Mystic Seaport Collections Research Center

With America’s long history of maritime commerce and adventure, it is not surprising that a research center dedicated to man’s relationship with the sea and inland waterways would be of interest to researchers around the world. And not surprising either to find this research center at Mystic Seaport, the nations’ premier maritime museum. What is surprising, however, is to find a research center where everything maritime, from manuscripts to fine art, exists together in one location. The Mystic Seaport Collections Research Center is not just a library, or an archive, or a museum, it is all of these things.

Housed in new quarters in a renovated velvet mill, the Center boasts a variety of maritime collections, many available for research and study in the Center’s reading room. Visitors include students, researchers, genealogists, hobbyists, historians, boat owners, ship builders, and many others. Those who cannot visit the Center will find extensive online resources. There are online catalogs of book, manuscript and art collections. Online databases include crew lists, seaman’s protection certificates (like a passport for sailors), and yacht registers. Besides online catalogs and databases, the Center has digitized many of their more popular collections. Center staff have digitized about a half million items and continue digitizing daily. No wonder, then, that the Center attracts so much interest from researchers world-wide.

The Manuscript Collection includes “ships’ logs and journals, ledgers, diaries and documents from the whaling, fishing and shipping industries, and various business and personal papers of yacht clubs and naval architects.” These manuscripts, many dating back to the 18th century, give researchers some of the most valuable and straightforward ways of accessing the experiences of men and women at sea. Ships’ logs give a glimpse of the day-by-day life of sailors . Of interest to genealogists, historians, and model builders, ship registers provide information on the owners, captains, and sea-worthiness of thousands of ships on the seas in 19th century America. Of particular interest recently are the insights the manuscripts give into the ethnicity of sailors, the experience of women at sea, and the early labor activity of sailors. The race, gender, and ethnicity of sailors are listed in many of the ships logs and journals. Students and scholars make good use of this primary research material.

The Book and Periodical Collection specializes in American maritime history. The G.W. Blunt White Library has around 75,000 volumes, including 3,000 rare books and 700 periodical titles. Subjects include “ships (passenger ships, merchant marine, ocean liners, Coast Guard, naval and pleasure), immigration, yachting, voyages, women at sea, crew lists, whaling, exploration, and discovery.” Of particular note is a full run of the periodical The Rudder, a famous yachting and boating magazine which started in the late 19th century.

The Ships Plans Collection includes over 125,000 sheets of plans for ships traveling by wind, steam and gas. There are plans of existing boats and historic boats, merchant vessels and private yachts, rowing boats and naval vessels. Of particular note are the plans, correspondence, and design drawings of L. Francis Herreshoff, a famous ship designer and author. Herreshoff’s ship plans and drawings are of particular interest to boat and ship builders and hobbyists. For the study of ship-building architecture, the ship-building industry, and the sheer artistry of ship-building, the Ships Plans Collection is invaluable.

The Center has many non-print collections of use to maritime students and scholars. The Photography Collection covers “more than150 years of commercial and recreational activity and include onboard, shipyard, and waterfront scenes; portraits of shipmasters and other mariners and Inuit life and culture.” The Film and Video Collection “covers a broad range of subjects, including storm scenes, boating, ocean passages, yachting, various ports and cities, boat building and restoration, lighthouses, whaling, rowing, Gold Cup races, sail making, ice boating and fishing.” The Sound Archives includes oral histories and recorded lectures and events on maritime activity.

As noted earlier, the Center is not just a library or archives, it also includes an Art and Objects Collection. This collection “includes American marine art, ephemera, nautical instruments, ship models, scrimshaw, industrial fishing gear, furniture, whaling implements and myriad tools from the various maritime trades.”
All these collections, from nautical folk art to the log books of the Charles W. Morgan are found under one roof and made available for study by the staff of the Collections Research Center. The staff provide a number of research and copy services.

Before any visit, researchers should look at the extensive resources already available online at http://library.mysticseaport.org . Digital materials can also be found on Connecticut History Online http://www.cthistoryonline.org . The Mystic Seaport Collections Research Center is located at 75 Greenmanville Avenue in Mystic, a stone’s throw from the Seaport Museum.

An edited version of this article appeared previously in Connecticut Libraries.

