For those of you who don’t know, there is a new Outreach Librarian at the Mountain West Digital Library, and it’s me! After three weeks of training and strategizing within the safe confines of my office, last week I ventured out to my first outreach event at the Whitmore Library for a Pioneers in Your Attic scanning event. Matt Brunsvik, Kendra Yates, and I only scanned a few items, but had a great time talking to folks about their family history and the purpose of Pioneers in Your Attic events. If I had a nickel for every time someone said, “I don’t have anything for you, but it sounds like a great project”, I could have bought Matt and Kendra lunch.

Even so, I can see a word-of-mouth pattern forming. One gentleman showed up on Wednesday with 400 pages of family history because his friend had seen us at the West Jordan event. Another person from the Whitmore Library was excited to tell his uncle — the family historian — about the Spanish Fork event next month, which is right down the street from his uncle’s house. Even with all the great press this project has received, it seems like there really is no substitute for one-on-one interaction.

This week, Marisa Snyder and I will be at the Grand County Library on Wednesday and the Price City Library on Thursday exposing more family treasures to the light of day  If you know anyone in Moab or Price, let them know that we’ll be there all week and we are happy to listen to their family stories. Or, better yet, scan them, describe them, and upload them to mwdl.org for the world to enjoy.

See you on the road!