Main Components of ANRL
Feb 26, 2015
ANRL visitors see librarians, the material on the shelves and some office equipment and computers. Digging a little deeper into how the library works you will find the six main cornerstones of the library. Each is important and all six work together.
1. Volunteers ANRL has over nineteen volunteers who carry the load. You will see the librarians in the library. Some work at home far away, and some work at home at Cypress Cove. Some are Snow Birds who go home in the summer.
2. Physical Material This consists of books, videos, magazines, photos, postcards, etc. ANRL’s Web site has a page which summarizes the material in our Collection
3. Digital Material The material originates from several sources which include scanning, web files, photos, converted cassette tapes and video files. We use Dropbox Professional for our digital archive. It has 1 TB of storage. This archive will eventually hold all of ANRL’s digital data. Top level folders and sub-folders are designed for sharing with trusted members or organizations. An index of this material will be available on the Web site for Library Staff Members.
4. Digital Equipment This includes our Book Scanner, computers, printers, flat-bed scanners and video equipment. In many cases the equipment in volunteer’s homes is far faster and better than computers in the library therefore much of the library work is done at home. ANRL is constantly looking for ways to upgrade our equipment while staying within our budget.
5. Database ANRL uses a relational database built with FileMaker 13 Pro. It consists of major areas for Membership, Books, Audio, Who’s Who, Clubs, Club Folders, Newsletters, Magazines and Photos. There are ~50 table occurrences, ~100 layouts and ~200 scripts. Database reports are published on the Web site. Metadata simplifies search through our documents.
6. Web site This is how the general public sees the library. We are actively trying to get clubs and organizations to link to us. The Web site has news articles plus a wide variety of information and links. There is no copyrighted content on the Web site. The “Collection” page has lists of our material including books, videos, surplus material, magazines, Who’s Who, etc. There are membership, volunteer and order forms.