Leslie Ihde wrote:Hello Brad S.,
I second your remarks about the library and the area. I go to Corning often also, but I am an hour east. I also want to put in a plug for the other waterfalls in Ithaca- Tremain, and Buttermilk, but especially Tremain, which has an upper and lower section. The Tremain waterfalls have a marvelous gorge with a 4 mile walk down then up the waterfall.
One comment about the Rakow Library- I have done research there, but forgive me if I am terribly library ignorant, but isn't the case that you have to kind of know the topics you want to research pretty throughly? I found that you can't browse there, but have to ask the librarians for articles on what you want and then they go and retrieve it for you. Maybe it has changed since I was last there, but that's what I remember. I like browsing in libraries like book stores sometimes. They did have several videos in a variety of topics- I remember one by Bullseye which showed you their glass formation- kind a like a factory tour without flying to Portland.
Leslie
Hi Leslie. I agree about Ithaca. It is certainly worth the trip if someone has the extra time.
The Rakow Library has undergone some major changes over the last several years, including moves to two different locations. For the last couple of years they have been in what is now their permanent location next to the Museum. During the period when they were in their interum location on Market Street, it's true that one couldn't browse the book stacks and had to ask a librarian to retrieve material. That has now changed and a large part of the stacks are once again open to the public. If something in the special collections section is needed a librarian still must be asked to retrieve it.
The Rakow Library is a fantastic resource that I think many people are unaware of. Here's a quote from their website about the scope of their collection:
"The collection contains approximately
• 40,000 monographs,
• 1,000 active periodical subscriptions,
• 20,000 auction sale and trade catalogs,
• 16,000 titles in microform,
• 200,000 slides,
• 1,200 videotapes, and
• Several hundred drawings, prints, photographs, posters, and designs."
Now here's the kicker that very few people know about. The Rakow library catalogs recently went online and are now accessible over the internet. So now all the stacks are browsable from anyone's home computer (assuming it has an internet connection). Because of this someone can do a lot of his/her initial research from home, which saves a bunch of time in the library. I've been spending a lot of time hunting for info via computer recently and have found some gems that I previously didn't know existed. Although sometimes I hate living in the middle of nowhere, being close enough to Corning to take advantage of the Rakow makes up for it.
http://www.cmog.org/page.cfm?page=138
Brad S.