Railroad History Archive, Dodd Center, University of Connecticut

Transportation is a big issue for many Connecticut citizens. Whether stuck in traffic jams on I91 or I95, or stranded at Bradley Airport with a ticket to a cancelled flight, today’s travelers are apt to dream a bit about the days when the railroads worked well and went everywhere. Few realize that just 100 years ago you could take a train to almost every city and town in Connecticut. Starting in the 1830’s, various railroad companies began building rail lines through southern New England and by1872, through consolidation and mergers, the New York, New Haven and Hartford Railroad had become one of the major railroad empires in the United States. The corporate records of this railroad, commonly known as the New Haven Railroad, are now held at the Dodd Research Center at the University of Connecticut. They are the nucleus of one of the largest railroad history collections in the Northeast.

The New Haven Railroad records span over 2100 linear feet and deal largely with the administrative, financial, legal, and real estate transaction files of the company. Though the records do not include the personnel files many genealogists search for, they do include many corporate records of predecessor and subsidiary lines such as the Central New England Railway, the Providence and Fishkill Railroad, the Housatonic Railroad, and others. The New Haven Railroad remained in business until 1969 when mismanagement and competition from the airplane and automobile led to its failure.

This huge collection of corporate records became accessible to researchers at the University of Connecticut in 1989 and then became a part of the Dodd Center in 1996. As often happens with the establishment of such an important core collection, the New Haven Railroad archives attracts donations of collections from many private collectors, railroad enthusiasts, and researchers. Among the most important of these collections is the Property Valuation Maps created in 1915 by order of the Interstate Commerce Commission, and the Railroad Stations and Structures collection. The maps and drawings provide detailed information on the real estate and architecture that were a part of the rail lines at that time. Of particular interest are drawings of many of the stations, freight houses and other structures in the New Haven Railroad.

Photographs make up a particularly valuable and accessible part of the Railroad History Collections. There are approximately 50,000 photos and postcards, with many scenes of stations, locomotives, bridges, and rail scenery. Charles B. Gunn, the official photographer of the New Haven Railroad during the 1950’s, documented the devastation of the 1955 floods. The papers of Harry E. Brown, an electrical engineer with the company, include many photos of the New Haven Railroad’s railroad electrification project. The New Haven Railroad is renowned as the first mainline railroad in the United States to use alternating current electricity that it generated from its own power station at Cos Cob, Connecticut, to power its trains that traveled from New Haven into New York City. Besides the popular photograph collections, other resources include annual reports, leases and other real estate information, ledgers, stock certificates and timetables.

Laura Katz Smith is the curator of the Dodd Center’s Railroad History Collections. Laura sees a variety of researchers, including railroad enthusiasts, hobbyists, modelers, graduate students, genealogists, local history researchers, and Department of Transportation employees. Lawyers handling property disputes, landowners, land surveyors, and rails to trails people are particularly interested in the Property Valuation Maps. Architects and town officials are often interested in the station and rail building photographs and drawings. Laura emphasizes that though she has an interest in and appreciation for railroad history, she approaches the subject first as an archivist and librarian. Most reference questions are unique and require a unique response. Many serious research visits require careful preparation beforehand. Laura does as much as she can in helping people who can’t come in person for a visit.

Railroad enthusiasts can be a passionate group of researchers, but they aren’t the only ones passionate about historical accuracy. Laura says that more than one novelist has contacted her for information on old train timetables. Often the novelist will want to place their character in a historically accurate setting and will want to know where a train went and when, how long the journey took, and how much it cost.

Laura is involved in several projects to bring some of the collection’s materials to the Internet. First, the Railroad History Archive (http://railroads.uconn.edu/ ) is the gateway site to general information about the Railroad History Collections. The UConn Libraries “Digital Mosaic” site ( http://images.lib.uconn.edu/ ) includes digital images of “Steam and Electric Locomotives of the New Haven Railroad, “ part of the Fred Otto Makowsky Papers, and 900 Connecticut maps from the “New Haven Railroad Valuation Maps.” There are 2600 maps in this collection and more maps are being digitized now. Many photographs of Connecticut railroad stations are available on Connecticut History Online ( http://www.cthistoryonline.org/ ). More information on the New Haven Railroad’s railroad electrification project is available at http://railroads.uconn.edu/locomotives/electrification.htm.

