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Archiver > APG > 2001-09 > 1001621702


From: Cyndi Howells <>
Subject: [APG] National Genealogical Society Partners with the St. Louis County Library
Date: Thu, 27 Sep 2001 13:15:02 -0700


Press Release for Immediate Distribution:

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NATIONAL GENEALOGICAL SOCIETY PARTNERS WITH THE ST. LOUIS COUNTY LIBRARY
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The National Genealogical Society's circulating collection of more than
20,000 volumes will have a new home by the end of this year. At its
September board meeting in Davenport, Iowa, the NGS Board of Directors
ratified its decision to create a strategic partnership with the St. Louis
County Library. The NGS circulating collection, part of which is currently
housed in off-site storage, will be moved to the St. Louis County Library
where it will be available to researchers by January 2002. In February of
2002, the NGS circulating book collection will become available in its
entirety for interlibrary loan to both NGS and non-NGS members throughout
the country.

Both NGS and the St. Louis County Library are committed to significantly
growing the circulating collection so that members have a dramatically
larger number of books available to them via interlibrary loan. The St.
Louis County Library staff will handle loan services previously processed
by the NGS librarian and volunteers. The county library's experienced
interlibrary loan staff and their expert special collections librarians
make this partnership particularly strong. Loans will be executed in a
timelier manner and will usually be less expensive for the researcher.
Special collections librarians will assist in answering reference questions
generated by the loan service.

This partnership will enable the NGS librarian and the volunteers to focus
on providing programs, projects, and access to other important materials
such as the NGS manuscript collection, which will continue to be housed at
the NGS headquarters site in Arlington, Virginia. An exciting new project
is the development of plans for a genealogical reference help-desk. This
help-desk will give members access to reference and referral services to
help them find and interpret historical and genealogical
information. Tailored to the individual needs of each researcher, this
will be a tremendous benefit to NGS members.

NGS will continue to accept donations for the circulating collection, and
with its partner, make these additional materials available to the entire
genealogical community. While the St. Louis County Library will maintain
its core genealogy collection as a non-circulating reference collection,
the NGS circulating collection will provide the whole genealogical
community with access to a significant and growing circulating collection
of genealogical reference materials.

The National Genealogical Society's core mission is education. It is
committed to forming strategic partnerships that will increase benefits for
its members as well as the whole genealogical community. This strategic
partnership increases important services without duplication. The NGS Board
of Directors is dedicated to exploring all possible avenues of increasing
member benefits while working to fulfill the society's core mission as a
service organization that leads and educates the national genealogical
community.

About NGS:

More information about the National Genealogical Society and its many
programs and services can be found at the society's web
site: http://www.NGSGenealogy.org The society's mission and objectives
can be found at the following link: http://www.ngsgenealogy.org/amission.htm.

Information about the St. Louis County Library Special Collections can be
found at: http://www.slcl.lib.mo.us/slcl/sc/sc-genpg.htm

Contact:
Curt B. Witcher
President, National Genealogical Society
219-421-1226


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