@MCL: Morris County Library

Business focus group

2012-01-02T20:47:00.002-05:00

The library would like to put together, in the first quarter of the year, a focus group of businesspeople from local small to mid-sized companies. Do you know the business resources we have for you? Are they in your preferred formats, print or online? Does your operation need research assistance? Let's talk about it. The northwest New Jersey Small Business Development Center has offered to also do an info session for the group.

Call (973-285-6969) or email the reference desk to sign on to a roundtable about your business information needs

Morris 2012 project

2012-01-02T13:23:00.003-05:00

As part of our 90th anniversary celebration this year (County Library opened July 1, 1922) join the MCL Photo Interest Group in documenting county life throughout the year.

We find in our archives an amazing lack of photo evidence of county life ca 1930-2000, something that will only get more so as we all abandon print for digital. The Morris 2012 project is to shoot all aspects of county life, photos to be displayed at the library in the fall; preserved in the library archives; and published in a book or two, for the MCL local history collection.

Send your photos--parades, festivals, historic sites, governing bodies (hopefully no more natural disasters?!), sports and recreation, whatever!--to morriscountylibrary@yahoo.com or drop them off at the reference desk. Caption if/as needed and include the photographer's name as you'd like it credited. Take your camera! be part of the Morris 2012 Project.

February

2011-12-29T09:43:00.003-05:00

February classes have been posted, as have the films of Neil Simon, which we'll be screening.

For children, Story Time and Paws for Reading continue through the winter.

Your databases

2011-12-22T14:57:00.001-05:00

With adds, drops and tweaks, we begin 2012 with 35 databases, about half of which you can also use from home. (Sometimes the cost of remote access is prohibitive!) New this year are:
PowerSpeak: instruction in seven foreign languages and ESL for Spanish and Mandarin speakers
Dow Jones LP Galante, venture capital firms
S & P Industry Surveys (has been added to our existing S & P NetAdvantage)
Prices for Antiques, auction prices for collectibles and art
LoisLaw
PACER, the US Courts electronic case tracking system

Expanded is Foreign firms in../US firms overseas, from UniWorld. We had a subscription to NJ only, have expanded it to national. This resource is particularly valuable to those of you who are bilingual and might look for employment with overseas firms having offices here, or vice versa.
Questions about any of this? Contact our Reference desk, (973) 285-6969.

Thanks MCLF!

2011-12-18T17:57:00.003-05:00

Thanks Library Foundation! Just posted the report on your 2011 activities, eleven (in '11--very nice!) programs--theater, concerts, reading support, large type for seniors, etc.-- for children and families supported through the generosity of your donors.

Learn a language

2011-11-11T11:16:00.001-05:00

Foreign language instruction now available online, from home, through our new subscription to PowerSpeak: 8 foreign languages and ESL instruction for Spanish and Mandarin speakers.

You'll need the database password to use this or any of the other 12 online services that only Morris County Library subscribes to. E-mail our Reference desk or ring (973) 285-6969 with your library card # for the password. Thanks; merci; gracias!

Brotherhood of Unemployed

2011-10-15T13:30:00.002-04:00

Local history librarian Miriam Kornblatt has added September-December 1934 to our Great Depression project, Morris life as seen through the Daily Record. Fall of that year included the Brotherhood of Unemployed, Local #1, Denville, meeting and a CCC company moving into barracks on Whippany Rd to work on flood control and mosquito extermination.

$12.91/acre

2011-10-08T13:01:00.002-04:00

It took the sale of at least 394 acres of Jefferson and Roxbury to clear a debt of $5,092.94 in 1819. Moses Hopping and his wife Amy were on the hot seat because of the failure of their mine on Weldon Brook. The Chancery Court of NJ ordered the sale of these holdings and in 1820 County Sheriff David Mills reported it done.

Cooper Seward family

2011-09-15T12:06:00.003-04:00

Interesting family, the Cooper Sewards, of Chester. Beulah Cooper, Abraham's daughter and Nathan's (Cooper's Mill) niece, married Henry Seward (descendent of Obediah Seward who is on the 1752 freeholder list) and had a son William. William Seward, through the 19th century, became quite the land baron, buying, mortgaging, even foreclosing. We've learned all this in cataloguing the Cooper-Seward deed file here. Some of the documents are too fragile to scan (though not the 1778 deed--terrific rag paper!) so we'll try photographing them to digitize.

Yes, the Chester family was related to Secretary of State William Henry Seward, who thought the US should buy Alaska. Land acquisition seems to have run in the family?!

