State Library of North Carolina
UPDATE
http://statelibrary.dcr.state.nc.us
December 2002
Start With Your Librarian
Earlier this year the very best place to start team asked
for — and you delivered — your toughest, most interesting,
most engaging North Carolina questions for the "Start
With Your Librarian" column.
More than 400 community newspa¬
pers across the state received the col¬
umns this summer and early fall.
A dozen or so of you chose to adapt
some or all of the 27 columns, and
you delivered them to your local
editors and reporters. Some of you
opted to have the very best place to
start team deliver them directly to
the papers, and you followed up with the papers to
encourage them to include the feature.
As a result, newspapers from the mountains to the coast
have used the feature, which is a tribute to the variety
and interest level in questions and answers you provided.
Here are a few comments we've heard:
" The Jefferson Post loves them, and we have stalled
adding some columns with our own questions related to
Ashe County history. The other two county papers have
run some but not all of them," Library Director Mary
Sizemore wrote.
The Clayton News-Star in Johnston County told us,
"We'll try to run them from time to time. We support
our libraries!" And in Brunswick County, the Brunswick
County News said: "We find them to be useful in the
paper. Thank you for letting us be a part of getting this
information out to the public."
So, we know papers are using your columns, but we need
your help to know just how many are picking up the
service. Because it is a small filler piece, it typically will
not show up on Web searches.
As a year-end wrap-up to local PR, now is a great time
to follow up with your local newspaper editors or NIE
coordinators to find out whether they have published the
columns and if not, why not.
If you have a chance to contact them and let us know
your findings by December 1 5th, we will be able to
evaluate the column's effectiveness and future potential.
You can reach us at <starthere@library.dcr.state.nc.us>
or send your information and suggestions via fax at
919-733-8748, Attn: Start With Your Librarian.
North Carolina ECHO
NC ECHO visited a wide variety of institutions in
October and November of this year — Camden, Curri¬
tuck, Dare, and Pasquotank Counties (East Albemarle
Regional Library); Carteret, Craven, and Pamlico Coun¬
ties (CPC Regional Library); and Cabarrus County. We
held a survey summary meeting for Johnston, Sampson,
and Wayne Counties where representatives from NC
ECHO partner institutions in those counties shared expe¬
riences and delicious McCalls BBQ! Next on our agenda
is Guilford County where we will spend two weeks
visiting and surveying the wealth of cultural institutions
there. As we travel the state, NC ECHO welcomes the
input of public historians, library professionals, and the
general public. Please feel free to contact us anytime
with comments, criticisms, suggestions, and/or informa¬
tion about cultural institutions we may not have yet
discovered. It is your input and the collaborative efforts
of all information specialists in the state that will make
NC ECHO a success. For more on the survey team’s
work, visit <http://ncecho.org>.
The very
best place
to start.
A publication of the State Library of North Carolina, Department of Cultural Resources
Mail: 4640 Mail Service Center, Raleigh, NC 27699-4640 * Phone:
919/733-2570
* Location: 109 East Jones Street, Raleigh, NC 27601