For more information on the Dodd Center, see http://doddcenter.uconn.edu/

An edited version of this article appeared previously in Connecticut Libraries.

Windsor Historical Society Library

As the first European settlement in Connecticut, Windsor is not the biggest or the most famous town, and a few might argue that they might not even be first. But if you are a historian or genealogist and your research involves Connecticut, then you are very likely to end up in this historic town. So many early European-American families got their start here that researchers naturally find themselves searching for information on Windsor’s early history and first families. Luckily the Windsor Historical Society is there to provide many of the resources these researchers are looking for. Town residents, Connecticut citizens, and out-of-state tourists visit for the historic attractions offered by the Society and for the research materials available in its Library.

Founded in 1921, the Windsor Historical Society is a nonprofit organization formed to “inspire public awareness and appreciation of the diverse people, places, and events that contribute to Windsor’s evolving history.” As well as exhibition galleries, a museum shop and bookstore, two historic houses, and a hands-on learning center, the Society has an active Library open to the public. The Library maintains an important collection of books, manuscript collections, cemetery records, regional and state histories, town reports, local newspapers, school yearbooks, city directories, ephemera, and maps. All this material helps tell the story of Windsor and the families that lived there. Though area residents make good use of the Library’s collections for local history research, the library also attracts many people from outside Windsor and outside Connecticut. Genealogists, students, and researchers all make use of the Library’s published collection of genealogies, local Windsor and regional histories, local newspapers, and area historical journals.

Besides collections of these published materials, the Library owns about 60 different manuscript collections. Among them are family papers, church records, cemetery records, and Windsor vital records. The Library owns over 100 account books from 18^th and 19^th century Windsor businesses. The Connecticut tobacco industry is the object of renewed interest recently and the Library has important manuscript material in this area including the Huntingdon Brothers Records and the Records of the Shade Tobacco Growers Agricultural Association. The Library also has been protecting and indexing material in what they call the “Old Document Project.” This collection includes various land records, business documents, legal documents, estate documents, town contracts for road work and school teachers, lists of district school pupils, early military documents, and personal records including genealogies and correspondence. This Project’s materials are well indexed by name, date, and document type. Of particular interest to Windsor residents, and a popular research topic, are the Library’s material on historic Windsor houses. Many Windsor home owners use the Library’s resources for exploring the history of their historic homes and the homes’ previous occupants.

As is often the case with local history collections, the Windsor Historical Society Library has extensive photograph and postcard collections. The Library is also actively accumulating and organizing maps from primary and secondary sources. These materials see heavy use and require special care.

The past newsletters of the Windsor Historical Society have research value in their own right and the Society has indexed and made them available in paper and online via the Society’s website. Also included on the website are descriptions and finding aids for many of the manuscript collections available in the Library. Besides finding aids, the library has a card catalog and is using museum-specific software to compile a database of its holdings.

Barbara Goodwin, Librarian for the Society Library, works on creating more finding aids and in organizing and collecting material for the Library. Goodwin would like to see the holdings of the Library represented in the statewide reQuest database some day. Right now the Library has a budget for new acquisitions and it does accept donations of documents, manuscripts, and other material that “relate to Windsor history, Windsor genealogy, or the object collections of the Windsor Historical Society.” None of the items in the Library’s collections circulate. Goodwin encourages researches to visit the library in person where she can provide direct assistance. She will also assist those who are seeking help by mail or by email and a certain amount of research is provided for free before any research fees kick in. Goodwin gets assistance on specific projects and some genealogy research from a group of about a half-dozen volunteers.

The Windsor Historical Society Library is open Tuesday – Saturday, 10 a.m. – 4 p.m. with a nominal admission charge of $5.00. They are closed Sunday, Monday, and major holidays. Find out more about the Windsor Historical Society and its Library at http://www.windsorhistoricalsociety.org.

An edited version of this article appeared previously in Connecticut Libraries.

State Education Resource Center Library

If you didn’t know anything about the State Education Resource Center Library on Industrial Park Road in Middletown, you might assume from its unassuming name and location that this must be some sort of warehouse of books for teachers and that there probably would not be any trained staff to help with research. Luckily, you would be wrong. The SERC Library is no warehouse and is instead a very welcoming library with staff trained to assist with any and all research in the education of children and youth in Connecticut.

