Note: Material in this section was written by Pam Cooper, the primary contact person for LSG.
Discussion about forming a group to help librarians who serve genealogy patrons began as far back as 1993 at the National Genealogical Society (NGS) conference in Baltimore. In 1994, the first roundtable or open forum was presented at the NGS conference in Houston. However, it was not until May 1996 at the NGS conference in Nashville that a steering committee first met to discuss ways in which we could help librarians who serve genealogists. This committee was made up of Pam Cooper, Indian River County Main Library (FL); Marjeanne Blinn, Palos Verdes Library (CA); Martha Henderson, Mid-Continent Public Library (MO); Michele McNabb, Kokomo-Howard County Public Library (IN); Dereka Smith, NGS Librarian (VA); and Curt Witcher, Allen County Public Library (IN). Drew Smith of the School of Library and Information Science at the University of South Florida later joined the steering committee as the LSG webmaster and mailing list owner.
During the discussion, it became obvious that the need was there, but the workload to take the responsibility of having a formal organization was not what any of the committee members could commit to at the time.
So how were we going to reach genealogy librarians without having a formal organization? Our first step was to organize ourselves through the cooperation of the American Library Association (ALA), the Federation of Genealogical Societies (FGS), and the National Genealogical Society (NGS). The intent was to be as loosely organized as possible by collecting no dues and having no publication. Our outreach was decided to be electronically through the Internet and through the national conferences. Publicity was also sent to each state library association and to major library magazines.
It was also decided at our initial meeting that we would send out a survey to over 600 librarians of whom 168 replied. This was to help us with future planning at the three national conferences: ALA, FGS & NGS. It is worth noting that 83 of the 168 had never had any formal genealogical instruction and 68 had never attended a national conference. These numbers would go a lot higher when you consider that our mailing went mostly to people we knew through the conference or through contacts. Another staggering figure is that 40 libraries had no staff and 42 libraries had just one.
Since 1996, LSG has had several pre-conferences. Everyone felt they were informative and the networking and camaraderie provided lots of encouragement. Librarians were enthusiastic when they returned home to their libraries and genealogy patrons. We also have had an annual luncheon, lectures, and an open forum during the conferences.
At the 1999 FGS conference, the LSG steering committee met and discussed the pros and cons of having a loose organization. It was decided that we did need some formalization. One person was appointed as the contact person to help the national organizations in preparing for future conferences. Pam Cooper will use her name and address for all future contacts. (P. O. Box 7066, Vero Beach, FL 32961-7066)
LSG was formed with just one purpose: to help librarians who serve genealogy patrons. One way to provide for the educational need is one of the LSG goals. It is their desire that every state genealogy society provides a scholarship for librarians to attend a national conference. Library budgets often do not allow many librarians who work with genealogy collections to attend conferences because of other library priorities. For an example of a library scholarship program that Florida provides see: http://www.rootsweb.com/~flsgs/
Exchange of ideas, genealogy education, sharing thoughts, trading materials, and discussing problems are just a few ways that LSG wants to help librarians to help their patrons.