Saving Archives in New Orleans

An early report, proceed to the bottom of this post for an update. Taken from:
9/5/2005, 6:02 p.m. The Associated Press

NEW ORLEANS (AP): Specialists working for the New Orleans Notorial Archives have been stymied while trying to get downtown to rescue some of the most historic documents in the city's history, from original land grants to slave sale records and title records. Federal troops have refused to let them through checkpoints into the city.

The Notorial Archives hired Munters Corp., a Swedish document salvage firm that freezes and then freeze-dries records to slowly remove moisture from them, to rescue the documents. But Munters refrigerated trucks were turned away by uniformed troops as they tried to enter the city, said Stephen Bruno, custodian of the archives. The trucks were headed to the Civil District Courthouse on Poydras Street, where many of the city's real estate documents are housed, and to the former Amoco building also on Poydras Street, which houses historic documents such as a letter from Jean Lafitte to Washington demanding payment for his expenditures during the Battle of New Orleans.

Information from: The Times-Picayune, http://www.timespicayune.com

From the Notarial Archives Site, an update:
"From Day One of Hurricane Katrina, we began immediate rescue-and-recovery operations to secure the valuable records at both locations of Notarial Archives. We had a prearranged relationship with Munters, an international recovery firm, and hired them to assess the damage caused by high winds and rising water. We were one of the first archival institutions in New Orleans to get access and to attempt rescue." For more visit: http://www.notarialarchives.org/hurricane.htm

Learn to Use EndNote

EndNote is bibliographic citation management software. Save and annotate citations, insert citations into papers, books, and reports. Upload information from online databases into EndNote. Build an enormous database of your own creation. Search it with ease using terms downloaded or terms added by you. This is a very powerful tool and certainly worth a look. Take an initital look at EndNote at http://ublib.buffalo.edu/libraries/endnote.html.

Wednesday, 28 September
LIB 105 - Introduction to EndNote. Charles D’Aniello, Associate Librarian, Arts and Sciences Libraries. 109 Lockwood. North Campus. 1:00 p.m. - 2:30 p.m. Free. Each participant must have an active UB IT name (username). Registration recommended. Arts and Sciences Libraries. Charles D’Aniello at 645-2814, ext. 424. (lclcharl@buffalo.edu)To register go to Web site: http://www.itworkshops.buffalo.edu/dispinfo.cgi?workshop=lib105

Thursday, 29 September
LIB 105 - Introduction to EndNote. Charles D’Aniello, Associate Librarian, Arts and Sciences Libraries. 109 Lockwood. North Campus. Noon - 1:30 p.m. Free. Each participant must have an active UB IT name (username). Registration recommended. Arts and Sciences Libraries. Charles D’Aniello at 645-2814, ext. 424. (lclcharl@buffalo.edu)To register go to Web site: http://www.itworkshops.buffalo.edu/dispinfo.cgi?workshop=lib105

History on the Web: A New Little but Useful Book

This is a comment on the useful and quickly read little book by historian Andrew McMichael, History on the Web: Using and Evaluating the Internet (Wheeling, Illinois: Harlan Davidson, Inc., 2005). It's held in Lockwood Library under the call number D16.117.M38.2005. Incidentally, this book is -- for sure -- physically "little."

Sections include A Short History of the Internet. This is a good and pithy overview. The author observes that it's silly to think the net evolved in response to the threat of nuclear war. The real task was figuring out a way to link remote computers with one another. How to Find History Sites. The difference between Yahoo and Google is explored and the author concludes that Yahoo is a better choice for history students. Using and Evaluating Online Materials. One of the examples used is the familiar quandry of Holocaust denial sites. The Rest of the Net. When and how to use mailing lists (e.g., H-Net) and newsgroups (alt and soc) is discussed. Putting Content on the Web -- Some Suggestions. Recommends student presentations and other assignments.

Instructors would benefit from a quick read. There are things to think about here -- at least a little bibliography and some suggested instructional Web sites would have been useful. The bloodhounds doing an online ssearch before venturing into the woods -- the cover cartoon -- is a nice touch.