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| Lorenzo de Zavala State Archives & Library Building (Beaty, 2017) |
Terrific Students Learning About
Citations?
Talented Special Library Aides Cataloging?
Three Senior Librarians Avoiding
Confrontation?
Actually, it is the Texas State Library and Archives
Commission! The Lorenzo de Zavala State Archives
and Library Building is the main location for this entity. It is located in downtown Austin on the east side of the capitol grounds at 1201 Brazos Street. A
recent tour afforded a better, though still limited, understanding of this
Texas library organization.
Interestingly, this tour was preceded the day before by a tour of the
sparkling new Central Branch of the Austin Public Library (APL), also in downtown
Austin. Though the two sites could be
contrasted in many ways (see the photos below of the card catalog still in use from the TSLAC archives reading room and the device "vending machine" at the APL), they are both resources Austin is proud to host.
TSLAC has four major areas of focus:
- Archives and Reference: Preserving the archival record of
Texas (Archives and Information Services)
- Services for Libraries: Enhancing the service capacity of
Texas public, academic, and school libraries (Library Development and Networking)
- Talking Book Program: Meeting the reading needs of Texans with disabilities (Talking Book Program)
- Records Management: Assisting public agencies in the maintenance of their records (State and Local Records Management) (Smith, 2017).
What does this agency have to do with you?
The scope of this blog will not allow me to elaborate on all
the services TSLAC offers in detail, but I will share some tidbits to whet your
appetites. For those of you in Texas, basically the TSLAC spells
R-E-S-O-U-R-C-E-S for both you and for your stakeholders. Many state records are held physically at the
Austin location in its 7 floors of archival storage. Many of the visitors of the reference reading
room and the archives room are reportedly university students seeking research information,
but all are welcome. For those not able
to come in person, many of the records in the genealogical reading room are
also digitized for remote access. For
example, the TSLAC has made special arrangements to offer many Texas
genealogical records through the Ancestry.com database free of charge – even
for those without a subscription. This
information can be accessed through the TSLAC website by searching
“Ancestry.com Texas.”
There are also resources of special interest to various
types of librarians.
The website, for
instance, provides information and access to continuing education through
webinar offerings.
Online exhibits that
might be helpful for school teachers related to Texas state parks, historic
flags of Texas, the women’s suffrage movement in Texas, among others, are
available at
www.tsl.texas.gov/exhibits.
This is not an exhaustive list.
The website describes these resources and
others of interest, depending on your area of library focus.
Regardless of your interests, however, if you are a
librarian (or library student) living in Texas, you should be aware of the
library-focused collection at your fingertips (or in your mailbox).
I had the privilege of meeting Christina
Manz, the delightful librarian at the other end of emails related to this
collection.
Ms. Manz is eager to help librarians
with access to these books related to the library field.
In addition to offering suggestions upon
request for resources about different library topics from collection
development to makerspaces to cataloging to guided inquiry, the materials are
sent to you wherever you are in Texas!
On the day of my visit, I was only planning to view the collection, but
ended up taking home a stack of helpful books related to current practicum and
course assignments.
It is a library for
librarians!
And, although public
libraries participating in the TexShare program will provide ILL access to the materials
in this collection, most (including the Austin Public Library) have very low limits
(i.e., one book at a time).
The TSLAC
Library Science Collection has no such limits.
The collection is searchable through the TSLAC online catalog, but it can
also be accessed by contacting Ms. Manz directly at
cmanz@tsl.texas.gov.
Additional mention should be made of the Talking Books
Program for those who have not heard of it.
Although my tour did not include this department, the website provides
valuable information about the resources available.
TSLAC offers materials to assist patrons in
all settings with visual impairments or physical impairments, both on-going or
temporary, that restrict their ability to use more traditional print resources.
Check out the program to better equip you and
your library for serving patrons who could benefit from these services at
https://www.tsl.texas.gov/tbp/index.html.
This just scratches the surface of the services and resources
available through TSLAC.
I hope you will
plan to take advantage of them personally and share them professionally with
others in your spheres of influence.
Beaty, G. (2017, February 26). Device vending machine [Image]. Austin, TX: Self-published.
Beaty, G. (2017, February 27). Lorenzo de Zavala state archives and library building [Image]. Austin, TX: Self-published.
Beaty, G. (2017, February 27). TSLAC card catalog [Image]. Austin, TX: Self-published.
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| Central Library device vending maching (Beaty, 2017) |
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| TSLAC card catalog (Beaty, 2017) |
By Gienah Beaty
GLISA Secretary 2017-2018
March 3, 2018
