To expand the resources available to our members, the CFA Executive Committee has added the CFA Jim Reeves Library Catalog.
Some items in the catalog have been digitized, and those can be shared with our members. Items that have not been digitized can only be viewed and used for research at our annual meetings. The books and documents in the library can be freely copied by our members at the meetings, but no items in the collection will be loaned out.
A concern with lending physical items is the possible loss of any part of the library collection. A trial project some years ago of lending library books or documents to members who were doing related research was halted when some items were never returned.
Documents or books in the CFA Library that have not been digitized may still be requested. Such requests will result in those documents being added to a list to be digitized in the future. However, we do not plan to digitize the entire collection of the library. The cost and logistics of digitization are not warranted for items that are not explicitly requested or needed. Requests for digitization should be made directly to the CFA Librarian and will be approved by the CFA President. Donations toward the digitizing project will be appreciated and thoughtfully utilized.
The Archive
The Archive holds items that are not useful for circulation. An example is a Bible that is in very poor condition. The genealogical information has been retrieved and added to the Family Bible Project. Archive materials will remain listed in the catalog but will only be shared on request.
The Vault
Items are placed in the Vault when the CFA Executive Committee decides they are not worthy of general distribution due to substantial, known errors. The digitized versions may still be distributed to specific researchers, e.g., those on the Genealogy Panel, to aid in their research of Chandler lineages. Such researchers must understand the reasons for restriction of those documents and use caution when drawing any conclusions from them.
The Library
Jim Reeves (1922-2012), one of our CFA founders, began collecting Chandler genealogy books and reports and preserving them many years ago. In 2008 he donated to the CFA his collection of research and reference for Chandler genealogy. However much it expands in the future, the heart of the library will always be what Jim Reeves brought together, so, in his honor, the Executive Committee decided his name should be permanently associated with the library. The formal name of our library is the Chandler Family Association Jim Reeves Library. Each CFA Librarian since Jim’s generous gift has added to the organization and collection of the library: Ginny Dunaway Young, James Chandler, Donna Fulton, and now Sanford Chandler.
The Catalog
Items in the CFA Library Catalog are numbered and organized according to the Dewey Decimal System and presented as a spreadsheet. Column headings in the spreadsheet include catalog (Dewey Decimal) number, author, title, genetic group if known, USA state if specific, status/location, pages (number of), date published (if known), format (book, document, report binder, comb bound, hard/soft cover, or photo book), and comments.