There have been a lot of big changes for the American Philatelic Research Library this year, but perhaps none so far-reaching (and enthusiastically tackled) as what’s going on over at the Robert A. Mason Digital Library (RAMDL). Philatelists and librarians are generally fond of paper and physical copies of materials, but digital preservation – and access – through the RAMDL is a key element of the APRL’s growth.
Beginning as a general digitalization effort started by former APRL librarian, Tara Murray Grove, in 2018, the project was subsequently named for a longtime patron of the APRL, Robert A. “Bob” Mason, who left his estate to the library when he passed in 2017. Mason’s generous gift allowed the APRL to pay off the mortgage on the Match Factory as well as fund additional projects, like digitization. Working to scan philatelic journals and other materials proved incredibly prescient; under the guidance of Murray Grove’s successor, Scott Tiffney, the RAMDL helped philatelists stay connected to the APRL and the hobby during the worst of the pandemic.
Bob Mason (far right) with former APRL staff (l to r) Roseann Staie, Martha Micuda, and Ellen Peachey.
Now, under APRL librarian Marian Mills, the RAMDL is embarking on an exciting new chapter that will benefit APS and APRL members for decades to come.
Before we dive into what’s next for RAMDL, though, we’d like to introduce you to the man making it happen, the APRL’s new digital librarian, Geoffrey “Geoff” Hobart. Geoff first joined the APS in 2022, working part-time processing journals for the digital library, so aside from former APRL technical services manager and current digital projects assistant, Betsy Gamble, he knows the inner workings of the digital library better than anyone. He’s also an artist and student of printing technology, and while he’s recently added stamps to his collecting interests, his first love will likely always be retro gaming – he maintains an extensive collection of video games and the consoles on which to play them (an inventory of his private holdings is available upon request).
Geoff has scanned and processed many, many journals in his time with the APRL, but one that stood out to him was Menelik’s Journal. He says it was fascinating to read about how despite constant infrastructural turnover in the region, the postal service remained constant.
When Geoff joined the APRL team full time in January, he immediately impressed staff and volunteers with his can-do attitude and dreams for the digital library, which he’s steadily working to make a reality. Right now, he’s focusing on the basics – creating a five-year plan for the project, inventorying and sourcing materials and equipment, and streamlining scanning and uploading procedures to make everything as efficient as possible. He’s also hired a part-time digital assistant, who starts later this month, to keep the scans coming.
After he’s secured the foundation of the RAMDL, Geoff is looking forward to both evolving the digital library itself and broadening the types of materials it holds. For example, he’s looking into adding high resolution scans of stamps as an expansion of the APS reference collection, and scanning delicate artifacts from the APRL archive to turn them into digital 3D models using a process called photogrammetry. He also acknowledges that the digital library can sometimes be a bit challenging to use – and so improving user experience is top of his list for projects moving forward.
But Geoff is also asking the big questions, like “why are we doing this?” There’s rarely a simple answer for that kind of question, but in this case, there sort of is – someone has to, or generations of knowledge about the hobby might be lost. Preservation is an important and ever-looming problem, in general, but especially in the philatelic community. So much essential information can be found only in crumbling issues of journals or in the one surviving copy of a spiral-bound monograph. Securing permissions to digitize and make these items accessible through the RAMDL helps to preserve them in digital form and protect the history of the hobby to an even greater degree of certainty than by only collecting them in the APRL.
The Robert A. Mason Digital Library is host to over 8,500 journal issues, from the digital archive of The American Philatelist to back issues of Mekeel’s Weekly Stamp News, with new issues added nearly every day. Visitors to the digital library can also peruse scanned exhibits, watch films, and view excerpts from the American Bank Note Company Papers collection.
The RAMDL also helps make the APRL more accessible, Geoff says, both to APS and APRL members and to researchers who might find philatelic topics helpful to their field of study. Because the digital library is free to access, researchers from anywhere in the world can peruse its holdings at any time, without having to plan an expensive trip or pay to ship copies to their home. And as more and more materials are added to the library, literally every day, APS and APRL members can do more of their research quickly and on their own terms, creating a stronger community of well-informed philatelists.
We only had time to scratch the surface of Geoff and Marian’s plans for the digital library this week, but we can’t wait to share more in the coming weeks and months. In the meantime, if you haven’t had a chance to check out the RAMDL, why not dig into what it has to offer? You can access it (and find instructions for how to log in) here.
The RAMDL is maintained and grown thanks to the support of APRL members. You can learn more about becoming an APRL member here (log in to the APS website first to view), or about making a donation to the library here.
If your society or club would like to contribute issues of your journal, newsletter, or other periodicals to the digital library, please contact Geoff at ghobart@stamps.org for more information.
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