April 17, 2008

Library celebrates National Library Week,

needs help with Kendrick collection

Journal photo by Jennifer Larsen

Archiving. After thoroughly washing their hands, Joan Plager (left), Barbara Schwisow and Rexa Moffett take special care in handling negatives and photographs at the Ritzville Library on April 10. The volunteers are preparing a number of negatives and photographs in the Bert Kendrick Photograph Collection for transport to the Washington State Archives in Cheney for storage. More volunteers are needed for the project, which includes thousands of photographs and negatives.

The Ritzville Library is celebrating National Library Week, which is April 14-19. This is the 50^th anniversary of National Library Week. Library patrons will receive bookmarks noting the special week.

The public is encouraged to use the library every week, Ritzville Library District No. 2 Director Sandra Fitch noted. The library has a large number of Fiction Best Sellers and some of the Non-Fiction Best Sellers, and it offers computer use and WiFi connection during open hours.

Volunteers are needed to help process the negatives of the Bert Kendrick Photograph Collection.

The collection had several negatives and prints in the same envelope. Volunteers are currently putting one negative per envelope and transferring the information onto the new envelope.

In some cases, it is beneficial to have a person with knowledge of people in the area, but it isn’t critical. Volunteers choose to work a few hours or several hours.

The library needs to get all of the negatives into new envelopes before they are transferred to the Washington State Archives in Cheney for storage, which has the proper facilities to handle archival storage.

The Ritzville Library will have access to the collection. In addition, it will receive DVDs and will purchase an external hard drive to store the information. Anyone may visit the Washington State Archives and view the items. In the future, copies of the items will be available through Ritzville Library and the state archives.

Anyone interested in helping preserve the Bert Kendrick Collection who has a little spare time, please consider offering assistance. The library is encouraging people to sign up for a time each week if possible. Check with the library if you are interested or if you have any questions at 659-1212 or drop by during operating hours.