Legislated into existence in 1969 as the Special Education Resource Center, SERC evolved into a resource for both special and general education, including early childhood education and school improvement. In 2005, as a result of a change in State legislation, SERC changed its name (if not its acronym) to better reflect this broader mission. SERC “is known for providing high-quality, research-based professional development to educators, service providers, families, and community members as part of its commitment to improve the achievement of Connecticut's children and youth.” The Library is a central component in this mission as SERC consultants try to incorporate library resources into the work they do in their programs and initiatives. Much of this activity involves helping school districts respond to the various state and federal education requirements and much of the SERC Library collections support this specific function.

Despite the more formal role that SERC plays in supporting school districts, the Library “is open to the public and provides access to a wide variety of educational resources to all educators, parents, student support services personnel, administrators, prospective educators, and other interested individuals in Connecticut and its surrounding states.” From Ph.D. candidates to high school students, from working teachers to parents, the Library serves a varied clientele with different needs and research abilities. Approximately 11,000 Library members borrow materials as individuals and most items in the SERC Library collections circulate.

The more popular of these collections include: Testing material, often used to respond to specific educational requirements and given to students in schools by trained personnel; Instructional material, used directly by teachers in classrooms ; and In-Service Education material, used by working teachers for professional development. Other resources include: Professional Books, Family Books, CD-ROMs, Vertical File Resources, School-Family-Community Partnership Resources, and Young People's Books. All these collections are represented in the SERC online catalog. Also, the Library has a number of major online databases available for use in the Library, including H.W. Wilson's Education Index and EBSCOHost’s ERIC, Education Research Complete, and Psychology and Behavioral Sciences Collection databases. Journal articles may be accessed via these databases or by using the extensive collection of education journals available in house. Many of these specialized journals are not available in electronic form.

The SERC Library is much more than a just a depository of education-related library materials. As the SERC Library’s “ Beliefs and Values” statement says, “We seek to acquire the best and most comprehensive collection of materials in the field of education. We are dedicated to making our Library as user-friendly as possible by providing exceptional personalized assistance to our patrons.” It is the customer-concerned, service-oriented staff that make this library a treasure. Each person using the library gets individual attention and assistance. A long list of bibliographies, prepared by staff, are available to help jump-start research on common topics. The online catalog may be available over the web, as are the bibliographies, but a visit to this Library is often much more focused and effective than what one is accustomed to in academic libraries with similar collections. Library staff also welcome visits by classes and will visit organizations to promote the use of SERC Library services. In addition, the Library helps SERC disseminate a wide variety of government and non-government pamphlets and other resource materials on special and general education topics.

In planning for the future, the SERC Library is looking to expand its offerings of online resources. SERC also wants to make the Library a more integral part of its professional outreach service. A new community room will allow the library to bring programming specifically to its library customers and community members at large.

The staff at the SERC Library includes Co-Coordinators Donna-Lee Rulli and David Cormier, Library Assistants Megan Bozzi and Yolanta Garcia, and Library Associates Susan Cohan, Barbara Wallach, and Diana Whitehill.

The SERC Library is open six days a week and is located at 25 Industrial Park Road in Middletown. For more information, go to their web site at http://www.serc.org/library.


An edited version of this article appeared previously in Connecticut Libraries.

Harriet Beecher Stowe Center Library

When Harriet Beecher Stowe researched the experience of slavery while writing Uncle Tom’s Cabin, she wrote Frederick Douglass and asked him to recount his own memories as a slave. This letter to Douglass and many other manuscripts of special interest to researchers in 19th century history are available for study in the Stowe Center Library. The Library, with a collection of over 12,000 books, 4,000 pamphlets, and 180,000 manuscript items, as well as 12,000 photographs, prints, and other images concentrates on 19th century women’s history, the Stowe and Beecher families, 19th century African-American history, and on Victorian architecture and the decorative arts.

The library is located in the Katharine Seymour Day House, next to Harriet Beecher Stowe’s residence in Hartford. Katharine Day, Stowe’s grandniece and famous in her own right as an artist, preservationist and philanthropist, established the library and museum and provided a core collection. Since then, the collections have grown as the Stowe Center collected materials related to the world in which Harriet Beecher Stowe was such a major figure.

