2012 Best Practices for Government Libraries

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BEST PRACTICES 2012
interview collecting, workshops and promotion. Educational institutions at the
secondary and university level have incorporated the project as a part of course
work as well as community service. Professional organizations, such as the National
Court Reporters and the American Red Cross, provide an impressive number of
interviews.
Libraries have been key VHP participants. Public libraries in Wisconsin, Florida,
Maryland, Tennessee, and California, to name a few, have collected interviews or
sponsored oral histories instruction sessions. They also have provided facilities
where others can record interviews. The Illinois State Library working with schools
and other organizations has executed a state-wide veterans interview program.
VHP is working with federal libraries within the Department of Defense and other
governmental agencies to establish VHP interview collecting among their own staff
as well as their patrons. Many libraries recognize the value in retaining their own
copies of VHP interviews as a reference resource. In short, libraries are a natural
vehicle for VHP participation and promotion.
Perhaps the most fulfilling effect of the Veterans History Project is the gift that it
gives to the many families who now have a more complete account of their
veteran’s military service. There is reluctance for many veterans to tell their story.
It can be modesty, a feeling that someone just wouldn’t understand what they are
talking about or an emotional inability to relate a terrible wartime experience. VHP
does provide a serious and structured way for a veteran to tell their story and on
more than one occasion has revealed information that has been long kept inside.
For many veterans, it has been a great release and a relief. For some it has been a
sense of pride in performing another patriotic act for their country. For their
families, it has filled a chapter in their legacy that may have gone empty.
The Library of Congress Veterans History Project website, www.loc.gov/vets ,
provides information about the project, a database of veterans’ collection, an
Experiencing War series and a VHP Field Kit that spells out instructions on the
completion and submission of a veteran’s recollections. With over 17 million living
wartime veterans, VHP encourages their participation in relating their
remembrances. More importantly, it looks to everyone who has a veteran in their
life to make the effort to record their story of service and sacrifice and submit it to
the Nation’s Library where it will be preserved to instruct, inform and inspire
generations to come.