FAQ

Background

What is the mission of the project?
Capturing Our Stories is a national oral history program that will gather life histories of experienced librarians as they exit their careers. It will make those histories easily accessible to colleagues, students and less experienced librarians.

What is the goal of the project?
To record the life histories of selected retired/retiring librarians and disseminate and interpret these stories as lessons for the current and future librarian workforce

What are the objectives of the project?

1. To develop and coordinate a plan for a national oral history program;
2. To develop a content-rich website;
3. To prepare for the deposit of the life histories in the ALA Archives.

How is the Project connected to the American Library Association?
The Project is one of Loriene Roy's ALA presidential initiatives during her 2007-2008 term. The interview recordings and transcripts will become part of the American Library Association's permanent archive.

How is the Project connected to the University of Texas?
The Project is being hosted by the School of Information at the University of Texas. The University is developing an interactive website to archive the recordings and transcripts, facilitating research on the topic with robust search and retrieval platforms.

Participation

How can I volunteer to help collect interviews?
Fill out a Volunteer Interviewer Form. There are instructions available in the Training Documents section of the website.

I am a retiring or retired librarian. How can I be interviewed?
Fill out a Volunteer Interviewee Form. We will try to find an interviewer near you.

How can I conduct an interview? What questions should I ask? How should I set up the interview?
Our Instructions for Interviewers page contains tips and tools you need to conduct the best possible interview of a veteran.

There is a Question Bank to get you started.

We will match you with nominated retired or retiring librarians in your area.

How do I nominate a retired or retiring librarian?
Use the Interviewee Nomination Form.