's Web site, highlighting American Memory offerings and online exhibitions. And Lovell and Taylor, with help from Tim Roberts, conducted an oral history workshop for the Veterans History Project.
Library staff spent Sunday and Monday in Cambridge. A highlight of the Pritchard Laughlin Civic Center program on Sunday afternoon was an announcement that the Guernsey County Commission had declared the week of Nov. 16 "Library of Congress Week."
Ney and Billington spoke to about 100 people preceding a "Homegrown: The Music of America" concert co-sponsored with the Ohio Arts Council. Tony Ellis and the Musicians of Braeburn performed bluegrass music.
On Monday in Cambridge, Ney and Taylor conducted a demonstration Veterans History Project interview, and Library staff conducted a conservation clinic and demonstrated the American Memory Web site.
One somewhat unexpected result of the visits was that many Ohio participants became aware not only of resources available through the Library of Congress, but also learned more about the wealth of the local resources—including libraries, historical societies and other cultural institutions—that their own communities have to offer.
Gail Fineberg is the editor of the Library's staff newsletter, The Gazette.