Anyone who questions Harriet Beecher Stowe’s importance in 19th century history, in the women’s movement, and in the abolitionist cause, need only look at the 26 volumes of petitioning signatures that Stowe brought back from a visit to Britain shortly after publication of Uncle Tom’s Cabin. Filled with names of British women moved by her portrayal of slavery, the volumes fill more than a dozen shelves in the Stowe Center storage vault. This large, climate-controlled storage area houses the bulk of the Stowe Center Library, including an extensive collection of editions of Uncle Tom’s Cabin. The most treasured edition, of course, is the first printed book edition. The modest, and plain appearance of this edition belies its great influence on American history.

Besides the various editions of Stowe’s most famous work, the Library has first editions of Stowe’s other works, as well as interpretation, criticism, and a variety of 19th century publications written in response (both pro and con) to Uncle Tom’s Cabin. Other publications trace the 18th and 19th century attitudes toward African-Americans, and recount the abolitionist struggle during those years.

Though known for her work on behalf of the abolitionist cause, Stowe and her sisters and friends were active in many important women’s issues of the day. The Stowe Center Library is particularly strong in material related to 19th century women’s history. Among the material available at the center are books, letters, and manuscripts from: the founder of the Hartford Female Seminary Catherine Beecher; the founder of the New England Woman Suffrage Association Isabella Beecher Hooker; the Civil War nurse Margaret Foote Hawley; the freed fugitive slave and abolitionist Harriet Ann Jacobs; the children’s library pioneer Caroline Hewins; and the poet Lydia Huntley Sigourney. The Center also has extensive correspondence from Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Susan B. Anthony.

Various members of the Beecher family, such as Harriet’s father Lyman Beecher and brother Henry Ward Beecher, played major roles in the intellectual and social history of the time. The Stowe Center Library has hundreds of letters, manuscripts of sermons and lectures, newspaper clippings, photographs, and other documents that help researchers examine the world in which the Beecher family lived and worked. Other famous Hartford families of the period are represented in the collections, including the Hookers, Footes, and Gillettes. Of particular note is the outstanding collection of letters, manuscripts, typescripts, and play scripts of the actor and playwright William H. Gillette. The Stowe Center continues to receive collections donations from the various descendants of the Beecher and other famous Hartford families.

As seems appropriate for a library housed in a beautiful Victorian building, the Stowe Center Library has collections of research materials for the study of Victorian architecture and design. The holdings include architectural journals, builders manuals, manufacturer’s catalogues, and samples of wallpapers, stenciling, and carpeting. There are original drawings, elevations, and plans from local architects, including George Keller, Hartford’s leading architect of the period.

As Collections Manager, Elizabeth Giard is the gateway to the varied collections at the Stowe Center Library. Giard maintains the collections, does the cataloging and indexing, helps with acquisitions and donations, and provides reference assistance. She will provide a limited amount of research via mail, phone, or email.

Though Giard has already started digitizing parts of the collections, she is exploring ways to expand collection digitization. Currently parts of the collection are represented in the University of Virginia’s “Uncle Tom’s Cabin and American Culture” web resource
( http://jefferson.village.virginia.edu/utc/ ), and the book collection is represented in the iCONN reQuest catalog. Giard also assists with the exhibition of parts of the collection in the Stowe Center and elsewhere. The collections are used largely by graduate students and writers/researchers, as well as some high school and college students.

Located at 77 Forest Street in Hartford, the library is open to the public by appointment Monday through Friday. All collections are non-circulating. For more information call Elizabeth Giard at 860-522-9258 ext. 313 or visit the website at http://www.harrietbeecherstowecenter.org/collections/ .

An edited version of this article appeared previously in Connecticut Libraries.

Northeast Children’s Literature Collection, Thomas J. Dodd Research Center, University of Connecticut Libraries

One indication that Children’s Literature hasn’t been considered a subject of serious academic interest until recently is the relative youth of the major Children’s Literature library collections in the U.S. Most of the main collections in academic libraries started within the last 50 years or so. And still today, there are very few active, serious collections in U.S. research institutions. Luckily, Connecticut enjoys one of the best.

