New Year!

Well, the Meyersdale Public Library made it through 2009 intact! We are so very grateful for the financial support of our library friends. Our 2009 fund drive was the best to date. After an extended debate the state ended up cutting public library subsidies by 21%. Any budget cut is painful, however we are grateful the vote for the originally proposed 50% cut was averted . The many letters of support to government officials from library patrons across the state had a huge impact on this decision. We understand the entire country is economically stressed and that sacrifices are being made across the board. We are grateful that our little library will be able to continue services to the public with only a few internal budget adjustments. This is possible in part because of the financial support of the Somerset County Federated Library System. While hours of operation will remain the same, there will be slight cutbacks in collection and staff expenses. Our hope is to continue to provide our community the quality service our library has become known for. How long we can do this is dependant on continued local financial support as well as backing of government officials. Let us all hope for better circumstances in 2010!

Please come in and look through the many books we have for sale!

Autumn Activities

The crisp feel of Autumn is in the air. The change in season turns our minds towards thoughts of Friday night high-school football games and the upcoming holidays. As the days become cooler and the nights become shorter we spend more time in our homes, hopefully with our friends and loved-ones. I have provided links to online information that offer ideas for fun family activities, crafts, reading lists, and recipes for home-cooked comfort food. I hope you will enjoy these resources and use them to create many wonderful fall memories with your family.

• Kaboose
• Family Fun
• Family Fun Education
• Apples 4 the Teachers
• Good Reads
• New York Times Best Seller List
  

Meyersdale Library awareded a Pennsylvania Historic Preservation Award

We are excited to announce that the Meyersdale Public Library has been chosen to receive a Pennsylvania Historic Preservation Award for its Somerset County Cemetery Location Resource Project.

A need existed to provide genealogy patrons with information on the location of cemeteries for which they are searching. No comprehensive source for such information was readily available, especially for older and smaller cemeteries. Creation of a comprehensive and accessible cemetery location resource signals to genealogy researchers that Somerset County is a savvy, helpful and welcoming destination for genealogy researchers. With this purpose in mind, the Meyersdale Public Library initiated the Somerset County Cemetery Location Resource Project. This $30,000, three-year project was financially supported by the Somerset County Tourism Tax Grant and the Somerset County Federated Library System.

The project hired two independent contractors to accomplish the following:

• research available resources pertaining to cemeteries within the county and create a comprehensive list of these cemeteries
• locate all cemeteries which still have identifiable features, to obtain GPS coordinates, photos, and directions from the nearest road
• produce a CD with the GPS coordinates, site photo, and written directions for each located cemetery
• create a county-wide map resource of all cemetery locations using the 1-50,000 USGS maps for the northern and southern parts of the county

Carolyn McKinney did an outstanding job of locating and documenting over 600 cemeteries in the county. She waded through brambles up to her neck and mud up to her knees. She was persistent and very successful in contacting local informants to assist with her searches. She located cemeteries and burial grounds that had been forgotten or overlooked in previous cemetery inventories. The majority of documented cemeteries are the smaller ones, often in obscure locations, from the first century of the county’s history. The sheer number of cemeteries in the county is a testament to the long history of the region’s population.

Barry Christy was equally dedicated and tenacious in working with the data to create a user-friendly, compact and complete resource for the use of genealogy researchers. He transferred the field data gathered by Carolyn to Word documents, and then did a conversion to .PDF format. A CD has been created with cemetery names, locations, photos, driving and walking directions, latitude and longitude coordinates, alternate names if available, and additional comments where provided. The CD has both a comprehensive alphabetical index with links to each cemetery, and an index alphabetized by township. All location information has been verified with Google Earth so that researchers anywhere with access to that program can find any cemetery.

The targeted audience is genealogy researchers with ties to Somerset County. Copies of the CD have been distributed to over 30 appropriate agencies and organizations that have contact with and provide information to genealogy researchers, including the Register of Wills and Recorder of Deeds offices, the Chamber of Commerce, and the four libraries and twelve historical societies in the county. A CD has also been sent to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints genealogy collection in Salt Lake City and to the Allen County Public Library genealogy holdings in Ft. Wayne, Indiana. Information about the availability of this resource has been provided for appropriate Internet venues such as the home pages of the above-mentioned entities and the Somerset County GenWeb, Pennsylvania GenWeb and USGenWeb host sites. The site administrators for the http://www.usgwarchives.org/pa/somerset/ site have received copies of the CD and will post the content on that website.

Locating and recording data about cemeteries in Somerset County was a project that grew out of the Meyersdale Public Library’s commitment to being an advocate for the importance of preserving community histories and making that information available to the public. We believe that respecting the past can have a powerful, positive impact on the future.

