Collaborative Community Outreach

Sabrina Riley, MILS, Union CollegeJudi Cook, Lincoln Lancaster Co. Genealogical Society

NCompass Live, April 20, 2016

Union College

• Founded 1890-1891• Affiliated with the

Seventh-day Adventist Church

• Town of College View founded simultaneously

Union College Heritage Room

• Photographs, diaries, letters, minutes, publications, films, and more

• Focused on Union College, College View, and Mid America Union Conference of Seventh-day Adventist

Lincoln Lancaster CountyGenealogical Society

Began in 1975 with cocoa, donuts and conversation about genealogy. Our Founders:

Resources were collected.

o

o

Acquisition of old newspapers NSHS stored in the bunkers at Mead, NE 1979

Our first “Library”

Changes were made regarding the collection at the Nebraska State Historical Society.

Chloe Foutz Hatched a Plan

A new home for unique & rare NSHS books and the LLCGS collection.

• Why Union College?– Community and

collaboration are core values

– Name recognition for a new audience

– Enhanced historical resources accessible to students

Cooperation commenced with a special event.Proclamation for Genealogy Week May 1-7, 1983

Volunteers and staff worked together

• Ruth & Dave Mosby contributed computers and funding for the Online Computer Library Center (OCLC) system for LLCGS Library

Marriage records on microfilm were reviewed and original ledgers saved at Union College.

LLCGS Archive closet at the Ella Johnson

Crandall Memorial

Library

The LLCGS archives include Lancaster County marriage records, probate records, naturalization papers and the original Sittler card

index.

Forty years later….

How We Work Together Now

• New agreement approved November 24, 2014– Union College• Shelf space• Circulation including community borrower cards• Security of the collection• Office and storage space• Cataloging – a joint effort

How We Work Together Now

• New agreement approved November 24, 2014– LLCGS• Acquisitions and gifts• Collection Management• Prep for cataloging• Processing after cataloging• Reimburse Union for processing supplies and a

percentage of OCLC cataloging subscription

The collection continues to grow in quality and quantity with varied media representation from 50 states and other countries.

A summer 2015 collaboration included “sharing” the skills of a student who entered LLCGS holdings

in the Union Catalog so they are searchable through WorldCat.

Informal Collaboration

• LLCGS makes financial gifts to the library each year

• Referrals between Union’s Heritage Room and LLCGS

• Synergy in programming• Sharing equipment

Library tours introduce community to Union College Heritage Collection

A regional genealogy workshop at College View Adventist Church included a visit to the library by researchers from surrounding counties and states.

Tours invite the community to visit the Union College Library

May 2011 Library Tour

Sabrina Riley used Heritage Room items to add interest, research techniques and preservation information during Civil War

anniversary.

Sabrina Riley updated LLCGS members on blogging, the library catalog interface, oral

interviews and using DNA.

http://familyhistorygrapevine.blogspot.com/

Genealogists appreciate having access to the entire Union College Library for research.

Some Union College books useful for our purposes include the 140+ volumes of the “War of the Rebellion” (Civil War), encylopediae, and

many “Who’s Who” volumes.

Training sessions encouraging the use of the library are held in the community through weekly, monthly and periodic programs and

conferences.

LLCGS members also lead SCC and OLLI classes.

LLCGS volunteers steer visitors to Union collection which is especially

rich in resources related to history and maps used by genealogists.

LLCGS volunteers show pride in the LLCGS library and enjoy the setting.

LLCGS members continue to work at the library indexing, preserving, digitizing and sharing resources

on our website: www.LLCGS.info

A writer’s group is thrilled with the space provided for meeting to encourage writing our personal stories.

LLCGS Members Use the Heritage Room

• Union College Heritage Collections

• Nebraska Memories• Seventh-day Adventist

Obituary Index• General Conference of

Seventh-day Adventist Archives online

• Local history artifacts

LLCGS and Union Library support each other’s events.

Sabrina even used sewing skills to make suffragette clothing and sashes.

Collaborated on World War I Program Series 2014-2015

• Susie McClain – Yesterday’s Lady– 1914-1918 Clothing &

Lifestyles• David Wells

– America and the Great War 1914-1918 (Popular music of the era)

• Mike Mennard– Poetic Lines on the Front

Lines: Exploring Poetry from WWI’s Soldier-poets

College View Pathfinders

Local Genealogists can use the Union College Library wifi to locate resources helpful for their research and…..

Global researchers can find resources in Union College by using LLCGS website:www.LLCGS.info

Recently internationally acclaimed genealogist Lisa Louise Cooke interviewed Sabrina Riley and Cindy Cochran for

a Genealogy Podcast. The Genealogy Gems Podcast will alert researchers

everywhere who use World Cat that there are resources to be found at Union College library.

Websites

• Lincoln Lancaster County Genealogical Society – http://llcgs.info/

• Union College Heritage Collections – http://cdm15913.contentdm.oclc.org/cdm/

• Union College Library – https://www.ucollege.edu/library

• Family History Grapevine –http://familyhistorygrapevine.blogspot.com/