New York
State Library News

For the People, the Government and the Libraries of New York State
Summer 1998

• Rice Re-elected
• NEH Endows Two Library Projects
• Education, Libraries, and New York State
• Desch Appointed
GIS Declared a Winner
• Visit the State Library's Web Site
• They "faded like a cloud Which had outwept the rain"*
• Explore Tolerance and Cultural Diversity
• Legislature Salutes State Library
• Do You Know...
• Budget Update
• Be a Friend
• Remember the Millennium!
• Tell Us
• Regents Appoint 17 to Library Commission

Norman S. Rice, Director Emeritus of the Albany Institute of History & Art, was re-elected president of The Friends of the New York State Library. Zebulon S. Robbins, Jr. will serve as Vice President. Coreen Hallenbeck was elected Treasurer, and Lewis C. Rubinstein, Secretary. In addition, Dr. Philip B. Eppard, Ursula Poland, and Miriam Soffer were elected Directors. Barbara S. Beverley and Robert J. Freeman, elected for a two year term in 1997, will continue to serve as Directors.

Ex officio members of the Friends' Governing Board include Janet M. Welch, State Librarian; Liz Lane, Director of the Research Library; Carol Ann Desch, Coordinator of Statewide Library Services; and Joseph F. Shubert, State Librarian Emeritus.

Liz Lane, Director of the State Library, recently announced that the National Endowment for the Humanities awarded grants to two projects headquartered in the State Library. The New Netherland Project will receive a grant of $60,000, plus an offer of $180,000 of matching funds for a potential total of $240,000 over a 3-year period. The New York State Newspaper Project will receive an outright grant of $730,400.

The Newspaper Project identifies, describes, and preserves deteriorating newspapers dating all the way back to 1725, and makes them available for research. The New Netherland Project translates documents from New Netherland, a 17th century Dutch colony that extended from the Connecticut River to Delaware Bay. This is an important resource for the study of what is now New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware, and half of Connecticut.

Richard P. Mills was appointed Commissioner of Education in 1995.

As part of their strategic planning effort, the Board of Regents have adopted a mission statement for the New York State Education Department which seeks to "raise the knowledge, skill, and opportunity for al l the people in New York State." Here are just some of the ways in which the New York State Library, in partnership with libraries throughout New York, is working to implement the Regents Strategic Plan:

• Students, parents, teachers, business people, and all residents have 24-hour daily access to information about the State Library's collections and services through the Internet web site and online catalog.
• The State Library is leading a statewide committee to plan how New York libraries can pool their buying power to make electronic databases available everywhere in the State-to help New Yorkers do their jobs, pursue their education, keep current on public events, and generally enrich their lives.
• The State Library is seeking the broadest possible pool for staff and advisory committee appointments to reflect the best practices in the field and the diversity of New York State.
• In cooperation with libraries throughout New York, the State Library is working to extend access to electronic doorway library services provided by libraries transformed by technology.
• The State Library, with public libraries and public library systems statewide, brings exciting and innovative reading programs to children and parents. The 1998 statewide summer reading club theme is "Solve It @ the Library."
• The State Library, along with other units of the Office of Cultural Education, is continually exploring better ways to maintain and protect the valuable collections under its care.

State Librarian Janet M. Welch recently appointed Carol Ann Desch the State Library's Coordinator of Statewide Library Services. As Coordinator, Desch manages the day-to-day operations of the Division of Library Development and its staff, a 22-member team. Desch, former Interim Director of Library Development, has worked at this Division in various capacities since 1984. She was previously employed by the Bethlehem Public Library in Delmar, and is active in professional organizations.

The Division of Library Development oversees New York's public libraries, a $700 million industry. The Division also administers about $95 million in State and Federal grants. The staff works in partnership with 74 library systems to bring cost-effective, modern library services to the millions of people who use New York's 7,000 academic, public, school and special libraries. The Division of Library Development and the Research Library are the two major units of the New York State Library.

The 1998 Exemplary Systems in Government Award was presented to the New York State Geographic Information Systems (GIS) Clearinghouse by URISA (the Urban & Regional Information Systems Association). The Clearinghouse, a service of the New York State Office for Technology, is hosted on the State Library's Web site.

In announcing the award, URISA states that the Clearinghouse fulfills "an overwhelming need for information for planning, management, and operation, as well as for better access to government records."

URISA was founded in 1963 to advance the development of effective management information systems and to increase their use. It has 3,800 members.

Inaugurated in July 1997, the Clearinghouse is a central location for collection and distribution of geographic information about New York State. To visit: <http://nysgis.nysed.gov/gis>.

http://www.nysl.nysed.gov

• Search Excelsior, our online catalog of holdings, and access national and regional databases. Click "Information Locator Service" and:
• Obtain Health Department forms to request copies of birth, death, marriage, divorce certificates.
• Discover where you can buy farm fresh foods in your area. The State Department of Agriculture and Markets lists over 1,000 farms selling food and services in New York State.
• Get boating information about the State's Canal System. Learn how to navigate the locks.
• Find out about jobs available in New York State, qualifications, how and where to apply and where to get further information.
• And Much More

If you don't have Web access from your computer, dial into our catalog at (518) 474-9851 or telnet <nysl.nysed.gov>. For more information. . .

You can also access our Web Site from many public libraries.

