My name is Annie Hatton and I am the new Chair of the Local and Family History Forum of VLA. The position has been vacant, and the Forum has not been able to be very active, and I am hoping to revitalize it. My goal is to foster discussions on topics related to local and family history work, develop training materials, and create a network of support for library professionals in Virginia. If you work with special collections, local history, or genealogy in your library, consider joining us!

The purpose of the Local and Family History Forum is to provide a forum for the exchange of ideas and information for the better use of specialized Virginiana collections and oral history collections.

Currently, the forum objectives are

  *   To provide continuing education programs annually for interested library personnel.

  *   To assist interested institutions in collection development and management of Virginiana, oral history, and genealogical collections.

Troy Valos (Special Collections Librarian at the Sergeant Memorial Collection of the Norfolk Public Library), Suzanne Snowden (Library Information Specialist with the Chesapeake Public Library) and I will be holding an informational meeting on Zoom on Wednesday, February 13 at 10:00 AM to discuss the direction of the Forum and answer any questions you may have on the future of the Forum, including letting us know about sessions you'd like to see at the VLA Annual Conference this October. Register here: https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZwocuGtrT0uGN24Ki5_0rR_6T3zkcL_d1FI

We also have a Listserv you can join: Log in to your VLA member account>My

Profile>My Features>E-lists, then click the slider to "on" next to the

Profile>lists

you'd like to join.

We hope to see you there!

Annie