November 2023 VAA Winners
I had been a member of WVGS for some time before I ventured to ask what an “accessioner” was – turns out that although the official definition is that of someone who processes lab specimens, here we use the term for those who catalog items into our collection, be it a book, a map, or a file. We currently have two. Without them, no one would ever know what we have on our shelves and none of us would be able to prepare for a library visit by pulling up the online catalog. You might be surprised by how much new material we add to the catalog each year and by the process itself – researching the right Dewey Decimal number, stamping each item, entering the information into the computer, printing a QR label, taping it to the item and getting it on the right shelf.
The two WVGS accessioners are friends as well as partners in getting information into the catalog.
Sue Black was born and raised in and around the Santa Cruz Mountains outside Los Gatos, California, and graduated from Cal Poly in San Luis Obispo. She married John Black in 1973 and they moved to Utah – the perfect place to pursue her interest in genealogy, in particular more about her Dad’s side of the family. But life took over and her chance to research was put on hold until they moved to Goodyear 27 years later. Invited to a WVGS monthly meeting by a neighbor, Sue joined and began volunteering about 2004, starting with shelf reading.
It was at a time when the Library was critically short of shelf space and Sue learned that Borders was going out of business. She told Peggy and the rest is history. – the Library bought different sized shelves from two different stores, took books off the shelves and piled them in order in the MPR, put up the new shelves and re shelved everything. More than a decade later, when the ASU Map Library was clearing out, Sue snared a second map cabinet for a pittance for WVGS’ own growing collection of maps.
Lynne Corbett was born and raised in Quincy, Massachusetts. She became interested in genealogy while living in Ohio, wanting to know more about her paternal grandparents who now lived only 50 miles away. Lynne and Joe kept moving though, landing in Arizona on their 16th move. Lynne joined WVGS in 2006 and volunteered to help with obituaries but the Committee had too many volunteers (Oh, I WISH!) so she did shelf reading instead. When she met Sue, they started a small genealogy discussion group with a few others in the Goodyear area. Shelf reading brought Lynne and Sue together so, when the maps needed to be organized and catalogued, Sue volunteered not only herself but also Lynne – who just happened to be out of town that week!
Along the way, Lynne has also been responsible for purchasing snacks and drinks for the Library and they both regularly help with the seminar.
A few years ago, when Linda McCleary “retired” from accessioning to have more time for her own research, Lynne and Sue decided to take on the rest of the accessioning duties.
Thank you both for your work on behalf of WVGS!