Pegasus, Volume 3, Number 2, Winter 2015 Page: 158
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Part I: Images & Articles 1954-2015
SPECIAL MOMENTS FROM THE DGS 50TH ANNIVERSARY
BOOK CHALLENGE
by Shirley R. Sloat
T he celebration of the 50th Anniversary of the Dallas Genealogical Society in 2005 called for a
very special project. One that would be a spectacular enhancement of one of the stated purposes
of its original 1955 charter: "to collect and preserve information relating to those pioneers who settled
Dallas County and to the early history of this city and county."
By then, the Dallas Public Library's genealogical collection had been built not only to collect
and preserve Dallas-area records, but also to make available "the published records of other states,
whence come the Texas pioneers." For those researching family history in the southern states,
Virginia, and New England, DPL genealogy resources were remarkable. However, we had far to
go to provide a full range of material for the many other geographical origins of Dallas's diverse
population in 2005.
In April 2005, the DGS Board announced "The Dallas Genealogical Society's 50th Anniversary
Book Challenge," with a very aggressive goal to increase the number of books on the shelves of
the 8th floor Genealogy Section from 95,641 to 100,000 volumes. Lloyd Bockstruck wrote an article
for Dallas (Texas) Morning News explaining that we were seeking not only monetary contributions,
but actual books from the public-books from any location and any time period that might provide
clues to help a researcher place an ancestor at a particular place and time. Books desired included
alumnae lists from schools; membership lists of churches, clubs, and social, political, and professional
organizations; town and county histories and directories; and family histories.
The Book Challenge Project Team, made up of myself, Marti Fox, Shirley Hawn, Glenn Kinkade,
and Happi McQuirk, planned and implemented the project. It became apparent that as more books
were acquired, we depended more and more on the behind-the-scenes cataloging workers on floor
Li. They ramped up to deal with the increasingly fast pace of book acquisitions, as their annual
workload doubled.
The goal was officially reached on 12 January 2006. Better yet, the count continued to increase as
books in the acquisition and cataloging "pipeline" were fully processed. The count on 1 February 2006
was 100,300 with more to come. The collection now included books from unexpected sources dealing
with a very great variety of locations.
To celebrate successfully reaching our goal, we hosted a Thank You party for the cataloging workers
and 8th floor staff on 23 January 2006. In preparation for the event, where some of us were meeting
each other for the first time, I prepared a workflow diagram or "pipeline," showing all the functions
performed by DPL staff to ready a new book for the 8th floor shelves. For many of the attendees this
was the first time they could see how their efforts fit into the process.
The functions in the pipeline at that time were (in no particular order):
- Collection Development
- Design and Graphic Services
- Receiving and DeliveryVol. 3, No. 2 (Winter 2015)
55
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Dallas Genealogical Society. Pegasus, Volume 3, Number 2, Winter 2015, periodical, Winter 2015; Dallas, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth1310472/m1/65/: accessed June 8, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Dallas Genealogical Society.