Intern's Corner: Behind the Scenes at SGGL

Welcome to the Intern's Corner, where once a month we'll post about a project currently in process at SGGL! This week's Intern's Corner will be written by Sara Smith, an IMPART intern, who has been hard at work cataloging the collection.

The past few months I have been very busy creating the first database of our collection! This is a very exciting process, making our collection of books searchable and accessible to ourselves and the general public.

When I began this project, I was very new to MARC cataloging and data mapping - which are all part of creating these records for our books. With the guidance of my supervisor Dr. Joni Jones, we have steadily increased our skills and confidence in mastering the system and have entered our first records into the database! Now the process is quite seamless and records are entered into the database on a daily basis, then given their call numbers and re-shelved in our stacks.

We now have about half of our initial book collection entered into our database and the number of these records grows on a daily basis. We can now search our collection by keywords, author, title, subject headings - the list goes on and on! For instance, I just did a quick search for "Maryland" and found more than eighty books about this state, ranging from biographies, such as Fredrick Douglass or Barry Black, to community histories, including Annapolis, Baltimore, and smaller towns such as Brentwood and Easton.

The potential is amazing: as our collection grows through our own acquisitions and the kind generosity of library supporters, so will this database, rendering it more useful and informative for all those looking for information on African American history. If you would like to be part of increasing our collection holdings, feel free to suggest additional resources! For ideas see our "Book Wish List" on the side of this blog (clicking on the book's title will take you directly to amazon.com) or see the suggestions in our newsletter. And if you have any suggestions, just let us know!

We are increasingly on our way to a fully cataloged collection. We will be keeping you up-to-date as progress continues. Thank you for your support and for reading the blog - come by and visit and see for yourself!

photo source:
Appalachian State University Blog www.library.appstate.edu/blog/

SGGL Spotlight: Trails, Tracks, Tarmac: African American Narrative Quilts from Anne Arundel County, Maryland

Based upon the November 2006-07 Banneker-Douglass Museum exhibit, Trails, Tracks, Tarmac: African American Narrative Quilts from Anne Arundel County, Maryland presents detailed photographs of twenty-five documentary quilts created by African American communities throughout Anne Arundel County. Reflecting their rich and vibrant history, the quilts display the stories of local African American societies, from 1850 to the present. Subjects range from entire communities to the details of a single church or family.

Published by the Northern Arundel Cultural Preservation Society (NACPS), this book presents images and histories of these quilts. Created using a process dubbed “quilting from the soul” the stories are depicted through beads, photo transfers, bright colors, words, and images. The color photographs allow each quilt to speak for itself, demonstrating the new and innovative quilting techniques being used to depict the stories of African American communities. By crafting together recollections of childhood, school pride, church activities and sporting events, these quilts give an intimate account of the African American communities of Anne Arundel County.

Separated into eight sections, each highlighting a different aspect of Anne Arundel County, every quilt is accompanied by a short paragraph describing the history and significance of its story. Included is a foreword by attorney William Dawkins and introductory writings by Isabel Shipley Cunningham, author-historian; Dr. Leslie King-Hammond, Graduate Dean at Maryland Institute College of Art; and Dr. Joan M.E. Gaither, fiber artist and principal quilter. The book also offers a poem titled “‘Twas Quilting Time” by Joyce Carroll Sias and an epilogue by Edward C. Sewell, an NACPS member.

Available for viewing at the Sylvia Gaither Garrison Library. For purchasing information please contact NACPS president Betty Mack at: BDelta[at]verizon.net.

Photo Source:
Trails, Tracks, Tarmac: African American Narrative Quilts from Anne Arundel County, Maryland. Northern Arundel Cultural Preservation Society, Inc., 2007.

32 pages
Includes photographs and map of Anne Arundel County
Review by J. Caity Swanson, Hodson Intern

Welcome!

Welcome to Sylvette Online!

Here we will be posting all the exciting news happening here at SGGL - from new books in our collection, updates on upcoming events, and insider information on our projects! Keep checking our blog for weekly postings!

To read a previous edition of the Sylvette, please visit http://www.bdmuseum.com/5SylvettaWinter08.pdf, where you can download a PDF file of the newsletter.

We hope you will enjoy your digital visit! Come by the library sometime and visit!