Société Jersiaise - Library Review

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Library Review - Autumn 2008

The Lord Coutanche Library has continued to welcome a steady flow of visitors with a wide ranging interest in local history. It is the sheer variety of different enquiries that make us constantly aware of the diverse nature of the library collections, there is always something new to discover or even sometimes re-discover.

Family History

A visitor from Australia researching her Sorsoleil family history remarked on how friendly and helpful the people she met in Jersey were – particularly those who were able to share with her their knowledge of local history and families while she was in the island. Indeed, she was so enthusiastic about the resources she discovered she extended her stay for a further three weeks.

This really made us proud of the value of our collections, and the pleasure it brought to people making full use of them.

Visitors

We must urge members and non-members alike to contact us if they are making a special trip to Jersey to see us. This is particularly important if you are limited in the amount of time you have, as it can be very frustrating having to rush out knowing you have a plane to catch and you are in the middle of uncovering some interesting facts about your family or a resource of which you were were unaware. Please allow yourself a realistic amount of time, and always check the opening times of other places you may need to visit such as Jersey Archives and The Registrar of Births, Marriages and Deaths. We often recommend a midweek short stay rather than a weekend, as many useful places are closed at the weekend. Another helpful tip for those visiting is to discuss with us briefly about what you are aiming to find out during your visit. We often can contact people who share your interest or forewarn an expert of your visit, which might prove beneficial to all concerned. Also many visitors may not be aware of our archival material held in our purpose built environmentally controlled facility on the top floor of the building. This houses some of our rarer items and there are several collections which in the past have been of interest. One example would have to be the Filleul Scrapbooks.

Many of our items for the archive need to be acclimatised before being brought down to the library, and therefore we request a minimum of 24 hours notice in order to do this.

Donations

This year has again seen a wealth of material being left or donated us. This includes Major Falla's Military Memorabilia containing army records, correspondence, some written during the German Occupation. The papers remain at the library, whilst the physical objects, uniform, etc are at the Jersey Museum. There was also a generous donation which now forms the Evans collection consisting mainly of correspondence, postcards, and many Red Cross Letters, these additions complement our existing German occupation collection.

Volunteers

As always much would be left undone if we didn't have our Volunteers, but even they have their limits. The Falla and Evans papers were being indexed by two volunteers who are unable to attend at present, therefore they remain unfinished. If anyone is interested in tackling this type of work or indeed any of the many other jobs that we have available please contact the library. We try to suit the tasks to the individual and their interests. For example we have a recent recruit whom we extend a very warm welcome to. Sue Blandin has agreed to transcribe and type three occupation diaries which joined our collection last year. Sue is working from home as she is currently in full time employment. This has been made possible through modern technology at the Société scans are made of the diaries and e-mailed in batches, Sue transcribes and types then e-mails them back. In this fashion the material is kept secure and the work can still be done. Sue is extremely enthusiastic about this project and hopes to meet the donors at the end of September. The donors are the Great Nieces of the author.

We always offer thanks to our volunteers and this year is no exception, Joy Bell and Emily Snell are invaluable in the library for offering holiday and sickness cover. Joy is currently working on retrospective cataloguing and Emily is transcribing an important historical document. Jack Worrall and Simonne Gallichan are still dealing with all our genealogy enquiries whilst Deirdre Shute mans the library on Thursday mornings to allow the librarians to do necessary work on the 4th floor. Joy Anthony has been working on indexing. You can see the tasks for volunteers are varied if there is anything that sparks your interest please contact the library.