digital projects lab

Introducing the Center for Local History at Arlington Public Library

We’re Saying goodbye to the name “Virginia Room”…

This year has brought big changes to Central Library, with building-wide renovation and redesign.

The Local History Team has used these renovations as an opportunity to re-evaluate how we present our mission and projects to the public. After much consideration, as of our reopening this week, the “Virginia Room” name is being retired.

We are now the Center for Local History at Arlington Public Library.

What’s in a name?

Simply put, the name “Virginia Room” was insufficient to convey the scope of the work that we do and the resources we offer.

Our mission has not changed: we are still dedicated to collecting, preserving, and sharing the history of our community.

Our rich historical collections and range of projects offer the Arlington community the ability to not only learn about and research their history, but also contribute to its telling. We are, and have always been, much more than just a room; now our name will reflect this.

By changing our name to the Center for Local History we hope to provide a better explanation of who we are: our many projects and the mission that links them.

What is it you do, anyway?

The Center for Local History has three primary components:

The Virginiana Collection, located in our research room, is a special collection of library holdings including books, newsletters, maps, oral histories, and other materials pertaining to the history of the Arlington area specifically and Virginia more generally. These materials are not available to be checked out, but can be used by researchers during our research room hours.
The Arlington Community Archives, which collects and preserves documents about the history of Arlington County, its citizens, and organizations. The collection focuses on personal papers, photographs, and archival records of local organizations, clubs, and associations. Most of these holdings are kept off-site at our archives, but can be requested by researchers for perusal in our research room.
Finally, our Digital Initiatives include efforts to improve access to our holdings by digitizing them and making them accessible to the community online. This includes the digitization of holdings, the creation of online exhibits, and the preservation of born-digital holdings in the archives.

Later this summer, we will add another element to our Digital Initiatives program, as the Library’s Digital Projects Lab will become part of the Center for Local History.

The Digital Projects Lab will provide a variety of software and hardware to allow anyone to come in and share their own pieces of Arlington history, through scanning family photographs or recording oral histories, along with providing a space and resources to create digital projects.

The Center for Local History at the Arlington Public Library is located on the first floor of Central Library. We hope you will come and visit us, explore our collections and follow all the exciting new projects coming up this year and beyond.

This blog post represents the first in our new series, Unboxed, where we will give a behind-the-scenes view of new and interesting Center for Local History projects.

We have a lot of exciting projects in the pipeline, and this blog series will be a place where we can let you behind the scenes, show you what we’ve got in the works, and what we’re working on. Hope you follow along and enjoy it!

The Center for Local History at the Arlington Public Library

Website: library.arlingtonva.us/localhistory

Phone: 703-228-5966

Email: localhistory@arlingtonva.us

Research Room
1015 N. Quincy Street
Arlington, Virginia 22201

Sunday: Closed
Monday: 10 a.m. – 5 p.m
Tuesday: 10 a.m. – 5 p.m.
Wednesday: 1 p.m. – 9 p.m
Thursday: 10 a.m. – 5 p.m
Friday: Closed
Saturday: 10 a.m. – 5 p.m.

Photographer Lloyd Bell in the DPL

Scanning and Editing

Lloyd Bell was in the lab this week, working on a project for a photo class he’s taking at NOVA Community College, and kindly let us take a few pictures:

Lloyd scans his photos

And reviews his assignment…

Then edits in Photoshop.

We’re looking forward to seeing Lloyd’s finished project!

Learn more about the Digital Projects Lab.

Guest Blog: How Library Spaces are Changing

The following profile was published Sept. 11, 2011 on the District Dispatch: News for Friends of Libraries blog, which is produced by the ALA Washington Office.

How Library Spaces are Changing

by Jazzy Wright

This summer, I had the opportunity to witness the latest in cutting-edge library services when I took a tour of Arlington Central Library (Va.), a thriving community center located a few miles outside of Washington, D.C. There, I spoke with Arlington Public Library Director Diane Kresh, a library veteran who has made significant strides to modernize the library system since she became lead director six years ago.

The library system, which is made up of seven local library branches and a central library that serve more than 212,000 library patrons, offers community members the latest ebook titles, online databases and audio files. The library hosts weekly technology training classes for patrons that cover topics ranging from computer hardware concepts to digital photos to online job searching. The library is also working to teach library patrons how to effectively use e-readers, tablets and smartphones to access information.

One of Kresh’s main achievements has been the creation of the library’s Digital Projects Lab, a pop-up, tech-filled space that provides the technology resources for community members to create digital projects. The lab offers patrons scanners, tablets, printers, as well as visual and audio editing software.

Additionally, Arlington Public Library staff are always looking at ways to change the spacing layout at each of the system’s branch libraries as libraries become technology centers, and more and more library patrons turn to libraries for free Internet access and public meeting spaces. Kresh says that the steps taken to modernize the library are necessary if the library wants to continue to serve the public’s evolving needs.

“The future of libraries is changing, and soon you’ll see less of the divisions of areas, and more seamlessness in libraries,” said Kresh, who worked at the Library of Congress for more than 32 years on special collections issues, veterans history and virtual reference projects before coming to Arlington Public Library. “Spaces will need to be changed to accommodate libraries as both community centers and work spaces. People will come to Skype and meet with others.”

The Arlington Public Library team invests heavily in the library system’s website—the library uses the website to ensure that Arlington community members are informed about new resources, library events, book talks and digital tools. As a result of their efforts, the Arlington Public Library website is now the most visited website in the county, according to Peter Golkin, public information officer for the Arlington Public Library.

“Our website is going to where the user is,” said Kresh. Library staff use the interactive website to blog about the library’s community-based work, notifying local library patrons about upcoming college-and-career events, the progress of its community garden (which provides food year-round for the needy), and the success of the library’s summer reading program.

Kresh says that her library staff don’t do it alone—they rely on the work of volunteers and friends of the library (officially called the Friends of Arlington Public Library) to support the library community.

“The friends of the library are our chief vehicle of supporters,” said Kresh, adding that they are helping to transform libraries into community spaces. “All social adult and children programs are supported by the Friends.” Most notably, the Friends of Arlington Public Library organize the library’s twice-annual book sale, a four-day event that draws large crowds to the library branches.

Ultimately, Kresh says that her libraries rely on volunteers and supporters to advocate for funding for her libraries.

“Our funding comes from a local municipality, and we make sure that the friends of the library understand when our library budget have been cut,” she said, adding that local funding support allows her libraries to provide community members with ebooks and Internet access. “We need support to continue to be a resource for the community.”

Learn more about Library Advocay at District Dispatch.