GALION — Thanks to a generous grant from The Community Foundation for Crawford County, a partnership project spearheaded by the Friends of the Galion Public Library along with the Galion History Center to purchase a digital microfilm reader has been fully funded.
This reader will bring the Galion Public Library into 21st Century technology for researchers. The Community Foundation grant totaled $3,365.
Altogether, the Community Foundation awarded $434,970 in grant funding to 29 projects throughout Crawford County.
The library had been operating with a worn out mechanical microfilm reader to access the many microfilms in the library’s Ohio Room. Since many historic documents as well as the Galion Inquirer, Galion Leader, and Galion Sun newspapers reside there, many people travel there for genealogy research. The new reader will facilitate access to these volumes much faster, and in a more accessible way, since most libraries have been using digital readers since the early 2000s.
An added feature of the new reader will allow the scanning and storage of photo negatives and slides onto portable media. This will aid persons archiving their photographic memories. This new service is not being offered in any library within a 40-mile radius.
Galion History Center President Amber Wertman said she thinks this partnership with the Friends group is advantageous because it not only allows better accessibility to local history, and adds the benefit of patrons’ ability to share their photo history with others and with the History Center.
The project was funded in thirds from the Friends of the Galion Public Library, the Galion History Center, and the Community Foundation. The reader will be installed in the next month or so, and its installation will be announced soon by the library.
For more information call the Galion Public Library at 419-468-3203. The library is located at 123 North Market Street. The library’s website is galionlibrary.org. Like the Galion Public Library on Facebook and follow the library’s account on Twitter.
The Friends of the Galion Public Library supports the Galion Public Library by working library events and through fundraising: semi-annual Book Sale, Third Friday Galion, adult and children’s used book sales, raffles, and generous donations from local residents. The Friends of the Galion Public Library is a 501(c)-3 organization.
For information about the Friends of the Galion Public Library, email [email protected] or send a message via the group’s Facebook page.