Pennsylvania’s Historic Preservation Awards

Pennsylvania’s Historic Preservation Awards continue a tradition held since 1979 whereby excellence in preservation is recognized and honored. The annual awards recognize significant contributions in the field of historic preservation made by both individuals and organizations. Recognition encompasses the categories of preservation initiatives, construction and archaeology projects. Communication Award Somerset County Cemetery Location Resource Project Meyersdale Public Library, Somerset County

Cleaning House

When you visit the library you will no doubt notice a large amount of non-fiction books for sale. In an effort to make our non-fiction collection more efficient and hopefully increase its usage, we are combining the juvenile non-fiction collection with the adult non-fiction collection. As part of the process I am looking at each book to determine its value to the library and the community. Because we are limited on space it is important that we maintain a collection that is relevant and timely. While there are always exceptions, the following guidelines are used in determining whether or not a book should be withdrawn:

• Has the book been checked out in the past 10 years?
• Is the content of the book accurate and up-to-date?
• Is the book in good general condition?
  

At this time we invite the public to visit the library and browse through the many books that have recently been withdrawn from our collection. Maybe there is one you would like to add to your own personal library. Hardback books are 25 cents a piece and paperback are 10 cents apiece. You can hardly find a better bargain! The money will be used to support the operations of the library.

New Services

The Meyersdale Public Library is excited to offer our patronage the option to download eAudiobooks onto their personal MP3 players, I-pods, or PCs. It is necessary for one of our librarians to assist individuals in establishing an account. Once an account has been created, it can be accessed from any computer. As is often the case with anything new, we are still trying to work out the bugs in the system. Please be patient as we strive to get the individual library collection accounts established. The NetLibrary eAudiobook service is being provided by the Somerset County Federated Library system. Making sure that each library within that system, ours included, has its own page has proven to be a challenge. I am keeping a close eye on the situation and will keep you updated on any progress made towards making this service efficient for our clientele.

Please take a moment to browse the new Help For Your Family Link on our web page. We understand that the current economic climate has been difficult for many of us. In an effort to help you and your family find the help you might be needing, we have listed county agencies and services designed to offer assistance to area families. For example, within the Community Action Partnership for Somerset County site you can find the following programs: Housing assistance, Utility assistance, Employment assistance, Welfare to Work, Transportation, Head Start, Life skills, Food Pantries, Workshops, and the Salisbury Family Center. If you have any questions about the sites listed in our new link, please contact us by email or phone.

Join the Discussion

In an effort to be better connected with our community, I have created a director's blog so that information and issues concerning the library can be efficiently, and hopefully effectively, communicated to our patrons. Our patrons are the heart and soul of the Meyersdale Public Library. What you think matters to us. Please feel free to respectfully contribute to the discussion. Knowing your needs will help us better serve you.

The most pressing issue facing Pennsylvania public libraries today is the current threat of major funding cuts. State funding enables our library to stay open. Without this financial support the Meyersdale Public Library will not be able to continue to offer the quality programming and services for which it has become so well-known. Being able to help our patrons further their education, obtain job and resume counseling, and appreciate the importance of literacy in their homes and families have been top priorities to the library staff and board. Please let your supportive voices for our library by contacting local legislators and sharing the following messages:

• Thank your Senator, Representative and the Governor for his past support of public libraries.
• Because libraries are a lifeline for the unemployed and their families, urge him to support
library funding as one of the priorities for level funding in the negotiations for a new state
budget.
• Tell him that public libraries all across Pennsylvania are busier than ever during this recession serving those looking for work, many without Internet access at home, and hundreds more of their constituents and families who need the library open more hours not fewer. (If you can, offer some specifics about just how much the library means to you in these tough times.)
• Remind him that the drastic, steep cuts (55%) included in the Senate amendments to the budget bill will force library closings and service cutbacks at a time when their constituents need libraries to be fully open and equipped to serve.
• Inform him that Pennsylvania stands to lose between $1.9 million and $4.3 million in federal money if any of the budget plans currently under consideration pass with deep cuts in library funding.

Listed below is the contact information for our government representatives:

Governor Rendell

Governor Edward G. Rendell's Office
225 Main Capitol Building
Harrisburg, Pennsylvania 17120

Website to email comment

http://www.governor.state.pa.us/portal/server.pt/community/contact/2998

Senator Kasunic
Capitol Address
458 Capitol Building
Senate Box 203032
Harrisburg, PA 17120-3032
Fax: 717-787-0195

Rep. Carl Metzgar

E-mail: Cmetzgar@pahousegop.com
Capitol Office
149-A East Wing
PO Box 202069
Harrisburg, PA 17120-2069
Fax: (717) 787-2005

I would like to thank all our wonderful patrons and supporters who have offered their time, finances, and encouragement to our library. Every effort makes a difference!