The Virginia Room Research Library and Archives (www.virginiaroom.org) is located on the second floor of the Main Roanoke Library. It also houses the Roanoke Law Library. The collection consists of non-circulating historical and genealogical research resources from Virginia and surrounding states. Nothing is loaned out of the Virginia Room. Due to the nature of the collection, no cellphones or cameras were allowed in the stacks. When entering, patrons must sign in and they are provided a key for locker to store any bags, cameras, or cellphones.

The website is extensive. It lists the many databases to which Roanoke Valley Libraries patrons have access to online and/or in-person. The digital collection includes digital copies of photographs, books, and pamphlets that are available in the Virginia Room and indexes, inventories, guides, and other finding aids for items not found in the online catalog. My favorite part of the digital collection is the local yearbook collection, in which I was able to find pictures of my father from his junior high school years. Guides for doing genealogical research and research may also be found. The library also provides virtual classes on genealogical research through the website. Finally, the website provides information about visiting the Virginia Room. The website is truly a logical extension of the physical space. It is well-maintained and easy to navigate. The librarians who have been designing the content of the website are definitely “stewards of content” in a digital age (Rubin & Rubin, 2020, p. 199). I have been able to spend many hours perusing documents of interest without leaving my back porch.

While the website is very easy to access, the actual Virginia Room is difficult to access during the work week. On street parking free parking is available for two hours at a time, providing the spaces are empty. The two-hour time limit is not enforced on Saturdays. Pay lots are available across the street. Handicapped parking is available on the street. A free trolley provides transportation from many of the other parking lots in the downtown area.

The space for the Virginia Room is fairly large, but they could definitely utilize additional space. There is a large quiet area containing tables and chairs for research. The lighting is soft and subdued with lamps at each table and electrical outlets to plug in laptops. It was so quiet that I could hear the clock ticking. The shelves around the tables contain Roanoke City Directories from the late 1800s to the present, Civil War records and “pedigree charts”, books labeled “Passenger and Immigrations Lists” dating back to 1538, records of a Roanoke historian who worked for the local newspaper, Norfolk and Western Magazines, Confederate Veterans Records, Roanoke Times microfiche, and census records of Virginia and surrounding states from 1894 – 2018. The room also contains an actual card catalog of some of the items and a microfiche machine. A large computer lab that contains about 20 computers is adjacent to the quiet room next to the desk. Multiple databases, including Ancestry.com are available for free use for all Virginia Room patrons. Behind the desk, the librarian has access to a variety of brochures and information that is being digitized.

The office of the Virginia Room Archivist houses a collection of maps. Maps dating back to the early 1700s of Virginia counties, including Roanoke County and the City of Roanoke, are indexed and available for anyone to use. Copies of many of the Sanborn maps collection are available for purchase. It was interesting to see how many of the maps had modifications glued over parts of them as neighborhoods changed.

The Law Library was recently moved from the Courthouse to the Virginia Room. Unfortunately, the only space provided for easy access is a large office space. The Law Librarian maintains a small number of legal volumes that are used frequently in his office. The other volumes are located in other areas of the library as space allows and are retrieved upon request.

The large room beyond the offices of the Archivist and the Law Librarian contained a wealth of information related to the history of Roanoke, Virginia, and neighboring states, including, but not limited to histories of Virginia counties and nearby counties in other states, rare Virginia history books, books related to Civil War and Revolutionary War history, books of vital records, records related to slaves and immigrants, property deeds, wills, tax records, Roanoke financial reports, family newsletters and family histories, church histories, state journals from Virginia and nearby states, books on famous Virginians, yearbooks, geological records, cookbooks, and other books of interesting things about Virginia. All of the collection is organized by the Dewey decimal system, but some groupings of the materials are based on preferences of previous archivists.

A special collection is housed in a locked room off of the back room that contains very rare items and fragile items, such as pamphlets. The locked room is temperature and moisture controlled. When I entered the room, I understood the reason for the stereotype of the librarian wearing a sweater. One of the most interesting items in the special collection was a tiny book that was less than one inch tall and wide, and about one-half inch thick containing the entire texts of four of Abraham Lincoln’s most famous speeches.  I also noted that the door to the special collection was not marked in any way. The librarian who gave me a tour of the collection stated that it was for security reasons. When asked how the archivist determined what would stay in the collection and what would be discarded, the librarian stated that there were specific guidelines that were used to determine the nature of the collection.

The librarian who was my tour guide is an Associate Librarian. She does not make decisions about the nature of the collection, but uses her extensive knowledge of the collection to handle email requests and telephone requests, to assist patrons in their quests for information, and to show patrons how to use the microfiche machine. She also digitizes parts of the collection when time is available. I noted that she was responsible for many of the jobs listed by Rubin and Rubin (2020), including meeting users’ needs in the physical space and providing support through a variety of virtual means (p. 199).  She stated that most of the digitizing is done by interns. The Virginia Room clientele consists of mainly lawyers, genealogical researchers, and historians. The librarian stated that local authors use the collection for research, as well. When school is in session, high school and college students will use the hands-on resources to complete historical research. While I was at the Virginia Room, the librarian was asked how to find information about a particular family and for assistance with locating the history of the usage of a particular piece of land. The patrons in the Virginia Room on that day were white, one older male, two older females, and a relatively young female.

I was very surprised by the extent of the collection. It inspired me to want to take a class on archival collections. I would like to know more about how policies for collection development are created and maintained. The librarian who gave me the tour was extremely knowledgeable of the collection. Her enthusiasm was contagious and inspirational. The only thing that disappointed me was that I was unable to find anything on my own family history.

References

Roanoke Public Libraries. (n.d.). Virginia Room. http://www.virginiaroom.org/

Rubin, R. E., & Rubin, R. G. (2020). Foundations of library and information science (5th ed.). ALA Neal-Schuman.