FamilySearch

2011-07-06T09:38:00.002-04:00

We've just been granted Family Search affiliate library status by the Family History Library, Salt Lake City, Utah. This means we'll be able to rent ($5 per reel is your fee) microfilm from them, for you, through our interlibrary loan office.
The Utah library recommends these tools for determing what's in their collections:

FamilySearch Pilot
FamilySearch Indexing
FamilySearch Wiki

Poetry Festival 2011

2011-05-25T12:47:00.002-04:00

Our 10th annual poetry festival concluded yesterday with the Poetry Party. Awards were given and the young writers queued up to read their verses. This year music/media librarian Darren O'Neill not only served as sound engineer, for the third year, but also provided background music from his upcoming CD release of guitar music by French composers. The French Connection is due out in the fall. Poetry festival readings, 2009-2011, are also available in our podcast channel.

Consumer research

2011-05-19T10:20:00.002-04:00

New tools for researching household buying power, interests, etc., in the library. Both are 2011/12 trials: are they useful for your business planning and marketing campaigns?

SRDS (Standard Rate & Data) does TV/cable market area analysis, online and in print. (Sample, Denver CO) Unfortunately, Morris is rolled into the entire, very large New York City area market. We also have (online) SRDS's Local Market Audience Analyst, with information from Claritas/Prizm.
US Consumers/Lifestyles, from Reference USA This one is a little spooky, for what it knows about your household. We're finding some information wrong, but names and ages of household members, interests, age of home, length of residency, etc. seem to be correct in most cases. Interests seem to be derived from magazine subscriptions and memberships and are very current. Marital status, salaries, ethnicities and religions are frequently off--and we have reported that to the vendor.

Try either/both of these from any computer in Reference (2nd floor). Librarians will log you into SRDS.

NetAdvantage is back!

2011-05-16T14:53:00.002-04:00

We once again are subscribing (in library) to NetAdvantage, the Standard & Poors service that includes their Outlook, corporate and executive profiles, industry surveys and Daily Stock Price Record. NetAdvantage and ValueLine have to be used in the library; Morningstar and Mergent can be used here or from home.

Foundation support

2011-04-26T18:27:00.003-04:00

Thank you! library foundation!! Morris County Library Foundation sponsored programs upcoming are:

Family art workshop with Michael Albert, June 25th, Sat, 1-4PM
(He was here last year…a smash hit with all in attendance. Made us our very own MCL collage.)
Lizard Guy! July 9th, 1-2PM ..perennial favorite with the kids. Yuck! Oooh! Gross!
Magician Brian Richards, July 28th, Thurs, 7-8PM. His evening program is a terrific family time.
Gates of History, talk on the Revolutionary Ward with Gordon Ward and Dr. Jude Pfister, curator at Washingto's Headquarters, Morristown Natl Historic Site, Aug. 27th, 2-4PM.
HERstory, a piano/cello concert of works by classical women composers, Oct. 26th, 7PM

Online registration for these events will be up shortly. We thank the MCLF for their support of excellent programming.

Morristown goes to war

2011-04-11T20:44:00.003-04:00

Battery F, First Field Artillery of the NJ Natl Guard, Morristown was called the "Gillespie Battery", because it was organized in part by Major Samuel Hazard Gillespie, Morristown. The unit was rolled into the US 8th Division, reporting in Anniston, AL July 25, 1917, with the guards from VA, MD, DE and DC. Their leave taking ceremony in Morristown was July 23, 1917. The Daily Record in a lengthy front page article said

..as all Morristown knows that group of youth who have joined the colors to fight until the safety and establishment of world democracry is a surety, was given a send-off last night in the Park Theatre. Never in the history of this municipality--or in the history of Morris County from its ealiest days--was there such a patriotic demonstration as was this one.

(Hmmm, soldiers freezing and starving at Jockey Hollow in 1778 was pretty patriotic?)

Major Gillespie, who died December 1, 1957, was quite the local figure: primary owner of the Jerseyman, a Morristown newspaper; president of Morris & Somerset Electric Co (which became JCP&L); importer/exporter and transportation advisor to the US Army during World War II and president of the boards of both the Morristown Presbyterian Church and the YMCA.

The bottom line

2011-03-29T15:30:00.004-04:00

Among our spending reviews is year-end unit cost analyses of the databases we buy for your use (Ancestry (library edition), Mergent, Morningstar, Dun & Bradstreet, etc. etc.) At the end of the calendar year we divide the annual cost of a database by the number of uses, to get the per session amount. $2 or less is acceptable, over $2 means its time to reconsider the subscription.

A few titles are on the 2012 chopping block at this point, will be dropped if use doesn't increase substantially and lower the per use cost this year. AllData Automotive, Mergent Online, Morningstar Investment Research Library and Valueline are all candidates for a drop..the last for an announced $3,000 price increase, the others for low use. Best ROI? Ancestry, the library edition (which is far superior to the home edition); folks love genealogy research.

Databases you can use from home are found on our remote resources web. Our library value calculator estimates the cost benefit of your library visits.

Mary McHugh

2011-03-14T16:01:00.003-04:00

Mary McHugh became the 284th person added to the Morris Authors' Collection today, when she dropped by with copies of 17 of her works. We're delighted to learn more and more about the very interesting writers here in the county.