In 1935, Kodak revolutionized photography with the introduction of its color film, Kodachrome. By the early 1960s, 95% of all photographs were produced in color. Billions more are made annually. But despite the joys of living color, it lacks the stability of black and white photography. Many of our treasured color images are fading into oblivion.

To learn how to rescue these records of major public and personal events, obtain the new Storage Guide for Color Photographic Materials, by James M. Reilly. Designed for managers of libraries, archives, and museums, the Guide is also of great interest to anyone who enjoys taking and collecting color photographs and films.

This 48-page book explains how and why color images fade, why they need special storage, and what can be done to make them last as long as possible. A wheel consisting of rotating concentric circles accompanies the publication. The circles are filled with data about temperature, humidity and light, and their relationship to color images. By spinning the circles, you can estimate the life expectancy of a color photo or ascertain conditions that would produce the desired life expectancy of a collection.

Produced through a cooperative effort, the Guide was funded by the State Library and sponsored by the University of Rochester Libraries. Data for the publication are based on intensive research conducted at the Rochester Institute of Technology.

Cost of the publication is $20. For more information, call (716) 475-5199 or check <http://www.nysl.nysed.gov/libdevel.htm/>.

*Percy Bysshe Shelley

Franciscus Gomarus	Jacous Arminius
Opposing opinions on war, government and religion held by these two University of Leiden theologians characterize the diversity and tolerance prevalent in the 17th century Dutch Republic.

A rare opportunity awaits you at the 21st Rensselaerswijck Seminar, Saturday, September 19, at the Cultural Education Center in Albany. Dr. Charles Gehring, Director of the New Netherland Project, will introduce five eminent scholars who will explore concepts of tolerance and cultural diversity in the Dutch Republic during the 17th century. They will also show how these ideas were transferred to New Netherland. Topics will include attitudes toward women, Africans, Jews, and Native Americans.

The one-day seminar is sponsored by The New Netherland Project. Pre-registration is $25. Tickets at the door will be $30. For more information, phone (518) 474-6067, FAX 473-0472, or write New Netherland Project, New York State Library, Cultural Education Center 8th Floor, Albany, NY 12230.

For information about the New Netherland Project Dinner, contact Hennie Newhouse, Friends of New Netherland, (18) 486-4815.

A Legislative Resolution commemorating the 180th anniversary of the New York State Library traces the history of the State Library and cites "the invaluable services provided to the people of the State of New York" by its libraries.

The State Library helped bring 3.5 million dollars worth of Federal contracts to New York businesses in 1997-1998. The Library provides government standards and specifications needed for successful bids on government contracts for technical products and services. For more information, call (518) 474-5355.

When the Legislature adjourned on June 19, there was good news and bad news for libraries:

The good news: The State Library gets an increase of $233,000 for its book budget. There is also an additional $6 million in chapter 917 statewide library aid, for a total of $88 million.

The bad news: the Governor vetoed $3 million for Electronic Doorway Library Services aid and approximately $2 million in member items for libraries. Electronic Doorway Libraries have computers for public access to information. At the end of 1997, only 34 percent of the State's libraries met the criteria for recognition as an Electronic Doorway Library.

Join the Friends of the New York State Library. In addition to the deep satisfactions of preserving your heritage and sustaining a world renowned public research library, you can obtain special discounts at local book stores.

At the end of the last century, journalists used the destruction of the Maine to incite the Spanish-American War. This graphic of the battleship is from an 1898 newspaper in the collections of the State Library.

"There is something about the end of a century that sets people to thinking about their collective prospects and ultimate destiny," says historian H.W. Brands. A lively conversation between Brands and William R. Ferris, Chairman, National Endowment for the Humanities, highlights events in the 1890s, how interpretations of those events changed as their effects played out, and what insights, as we approach the next millennium, we can glean from this. The discussion appears as "How the Century Began," a fascinating dialogue in the May/June issue of Humanities, the Endowment's bimonthly publication.

Among the many events they discuss, the Spanish-American-Cuban-Filipino War in 1898 was one of the most influential. It put the United States on the road to becoming a major player on the international scene.

"When Americans went into the Spanish-American War, they thought the war was about Cuba. It ended up being about an American Empire...Most Americans had no desire to exert a protectorate over Cuba, and certainly the vast majority had no idea that the war would leave the United States in control of the Philippines. It is a good example of the law of unintended consequences," says Brands.

To enhance this discussion, Humanities features the entire front page of the February 16, 1898 New York Journal/Advertiser, which includes the graphic of the battleship Maine (above). It's from the collections of the State Library.

Send comments and questions about the State Library and its newsletter to Mary Redmond, New York State Library, Cultural Education Center, Albany, NY 12230 or e-mail mredmond@mail.nysed.gov .

The Board of Regents appointed 17 members to the Commission on Library Services. Frank J. Macchiaroloa, President, St. Francis College, Brooklyn, NY and former Chancellor of New York City schools and Abby Milstein, Attorney and a New York Public Library Trustee were named Co-Chairs. Serving ex-officio are: Carl T. Hayden, Chancellor, New York State Board of Regents; James S. Dawson, Chair, Regents Cultural Education Committee; Carole F. Huxley, Deputy Commissioner for Cultural Education; Janet M. Welch, State Librarian and Assistant Commissioner for Libraries.

The Commission's charge is to articulate a vision for library services in New York State and recommend a plan ensuring equal access to information for all New Yorkers in the next century.

For further information, contact Jean Hargrave, (518) 486-4869; email jhargrav@mail.nysed.gov.