Looking back and looking ahead
Happy New Year from the Farmington Room! I hope the end of the year has been restful and full of the warmth of family and friends.
I’m writing this in December, when I love to both take stock and dream of things to come. This past year, my knowledge of the Farmington Room grew in leaps and bounds. I have touched every map, every antique book, every cassette and audio tape, and every archival box. I make new discoveries every day that I’m so excited to share.
A lot of things were moved around: fragile/unique items in the reading room were sent to the archives. Larger booklets in the vertical files were re-housed, catalogued, and shelved. Some books outside of our collecting areas were added to the circulating collection. We added all our yearbooks (and much more) to the catalog.
We began digitizing our map collection, which will be added to the CT Digital Archive very soon. Once I have a handle on all our physical holdings, we will begin to prioritize further digitization projects, as well as some preservation efforts.
In the late summer, a few hours each week were spent cleaning our locked cases and vacuuming every single antique book, inspecting them for signs of active deterioration.
Maybe my favorite thing this year was moving our High School Yearbooks, 1965-2024, to the reference desk. Yearbooks are our most used materials, hands down. Even genealogical materials do not get as much use as our yearbooks. Previously, information services staff had to leave the desk to grab yearbooks by request—now they are at an arm’s length. I've even been told that people see we have yearbooks and decide they want to sit down and look at a couple of them. About half the time I walk by the desk, someone is poring over one of them. It is a huge increase in access and discoverability, and it makes me happy to see such a small change make things easier for everyone.
Lastly, I gave two talks on the history of Farmington’s libraries and installed my first exhibit here on the three historic conservation efforts: Suburban Park, Shade Swamp Sanctuary, and the Canal Trail. The newly installed exhibit, “What’s Your Story? Memories of Farmington and Unionville, 1960-2010,” will be up until the end of summer.
What’s Your Story?
This year, in addition to increasing access to what we have, we are looking to collect stories and memories from you! The new exhibit, full of scrapbooks, yearbooks, newspaper clippings, and photographs, is meant as a springboard or a prompt—we're hoping you will share with us what you remember about life in town in the second half of the 20th Century and into the 21st. If you are wondering how, read all about it next month!
As always come visit the Farmington Room on a Wednesday or Thursday from 10:00 AM-1:00 PM or make an appointment to come outside of those hours. I can be reached by email at jneely@farmingtonlibraries.org, or by phone at (860) 673-6791 ext. 5213.