November 2007 Archives

After leaving Hibbing Public Library (see the previous entry) Sara and I drove over to the Iron Range Resource Center at Ironworld in nearby Chisholm. There we met with Jessica Oftelie and Scott Kuzma.

With its collection of book, videos, and microfilm focused on the Iron Range, the Iron Range Research Center serves as a public library in the Arrowhead system and a research library for genealogy and academic studies. Jessica is the librarian. She has held that position for about three months and is assisted by volunteers, paid part-time assistants, and a full-time research specialist who handles research requests from their webpage and phone. We discussed services that are available to OCLC cataloging subscribers.

Ironworld's archive is located in climate-controlled rooms below the library. Scott Kuzma, the archivist, gave us a whirlwind tour, and we were impressed with the size of the collection and the scope of subjects it covers. The archive is the regional repository for state and local government documents and holds a large collection of maps, photos, oral histories, manuscripts, and realia (skis, shovels, musical instruments, etc.). Scott has begun work on digitization projects and hopes to do more. They have some images up on the web and open to the public and there is a link now on the BATS Web page on CONTENTdm to IRR’s digital collections.

In addition to the Research Center Ironworld has full-sized re-creations of period buildings, a view of an unused open pit mine, and a museum on local history and culture. Here's a picture from one of the exhibits.

When we left Ironworld Sara and I went directly across Rt. 169 to see the Iron Man -- a memorial to the miners of the Iron Range. It is one of the tallest free-standing monuments in the country . . .

but at the same time it has alot of detail. You can see his shirt buttons and the lamp on his hat.

That evening we had dinner at The Whistling Bird--a wonderful Jamaican restaurant in Gilbert.

Next Post: Mesabi Range Community College

(This is the third installment in our series on libraries in Duluth and the Iron Range that Sara Ring and I visited in early November.)

At Hibbing Public Library we met with the director Ginny Richmond and the catalogers Cheryl Gillis and Nancy Riesgraf. They talked with us about the library and how they do their work, and we gave them information about some OCLC services that could be useful to them. The library belongs to the Arrowhead Regional Library System. They catalog with Connexion Browser and use the MnLink Gateway for interlibrary loans. In addition to their own collection, they catalog items for seven local church libraries for inclusion in the Hibbing Public’s catalog. In return the churches agreed to make their collections available for interlibrary loan.

Ginny and Nancy showed us around the library which is currently undergoing some renovations.

In addition to the general collection they have many photographs of Hibbing’s past and a collection of Bob Dylan memorabilia.

While in town we had lunch at Zimmy's which has its own Dylan display, and as we drove around we discovered yet another reminder of Bob that grew up in Hibbing.

Next post: Ironworld

The following entry is a summary of our site visit to the University of Minnesota, Duluth on November 7, 2007. Make sure to check back soon as we'll be posting more tales of our adventures in the Iron Range!

UNIVERSITY OF MINNESOTA-DULUTH LIBRARY
We met with new head of technical services Shixing Wen and some of the cataloging staff (Deb Johnson and Pat Zierke). As they are OCLC Governing Members, they use OCLC for their cataloging. We talked about their cataloging workflow and other OCLC issues. Shixing gave us a tour of the cataloging work area, though we ran out of time to see the rest of the library. The library was built in 2000, and still looks like a brand new building. Notice the sculpture by glass artist Dale Chihuly below. This is the first thing you see upon entering the building.

Here's a shot of the outside of the library at University of MInnesota, Duluth

Though we had little time to spend in Duluth, we did get a chance to eat at HIstoric Fitgers Brewhouse. We also caught an early morning ship passing by Canal Park.

Next post: Hibbing Public Library

Mark Wilhelmi and I recently returned from a three day tour of libraries in Duluth and the Iron Range. I would like to break up the summaries in separate posts. This post will focus on our visit to Duluth Public Library.

DULUTH PUBLIC LIBRARY

We met with interim library director David Ouse, head of technical services Dave Lull, and interlibrary loan staff Mike Grossman and Vivian Gangle to learn more about how they operate. Duluth Public Library participates in the MnLINK Gateway and cooperates with Arrowhead Regional Library System when they need to borrow items for their patrons outside the MINITEX region via OCLC ILL.

Later, Mike Grossman took us on a tour of the library and showed us their special collection of items on and about Duluth, heavily used for genealogy.

Duluth Public Library also has a pretty unique collection of Manga.

Next Post: University of Minnesota, Duluth Library