The Northeast Children’s Literature Collection (NCLC) at the Dodd Center began in the mid-1980’s and has attracted the interest of authors, illustrators, teachers, and researchers throughout the country and abroad. The NCLC collection “includes books, manuscripts, illustrations, correspondence, artifacts,” with “over 36,000 catalogued children’s books and serials, and the manuscript archives of 90 authors and illustrators.” Anyone interested in the various stages in the creative process, from ideas to sketches and drafts, from these sketches and drafts to book dummies, and from book dummies to the final published product, will find the NCLC collections invaluable. UConn students studying literature, writing, fine arts, and psychology all make good use of these resources. Authors use the collections to do research and look for inspiration. All find assistance from the curator, Terri Goldich, who is inspired by the idea that the “NCLC preserves the original output of some of the most creative minds of our time.”

Goldich recognizes that Connecticut is well placed for a Children’s Literature collection. Many famous children’s book authors live in Connecticut. Many, obviously, are quite impressed with the collections and the facilities that have been made available at the Dodd Center. The Dodd Center provides a modern facility with sophisticated processing, exhibit areas, and climate-controlled storage for their special collections. If you need more proof that the community of children’s book authors and illustrators are committed to NCLC, take a look at this list of Honorary Campaign Chairs for the NCLC’s Endowment Fund drive: Jackie Clegg, Tomie de Paola, Leonard Everett Fisher, Steven Kellogg, Hilary Knight, Leonard Marcus, Barry Moser, Robert Sabuda, Marc Simont, Walther Wick, Jane Yolen, and Ed Young.

The list of the NCLC manuscript collections provides further evidence of the value this community of authors and illustrators place in the NCLC. NCLC has received art and personal papers of Natalie Babbitt, Barbara Cooney, Jane Dyer, Tomie de Paola, Leonard Everett Fisher, Hilary Knight, Ruth Krauss and Crockett Johnson, Loretta Krupinski, James Marshall, Barry Moser, Anita Riggio, Richard Scarry, Marc Simont, Jos. A. Smith, Cyndy Szekeres, and others. Seeing the original artwork of some of these authors is a special experience. Curator Goldich maintains contacts in the Children’s Literature world so that authors in the northeast consider the NCLC when it comes time to donate manuscript material. Anyone interested in the process involved in children’s book creation will be thrilled to see how some of our most popular authors developed creative ideas into popular children’s literature.

Much of this literature can be found in the NCLC’s book collection. This collection includes the Billie M. Levy Collection of Illustrated Picture Books, the Phyllis Hirsch Boyson Collection of Children’s Literature, and the Black Beauty Collection. Billie M. Levy is the co-founder of the collection and has donated over 10,000 books. The Black Beauty collection includes over 450 discrete editions of the classic by Anna Sewell. Collection guidelines call for accumulating “late 19th and 20th century books by notable illustrators, or which represent publishing or artistic phenomena; …contemporary books that have won major national or international awards, [and] contemporary books that were authored or illustrated by individuals associated with the Northeast or the Eastern Seaboard.”

Thanks to the efforts of Goldich, some of these books and manuscripts will soon be digitized for inclusion in the International Digital Children’s Library. The Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS) has awarded a National Leadership Grant to the University of Maryland to create digital collections of children's literature. NCLC, Boston Public Library, and the University of Minnesota are partners in a grant to digitize parts of their children’s literature collections for inclusion in the Digital library.

The Dodd Center is quite active in promoting and drawing attention to the NCLC and Children’s Literature in general. Among the major events of the year for the Dodd Center, and in benefit for the NCLC, is the Connecticut Children’s Book Fair. Held each November, the Fair celebrates children and the books they read with two days of presentations, book signings, and children’s activities. The list of famous authors and illustrators participating is always impressive.

The Dodd Center offers Travel Grants for researchers to “encourage use of unique materials in the Northeast Children's Literature Collection and to provide partial support to researchers who must travel long distances to consult them. Research Grants are intended for those researchers in the vicinity who need financial support in order to undertake a research project.” There is also a Fellowship Grant to provide significant financial support to a promising author and/or illustrator.

To promote the field of children’s book illustration, the Dodd Center co-sponsors the Raab Associates Prize, where students in the Fine Arts department at UConn submit artwork to illustrate a poem. The prize is awarded in the fall in conjunction with the Connecticut Children's Book Fair.

