Doing More With Less: How a Library Expanded Its Oral History Collection

Abstract

This article highlights a successful collaborative project between the Toledo–Lucas County Library System, a university professor, and a local production company in order to expand the library's African American oral history collection. The project, made possible from a state technology grant, also resulted in the production of 20 television-quality DVDs and lesson guides. In addition to describing how we expanded the library's local African American history collection, we discuss how the project required a new collaborative culture. We also describe the unintended discovery of the evolving role and required skill sets of the librarian in the new collaboration relationship. The knowledge we gained helps us to fill a gap in our understanding about how to establish specialty collections as well as the required emergent role of the librarian.

KEYWORDS:

• oral history
• collaboration
• occupational culture

Notes

1. We are now collaborating with a local cable station to have the interviews aired.

2. In organizational theory, internal structural dimensions refer to labels that describe and reflect the internal operations of the organization. These include, for example, formalization or written rules; standardization, or the degree to which jobs are performed in a uniform manner. Contextual dimensions on the other hand refer to features that characterize the entire organization, such as size of the organization, technology, and organizational culture. For a more detailed discussion of these features of the organization, see Richard Daft's organizational theory.

3. Established in 1989, the Art Tatum African American Resource Center (ATAARC) is a special library collection housed in the Kent branch of the Toledo Lucas County Public Library system. The mission of the ATAARC is to provide cultural, educational, and historical information about the local African American population as well as the broader historical African American cultural heritage and experiences. The name of this special collection of African American culture thus recognized Art Tatum and his musical accomplishments, personal perseverance, and creative talent.

4. All interviews are available in the Local History Collection of Toledo–Lucas County Public Library.

5. In the Toledo-Lucas County Public Library System, the librarian's work role includes reference and collection development duties, plus specialization in a subject area with responsibilities for conducting outreach and maintaining community relations.

6. Although seemingly arbitrary, for purpose of this paper, medium is defined as work activities with at least three tasks, and high is defined as work activities with four or more tasks.

7. See appendix for recommendations for starting an oral history project.

8. This important work requires the interviewer to collect as much background information on the potential interviewee as possible, such as biographical sketches, news clippings, church bulletins, and union records, as well as any other documentation that provides the interviewer with background information on the person to be interviewed.

9. In retrospect, we now realize we should have collected personal photographs and other important documents during the pre-interview phase of the project.