Boone County Public Library Local History Department Collection Assessment

FAIN: PG-258361-18

Boone County Public Library (Burlington, KY 41005-9557)
Bridget B. Striker (Project Director: May 2017 to March 2021)

A preservation assessment and the purchase of environmental monitoring equipment and archival supplies for a collection of over 3,500 books, 1,100 microforms, 900 periodicals, 125 audiovisual items, and 14,000 digital files, including photographs, documents, video and audio files, and an encyclopedia related to the history of Boone County, Kentucky.  The collection contains church and court records; deeds; guardianship bonds; marriage, school, and tax records; will books; family files; and secondary sources.  Due to strengths documenting the African American experience and the Underground Railroad in the Ohio Valley region, the National Park Service designated the library a Network to Freedom Facility in April 2017.  The request to NEH includes a stipend of $1,000 for a recent graduate, who would work closely with the consultant on the preservation assessment.

The Boone County Public Library (BCPL) seeks assistance from the NEH for the preservation needs of their Local History Department. Collections recently acquired through donation to the Department are the focus of the project; all of which consist of primary resources pertinent to the history of Boone County. Because of Boone County's history of enslavement and its connections to the Underground Railroad, evidence of the African American experience is interwoven into nearly every primary Boone County resource. BCPL was designated by the National Park Service as a Network to Freedom Facility and would like to be proactive in pursuing the preservation of their collection. Through hiring a consultant for an assessment of the Department's collection, recommendations will be made for the current storage and arrangement of materials, environmental conditions for the space where the collection is housed and ways to integrate preservation needs into the strategic planning of the overall institution.

Associated Products

Accidental Archives: Boone County Public Library's Experience (Conference Paper/Presentation)
Title: Accidental Archives: Boone County Public Library's Experience
Author: Bridget B. Strikre
Abstract: Are you an accidental archive? Like many counties in Kentucky, Boone County doesn’t have a county-wide organization to accept historical artifacts or family collections. BCPL was faced with the dilemma of whether or not to accept family collections of papers, photographs and memorabilia. If we didn’t, the collections would most likely be tossed in the dumpster, but we were not prepared for the long-term care of fragile materials. We had become an accidental archive. In 2017, BCPL applied for and received an NEH Collection Assessment grant to take a serious look at its ever-growing physical repository. The department is using the assessment as a tool to help develop future strategic planning for overall BCPL facility improvements, as the Local History Department continues to grow in demand as a local repository. The presentation will discuss what we learned from the process and if an NEH Collection Assessment grant is right for your library.
Date: 03/28/2019
Primary URL: http://www.kpla.org/wp-content/uploads/KPLA-2019-Conference-Schedule.pdf
Primary URL Description: KPLA 2019 SPRING CONFERENCE Schedule
Conference Name: 2019 Kentucky Public Library Association Spring Conference

Report to the Community (Blog Post)
Title: Report to the Community
Author: Carrie Herrmann
Abstract: 2019 annual "State of the Library" report to the community given by BCPL Library Director, Carrie Herrmann.
Date: 01/14/2019
Primary URL: http://www.bcpl.org/undiscovered/state-of-the-library/
Primary URL Description: BCPL's webpage for blog posts.
Blog Title: Report to the Community
Website: BCPL Undiscovered: Things You Never Knew About Your Library

NEH Collection Assessments: Boone County Public Library's Experience (Conference Paper/Presentation)
Title: NEH Collection Assessments: Boone County Public Library's Experience
Author: Bridget B. Striker
Abstract: Are you an accidental archive? Like many counties in Kentucky, Boone County doesn’t have a county-wide organization to accept historical artifacts or family collections. BCPL was faced with the dilemma of whether or not to accept family collections of papers, photographs and memorabilia. If we didn’t, the collections would most likely be tossed in the dumpster, but we were not prepared for the long-term care of fragile materials. We had become an accidental archive. In 2017, BCPL applied for and received an NEH Collection Assessment grant to take a serious look at its ever-growing physical repository. The department is using the assessment as a tool to help develop future strategic planning for overall BCPL facility improvements, as the Local History Department continues to grow in demand as a local repository. The presentation will discuss what we learned from the process and if an NEH Collection Assessment grant is right for your library.
Date: 08/11/2018
Primary URL: www.kentonlibrary.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/06/KY-History-and-Genealogy-Conference-Schedule-2
Primary URL Description: Kenton County Public Library website for conference schedule
Conference Name: 2018 Kentucky History and Genealogy Conference

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