Morris County Magazine

2011-03-04T11:54:00.003-05:00

For 15 years, between 1982 and 1995, the county Chamber of Commerce published Morris County Magazine. Reference librarian Donna Burkey has indexed the entire run, identifying the local places and people the magazine highlighted.

We have the entire run of the magazine in our NJ collection. Drop us a note if you need one of the indexed articles.

Another gem!

2011-02-24T15:51:00.001-05:00

Found another gem in our local history files: proof copy of volume 1, number 1 of a literary magazine, "6 x 9". The name was taken from the nine writers of the 6th district (Morristown) of the Federal Writers Project, WPA, who put it together. The editor, Albert Truman Boyd, and associate Carl John Bostelmann were Denville residents. Associate Benjamin Goldenberg and illustrator/printer Lewis W. Biebigheiser lived in Morristown. Biebigheiser (1914-1992(, who cut 12 original linoleum blocks for the issue, would later own a printing business in Chester. We've let his family know what we've found.

Morris County Children's Home

2010-12-22T13:13:00.006-05:00

It is sad to see three and four children from one family in the Morris County Children's Home, ca 1910-1920. Or is it good that they at least were still together? In some cases (the Miller family, 1895) some family members are in the County Alms House and the little one is in the Children's Home. And no, it wasn't scarlet fever that created the need for the children's cemetery (Littleton Rd, near the fire house, now), it seems to have been croup and diptheria. The County Children's Home operated from 1882-1929, when foster home placement became the norm. The organization lasted until 1974 as a placement and aid society. It's final trustee chief was the Rev. Thomas Mutch, pastor of the Presbyterian Church in Morristown from 1936-1966.
Picture by Richard Hrazanek, 2002

Jobs & Career Accelerator

2010-10-20T12:27:00.004-04:00

New database, from the NJ State Library and a jobs grant: Jobs & Career Accelerator/Learning Express allows you to take practice tests and software lessons (Excel, Viseo, PowerPoint, etc.). Register (free) to set up your own work space to save those practice exams or come in and use the library's login if you just want to try out the product, first. For home use, contact the Reference desk (973-285-6969 or e-mail ) for the password.

MCL Photo Group

2010-08-10T22:55:00.002-04:00

Interested in sharing, teaching and learning from others interested in digital photography? Just sign in with your e-mail to join the MCL Photo Group. We'll "meet" largely online, but get together every 8-10 wks to hear from the pros.

Events@MCL

2010-07-21T16:12:00.005-04:00

2,150 households now subscribe to Events@MCL, our e-mail advance notice of library programs, classes, concerts and exhibits. You'll receive one or two e-mails a month from the library or, if you prefer, you can read the list archives. If you'd like to sign on to Events@MCL just drop us a note or sign up whenever you're in the library.

MCL on your cell

2010-05-19T19:02:00.004-04:00

What's your preferred method of keeping up with library events and programs while on the road?
Twitter?
Facebook?
Foursquare?

or, use our micro web for your cell.

Vault Career Intelligence

2010-03-16T15:24:00.002-04:00

Vault Career Intelligence service is now available in the library and from home (to Morris County library card holders). The service includes
Company profiles: 10,175
Industries: 188
Professions: 430 (includes salary information)
Guidebooks: 188
My Vault: set up your own online folder
To use Vault from home call the Reference desk (973) 285-6969 with your library card number, for the password.

Geocaching

2010-03-03T14:23:00.005-05:00

Meet Geomate Jr, available at the Music & Media desk for a 14-day loan, so you can try geocaching, the GPS assisted scavenger hunt for caches left by folks out and about in open, public spaces. There are 3,101 of these "geocaches" within striking distance of Whippany, alone, including one 331 ft from the front door of the library. (See getting started with geocaching for information. We also have books about geocaching.)

This device from LLBean is preloaded with 250,000 geocache locations, allowing you and your family to try out seeking and finding. Wear sturdy clothes, for you might end up tromping through brush and bush; sign and date the log in the cache when you find it; if you take something from the cache, put something in its place; and always, always put the cache back where you found it, for those who come after you. For more information and a list of local caches, visit geocaching.com They estimate there are currently 997,008 active caches, 3-4 million worldwide, and were 2,097,268 cache log sign-ins in the last thirty days. Have fun!

1,350 maps

2008-10-06T09:08:00.004-04:00

You can now search the library's map collection online. One of our reference librarians recently completed a full, descriptive inventory of the collection which, thanks to a grant from the Library Foundation, we can now offer via the web.

Homeschooling?

2007-12-02T20:23:00.002-05:00

Is your family homeschooling? The library offers resources and support.

Morris area newsfeed

2007-09-29T11:14:00.003-04:00

We've pulled together a Morris area news aggregator If you want to subscribe, use http://www.mclib.info/morrisnews.xml