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Guide to the Library Collection, 1967-1989

ARC17.06

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Table of contents

Series Description

I Library Photographs 1967-1989

Scope and Content Note

Photographs in this series include both the Main Library and Life Sciences Library. The collection of photographs includes an oversized photograph of the library group, images of library personnel, interior shots of the various library facilities, a collection move, and construction during a seismic retrofit. Also included is imagery of the Remote Console Information Retrieval System (RECON), which was a catalog system commissioned by NASA and later adapted for outside institutions.

Library personnel and patrons shown in the photographs include: former ARC Library Branch Chief Sarah Dueker, Deputy Branch Chief Mary Walsh, NASA Center for AeroSpace Information (CASI) employee Edna Fleek, CASI employee David Steere, Dryden Library Technician Deanna K. Clark, Librarian Patricia French, Cataloging Librarian Betsy Sandford, Cataloging Librarian Donna Yung, former Library Branch Chief George Roncaglia, Circulation Clerk Jim Johnson, Library Clerk Steven Zeleny, Interlibrary Loan Technician Kathleen (Kathy) Ponce, Library Information Technology Specialist Harry Landers, Acquisition Clerk Mickey Greene, Life Sciences Library Clerk Beverly Frazier, Head of Library contract Sheila Keegan, Reference Librarian Daniel (Dan) Pappas, Life Sciences Librarian Esther Khoo Johnson, Cataloger Susan Rutkowski, and Acquisition Technician Kenneth Snyder. An oversized print of the library staff taken around 1980 features: Contract Library Project Manager Doreen Cohen, Kathleen (Kathy) Ponce, Interlibrary Loan Technician Sylvia Head, Library Branch Chief Secretary Diane Alexander, Cataloger, William (Bill) Schubert, Cataloger Steven (Steve) Zeleny, Acquisition Librarian Catherine (Cathy) Andrejak, Reference Librarian Robert Schweier, and Library Branch Chief Mary Walsh. Library staff designations reflect positions at the time the photographs were taken.

A subgroup of the library personnel photographs focuses on a computer installation and NASA's RECON catalog system, an online bibliographic retrieval system. The RECON system was developed by Lockheed through a contract awarded by NASA. The Ames Libraries adopted the RECON system in 1968.

The remaining photographs capture various shots of the library interior and seismic retrofit preparation activities. Interior photographs dating from 1967 to 1971 include research areas, book stacks, the circulation desk, reading room tables, personnel offices, film reel shelves, and microfiche rooms. Photographs from the seismic retrofit date from 1987 to 1989 and mainly focus on the day-to-day activities leading up to the construction.

A file index of digitized photographs accompanies this series.

II Library Outreach 1969-1980

Scope and Content Note

This series contains outreach materials including the library newsletter titled Upstairs, Downstairs, and Across the Street, vacancy announcements, brochure drafts, and Astrogram articles about the libraries. The Main and Life Science Libraries used to encompass a large footprint and support staff throughout Ames Research Center. Therefore the outreach efforts were robust enough to produce materials such as an internal library newsletter.

The Upstairs, Downstairs, and Across the Street newsletter ran from 1977 to 1979 and was circulated to the Library staff across the center. Issues for Volumes I-III of the newsletters were compiled and bound, while Volume IV, which consists of one issue, was left unbound. Reference Librarian Daniel (Dan) Pappas served as the Editor in Chief and periodically brought in guest editors for various issues. The newsletters contained book reviews, puzzles, poems, cooking recipes, short stories, summer reading lists, restaurant recommendations, open positions, drawing/content contest, letters to the editor, doodles, and general announcements.

Brochures found in this series highlighted library services and served as a mechanism to communicate available library resources. The brochures provided researchers with a summary of library resources and services. The Astrogram articles served to share important events, highlight events taking place in the library, and announce vacancies. Both the brochures and Astrogram articles served as a mechanism to communicate with the Ames work force.

III Administrative Documents 1968-1983

Scope and Content Note

This series includes planning and operation documentation from the library renovations and files from the Library Committee dating 1968 to 1983. Photographs from Series I compliment these administrative materials and provide visual documentation on the topics discussed throughout the series.

As documented in this collection, the Library demonstrated the need for a renovation between 1979-1983. The Library's renovation planning and operation files include Earthquake Preparedness Taskforce documentation, shelving unit research, proposal outlines, renovation estimates, proposed layouts, subcommittee reports, and an oversized portfolio titled Proposed Library and Communications Facility. Documentation in this series supported the need to renovate the Main Library and to prepare the facility for any potential earthquakes. Materials further document research into research into earthquake damage to libraries in the region. As an example, photographs were collected from local libraries depicting destruction of library reading rooms and toppled shelving units caused by earthquakes. In line with earthquake preparedness and awareness of potential destruction, the library staff conducted a shelving study and documented their findings. In the Proposed Library and Communications Facility portfolio, photographs compare existing library facilities at Ames with libraries at other NASA centers. The portfolio also includes the growth of the library's collection from 1962 to 1967 and proposed floor layouts to accommodate the library expansion.

The Library Committee documentation provides insight into the operations of the library from 1969 to 1975. Including organization charts, correspondence, budgets, meeting agendas, library evaluation reports, library services technical processing statistics, agency library organization chart, user statistics, microfilm study and listing of services. Although not a comprehensive collection of committee files, these documents provide an adequate sampling of the Library Committee activities.

Container List

I. Library Photographs

Box 1, Folder 1

Ames Photographer Images, 1967-1971

Box 1, Folder 2

Library Personnel Snapshots, 1980-1989

Box 1, Folder 3

Ames Cataloger Steve Zeleny undated

Box 4, Folder 1

Oversize Group Photograph, 1980

II. Library Outreach

Box 1, Folder 4

Library Brochures, 1969-1971

Box 1, Folder 5

Library Astrogram Articles, 1970-1979

Box 1, Folder 6

Library Newsletter Volume 1-2, 1977-1979

Box 2, Folder 1

Library Newsletter Volume 3, 1979

Box 2, Folder 2

Library Newsletter Volume 4, 1980

III. Administrative Documents

Box 2, Folder 3-4

Library Committee I, 1969-1972

Box 2, Folder 5

Library Committee II, 1973-1977

Box 2, Folder 6

Serial Holdings and Microfilm Study, 1975

Box 3, Folder 1-2

Earthquake Shelving Research, 1977

Box 3, Folder 3-4

Earthquake Study, 1979-1983

Box 3, Folder 5

Earthquake Study Photographs, undated

Box 4, Folder 2

Proposed Library and Communications Facility Portfolio, 1968

Series Description

Library Photographs

Library Outreach

Administrative Documents

Container List

I. Library Photographs

II. Library Outreach

III. Administrative Documents