The Dodd Center is open to the public. All collections are non-circulating and in closed stacks. Other subject collections at the Dodd Center include Alternative Press, Artist’s Books, Connecticut History, Human Rights, Railroad History, and many more. For more information on the Dodd Center visit: http://www.lib.uconn.edu/online/research/speclib/ASC/index.html . For more information on the NCLC, visit: http://nclc.uconn.edu/ .

An edited version of this article appeared previously in Connecticut Libraries.

Patient Resource Library at the Middlesex Hospital Cancer Center

When Nancy Goodwin, Library Director at Middlesex Hospital, was trying to decide what to name the patients’ library at the Hospital’s new Cancer Center, she considered a more modern name like the “Cancer Resource Center.” Her non-librarian friends, however, helped convince her not to abandon a friendly, welcoming name like “library.” She also realized that a library designed first and foremost for patients should have a name that honestly conveyed that message. The “Patient Resource Library” seemed the best fit.

Designed with librarian input, the Patient Resource Library certainly fulfills the goal of being welcoming and accessible. Located in the Middlesex Hospital Cancer Center on Saybrook Road in Middletown, the Library is one of the first rooms you see when you enter the building. It is considered an integral part of the Cancer Center’s services and Hospital administration gives it the attention and support it requires to accomplish its mission. This mission “is to be the leading resource center for consumers in Connecticut with cancer-related information needs.” Unlike some hospital consumer libraries manned by nursing staff or volunteers, the Patient Resource Library is professionally run and committed to informing and assisting cancer patients and their families.

Janis Leird, a registered nurse and now a degreed librarian, serves as librarian. Jan provides guidance and reference service for all library users, as well as serving on various Cancer Center committees. She also plays a critical role in the Center’s quarterly newsletter. Jan gets involved in the Center’s activities and communicates regularly with Center staff. For instance, Jan worked with staff in the various departments of the Center in order to provide appropriate library material in the various waiting rooms of the building. With a background in public libraries, Jan brings a real public service commitment to this unique, patient library setting.

The Patient Resource Library itself provides books, videos, and magazines on general cancer topics, specific cancers, drug information, grief management, and complementary therapies. In keeping with making its collections more accessible, the Library uses a Planetree classification system, a system specifically designed to organize health-related library material for easy use by consumers. The Resource Library benefits from generous donations from the Clinton Rotary, which allows the Library to purchase far more published material than its book budget would normally allow. In addition, Jan borrows children’s books and books on CD from the Middletown Library Service Center to help supplement her collections

Besides library materials, the Patient Resource Library provides access to numerous cancer-related databases, many not freely-available at home. The Library has several public access Internet work stations where patients can do research or just check their e-mail. Jan provides extensive lists of reliable cancer resources which patients can access over the Internet. Jan’s reference service often involves a concerted effort to assist patients in better understanding a diagnosis or treatment.

Jan is quick to point out that the Patient Resource Library is not just for patients at the Cancer Center. The Library serves all members of the community looking for cancer-related resources. The collections are represented in the reQuest state-wide catalog, and the Library accepts interlibrary loan requests, including those made through reQuest ILL. The Library has its own web page (http://www.middlesexhospital.org/go/prl) with an online catalog anyone can search at home. Also, the Library partners with the Light One Little Candle Foundation to promote reading as a means for people with cancer to connect with the children in their lives. As part of this free program, the Library distributes new children’s books at the Cancer Center.

The Library takes part in many other outreach activities. Library staff promote the Library at staff and committee meetings, they participate in Open Houses and special Cancer Center occasions, and they provide library orientations to staff, visitors and Support Groups. Staff also sponsor Library events such as meet-the-author evenings where authors of cancer-related books discuss their work.

In a time when managing one’s health-care is so much more complicated, the Patient Resource Library serves an important role in assisting cancer patients and their families in becoming better informed and knowledgeable regarding their health-care. The Library, located at 536 Saybrook Road, Middletown, is open to the community Monday through Friday, 8:30 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. Questions for the librarian can be e-mailed to cancer_center_library@midhosp.org, or you can call (860) 358-2020.

An edited version of this article appeared previously in Connecticut Libraries.