A rebuttal to the Historical Society's letter. Posted in Boston.com.
Library trustee defends culling of historical volumes, despite public outcry
Posted by Jaclyn Reiss July 17, 2013 10:15 AM
A Watertown library trustee last night defended her board's June decision to move some historical books out of the local library's history room to clear shelf space, despite the uproar it has caused among local genealogy and historical experts.
"There just isn’t enough room," said library trustee Raya Stern in a Town Hall hallway Tuesday night. “This is stuff no one looks at. Not everything in there is valuable to Watertown.”
The volumes are not directly related to Watertown's history. However, the decision has prompted a letter and email campaign by local historians, and brought nearly a dozen protesters to Tuesday's Town Council meeting to rail against the move.
Many said that even volumes not directly related to Watertown could be monumental to historians and genealogists researching in the library's history room. The historians pointed to the valuable nature of many of the volumes, including the journals John Winthrop, an early Massachusetts founder.
"This is some of most important material historically in the Commonwealth," said David L. Smith, president of the Civil War Round Table of Greater Boston. "To get rid of it is outrageous and irresponsible."
The books are being cleared to make space for the Army's Arsenal property cleanup records - which are federally mandated to be housed there - as well as new incoming historical volumes, Stern said.
"This is a federal mandate that was dumped on us," Stern said. “There are no tucked away places in the library to put the Arsenal papers. All our rooms and shelves are being used.”
The non-Watertown materials would either be moved to general shelves in the library, offered to various communities' libraries and historical societies, digitized for online use, or put in the local circulation network, Stern said.
“We’re not throwing anything away,” she said. “We’re just finding other places for them.”
Although the library has offered any of the titles to the Watertown Historical Society, board member Joyce Kelly said the organization does not have room to house the books.
"We believe the library can house both the Arsenal material and the research collection," she said, noting that the Arsenal cleanup documents could likely be digitized faster and easier than any of the research volumes.
Supporters of the historical volumes also worried that since the decision was already made at the library trustees' June 4 meeting, valuable titles could begin disappearing from the history room at any time.
"It took 150 years to put this collection together, and in another month or so, it could all be gone," said Bob Erickson, former veteran's agent for Watertown.
But Stern said the decision, while discussed in detail last month, has been in the works since last fall.
"This policy has been in the works since October," she said, adding that the board will likely uphold their decision. “They can come to our meetings. Some got all excited and now they’re overreacting.”
Stern said the library is still deciding what books to move out of the history room, and said the process is continuous and has no firm deadline.
“We’re working on this constantly,” she said.
The next Board of Library Trustees meeting is Tuesday, Aug. 6 at 7 p.m.
Library trustee defends culling of historical volumes, despite public outcry
Posted by Jaclyn Reiss July 17, 2013 10:15 AM
A Watertown library trustee last night defended her board's June decision to move some historical books out of the local library's history room to clear shelf space, despite the uproar it has caused among local genealogy and historical experts.
"There just isn’t enough room," said library trustee Raya Stern in a Town Hall hallway Tuesday night. “This is stuff no one looks at. Not everything in there is valuable to Watertown.”
The volumes are not directly related to Watertown's history. However, the decision has prompted a letter and email campaign by local historians, and brought nearly a dozen protesters to Tuesday's Town Council meeting to rail against the move.
Many said that even volumes not directly related to Watertown could be monumental to historians and genealogists researching in the library's history room. The historians pointed to the valuable nature of many of the volumes, including the journals John Winthrop, an early Massachusetts founder.
"This is some of most important material historically in the Commonwealth," said David L. Smith, president of the Civil War Round Table of Greater Boston. "To get rid of it is outrageous and irresponsible."
The books are being cleared to make space for the Army's Arsenal property cleanup records - which are federally mandated to be housed there - as well as new incoming historical volumes, Stern said.
"This is a federal mandate that was dumped on us," Stern said. “There are no tucked away places in the library to put the Arsenal papers. All our rooms and shelves are being used.”
The non-Watertown materials would either be moved to general shelves in the library, offered to various communities' libraries and historical societies, digitized for online use, or put in the local circulation network, Stern said.
“We’re not throwing anything away,” she said. “We’re just finding other places for them.”
Although the library has offered any of the titles to the Watertown Historical Society, board member Joyce Kelly said the organization does not have room to house the books.
"We believe the library can house both the Arsenal material and the research collection," she said, noting that the Arsenal cleanup documents could likely be digitized faster and easier than any of the research volumes.
Supporters of the historical volumes also worried that since the decision was already made at the library trustees' June 4 meeting, valuable titles could begin disappearing from the history room at any time.
"It took 150 years to put this collection together, and in another month or so, it could all be gone," said Bob Erickson, former veteran's agent for Watertown.
But Stern said the decision, while discussed in detail last month, has been in the works since last fall.
"This policy has been in the works since October," she said, adding that the board will likely uphold their decision. “They can come to our meetings. Some got all excited and now they’re overreacting.”
Stern said the library is still deciding what books to move out of the history room, and said the process is continuous and has no firm deadline.
“We’re working on this constantly,” she said.
The next Board of Library Trustees meeting is Tuesday, Aug. 6 at 7 p.m.
From Historical Watertowns FaceBook page.
DAN SULLIVAN
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