Making Requests from the New Online Catalog Starting Monday February 1!

In our continuing series of news items and videos designed to introduce and inform our members and library patrons about the features of the new David Straight Memorial Philatelic Union Catalog, today we explain the procedure for creating and submitting a library request to the APRL from the online catalog. Whether submitting a request to borrow materials from the APRL collection, a request to purchase items from our surplus inventory of duplicate material, or submitting a research request to the library, the process is simple and easy in the new online catalog.

First, when submitting a request to borrow materials from the APRL you will begin with your search. Follow the instructions in the previous news item and video titled Begin Searching the New Online Catalog Monday February 1 in order to find materials for borrowing using either a Basic or Advanced Search. Once you find the materials you are interested in borrowing, from the search results list that appears following your search move your cursor beside the item in the list you wish to borrow and click on the box beside the title to put a check mark in the box.

Begin Searching the New Online Catalog Monday February 1!

By way of preparing our members and library patrons for the Monday February 1 launch date of the David Straight Memorial Philatelic Union Catalog on its new GeniePlus platform, the catalog that researchers use to access materials from the APRL and the holdings of the other 12 partnering philatelic libraries, the APRL has created a series of video tutorials introducing and outlining the various functions of the new catalog.

The first video gave users a brief introduction to the new online catalog on its new platform, describing some of the familiar and also the new features researchers can expect when using the new catalog. In this news item and the video below, we will now delve into how catalog users can create a Basic Search and the options available for refining that search, as well as how to conduct an Advanced Search in which the user can build and execute a more detailed and precise search query, one that involves multiple search terms and multiple search field.

Explore the APRL’s New Online Catalog February 1!

1/24/2021

Since October 1992 when the APRL transitioned from a card catalog and in-house database system to an online union catalog, the cataloging of the APRL collection has grown exponentially along with the collection. In 1992 the first records were input into the library’s new online catalog platform, GeniePlus, and with this the David Straight Memorial Philatelic Union Catalog (DSM-PUC) was born.

Advanced Search Page in Current David Straight Philatelic Union Catalog

Register Now of the 2020 Virtual Postal History Symposium

It’s Time to Register for the 2020 Postal History Symposium!

Back in July in order to overcome the health and safety concerns of the ongoing pandemic, it was decided that the 2020 Postal History Symposium would be held virtually. The biennial event, jointly hosted by the American Philatelic Society, the American Philatelic Research Library, the National Postal Museum and this year by the U.S. Philatelic Classics Society, was re-imagined virtually and rescheduled for October 26-30, 2020.

Adopt-A-Book to Support APRL’s Digital Collections

The American Philatelic Research Library has one of the world’s largest and most accessible collections of philatelic literature. With nearly four miles of materials that comprise over 90,000 items including 23,000 book titles and 5,700 journal titles, the need to provide worldwide access to these materials has never been greater. In keeping with this, in 2017 the APRL created its digital collections database, APRL Digital, and began digitizing journals, books, maps, exhibits and photos from its collection. Currently the database has over 500,000 pages of material which includes complete journal runs of the American Philatelist, the Philatelic Literature Review, Postal History Journal, Collectors Club Philatelist and the American Philatelic Congress Books to name a few as well as digitized books, maps, exhibits, photos and even a movie or two.

Bring Home the Digital Collections of the APRL!

Have time to do some research or just read an issue or two of the Collector’s Club Philatelist or the Postal History Journal? Now’s your chance! While we’re all at home social distancing there’s no need to feel remote from the APRL! Until May 31 APRL Digital, the library’s digital collections database, will be open to both members and non-members. As we transition the database from its present home to a new responsive platform, be one of the first to experience the digital library’s new responsive address.

National Library Week: Libraries = Digital Communities – “APRL Digital”

In the age of Twitter, Instagram and other social media alternatives the ongoing resource and service goal of the American Philatelic Research Library is to expand the reach of the library to those who may not or cannot visit in person us here. The digital world of disseminating information for research, in this case philatelic research, has advanced such that a good number of the resources we know and use each day appear in digital form. To this end, the APRL in October 2017 began its Digital Resources Imitative to make available to our members some of the more common resources used in their research.

National Library Week: Libraries = Communities for Sharing

One of the most important goals for any library including the American Philatelic Research Library is that of sharing our resources with our community of library users, in this case philatelic researchers. We do this first by making our resources accessible to those users through borrowing, photocopying, scanning and providing research. In conjunction with this type of resource sharing we also have a responsibility to share what we don’t need or require for our collection with the philatelic community.

National Library Week: Libraries = Tips from Our Community

Now that you’ve been introduced to the staff here at the American Philatelic Research Library, we thought as part of National Library Week we would next ask some of the staff to share what tips they could pass along to assist patrons and researchers to the APRL with our services and resources. In working with the resources every day and assisting patrons with their research, our staff have discovered some useful “tips of the trade” they would like to share with our philatelic “community.”

National Library Week: Libraries = Strong Communities of Staff

On this second full day of National Library Week, here at the American Philatelic Research Library (APRL) we now move our focus to the dedicated and resourceful people who make up our “community” as the staff of the APRL, those who serve the research and resource needs of our members and the global philatelic community. The APRL is staffed by three full-time personnel and two employees who split time in the library.