CONNECT Minutes - June 2014

Date:  June 10, 2014
Time:  2:00pm-4:00pm
Location: Oklahoma History Center (OHC)

Present: Buddy Johnson (DN, Chair), Meghan Attalla (RE, Connect),  Ngoc Nguyen (VI, Connect), Molly Giles (AL), Daniel Fields (BE), Glenn Webb (CH), Susie Beasley (CT), Lisa Bradley (DN), Harry Hoang (DN), Susan Urban (DN), Kathryn Hatfield (MC), Tracy Stone (NW), Sabrina Little Axe (DC), Sally McCurry (DC)

Meeting was called to order at 2:00pm.

Welcome

Buddy Johnson welcomed the attendees.  He reminded everyone about the mission and goals of the CONNECT Forum. Debra Spindle, Research Librarian, Oklahoma History Center was introduced and the floor was given to her to lead a tour of the Oklahoma History Center’s Research Division.

Tour

Mrs. Spindle led the group through the research library of the OHC and shared information on the hours of operation, facilities available to the public, and computer access. She highlighted the more often used parts of the collection, including Native American records, newspapers, land run records, and census and explained how they were likely to be used by customers.

Following the tour of the research library, Laura Martin, Deputy Director of the Research Division joined the tour and led MLS staff through the non-public areas of the OHC. Her tour included the storage areas for manuscripts and microfilm, the photo processing area, microfilming area, recording studio, and the vault storage for rare books.

After the tour concluded, Mrs. Spindle made a presentation on the OHC’s digital collection and website, which features their catalog and several databases created in-house which provide access to their collections primarily through indexes. A question and answer period followed the presentation.

Mrs. Spindle concluded by thanking MLS staff for attending and expressed elation that our two institutions can better work together to help the public with their historical and genealogical research.