According to this article posted by Allan Miller, the National Model Railroad Association is selling its Chattanooga headquarters building to its neighbor, the Tennessee Valley Railroad Museum.

Very good to hear that there are plans for the materials in the Kalmbach Library to remain available, while mostly aimed at modeling interests, over the years the library has become the repository for several photo collections. My recent inquiries for Pressed Steel Car Co. builder's photos to answer the lettering questions posed in another thread has touched on the fact that a number of the builder's photos from that company have been donated to that library, unfortunately organized under the heading C.J. Riley Collection.

The California State Railroad Museum has been a good source to work with in the past; hopefully will continue so in the future.

One of the gems preserved by the NMRA is the Bruce Meyer collection, one of the most complete reference collections on the styling and the painting of first generation diesel power available anywhere:

http://library.nmra.org/pages/brucemeyer.html

There are many excellent technical reference collections that have been retained by locomotive building industry retirees, but one of the problems with getting them preserved and accessible is the lack of adequate space for paper collections at many museums. There is very limited information available to point the next of kin to museums that might be able to accept collections on particular subjects, as a result, many families just give up trying to save what they have, and sell the stuff on eBay. Meanwhile, museums, historical groups, and shortlines with ancient equipment have to search for the technical information to repair components and keep their locomotives operating because the original manufacturers either don't exist any more, or no longer maintain the resources to support their older equipment.

PC

There was a rumor floating around that the national NRHS was preparing to, or looking to sell off, its library of books, still in storage after the Philadelphia office closure. Perhaps this rumor confused the NMRA and NRHS?

NO -- the NRHS library is still be actively used -- albeit on a fee for service basis and there is a plan to update the library catalog.

What may be confusing you is the fact -- and anyone with any professional library experience or training knows this -- is all responsible libraries, from time to time, weed their collections and sell off excess material, as can happen when a major collection is donated to a library.

Typically, the worst copy of a book is sold or swapped to another library and the best one retained and NRHS has done this.

Bob H

I/we know darned well that good library practice involves "weeding" poor-condition books and selling off worse duplicates. We do that routinely at the Md. Rail Heritage Library and other museum libraries with which I've worked, and we make it explicitly clear to all donors that surplus can be either returned to the donor or sold. I have yet to hear of a case where the donor wanted duplicates back, even when the books in question could sell for great deals of money.

But here was the one report to me:


The last we knew of this compendium of books, it had been packed up and placed in storage in Connecticut several years ago when the offices in Philadelphia were closed. Our Chapter has asked about the status of the national NRHS Library and not received an answer.

Therefore, your grammatically challenged answer of "the NRHS Library is still be actively used" flies in the face of what our NRHS National Representatives have been informed. If this Library is still in "active use":

*Where is it located?
*What hours is it open?
*Can members visit this library for their own research needs free of charge? If not, why not?
*Can books, periodicals, etc. be accessed for copying or research needs?
*Through what channels are surplus assets made available for sale to members or the public? Are any available for transfer to or trade with other NRHS Chapter collections or rail libraries?

As any librarian knows, usage of a library is direct proportional to availability and accessibility--thus the vicious cycles that occur when public library branches' hours are curtailed" to non-customer-friendly hours.

Compare the NRHS Library:

http://www.nrhs.com/program/research-library

with the NMRA Library in Chattanooga:

http://www.nmra.org/library/

While you may be on the right track, someone is passing you bad information and you're passing it on.

This time you've only given the wrong name of the NRHS VP and the wrong state for where the library material is stored.

As a result one can only question the accuracy of your other statements.

Bob H

Okay, so Zullig is the legal counsel. That much I knew.

Since you seem to know where the stuff and what the status of the Library collection is and/or whether or not they're "disposing of non-performing assets," TELL US. This "guessing game" you're playing with us is unprofessional and irresponsible, especially considering that I have transferred some of our library surplus to the National's library in the past and had several large boxes full of more "goodies" to send to them...... until our committee decided it would be an exercise in futility.....

You're wrong again..... someone else has that position.

Bob H

Again, simply denigrating the critic without actually responding to the criticisms involved. I wanted to double-check the NRHS website, but it was (and still is) down this morning.....
"Global Director," whatever that is.... and Walter Fiorella the legal counsel, as of a 2012 Facebook post....



If this is the way the NRHS chooses to respond to a litany of queries about the services we're being asked to support, that really says all I need to know about my membership renewal.

Incidentally, that CSRM Library, which the NMRA Library is merging with in Sacramento? That library started as a R&LHS project, not an NRHS or NMRA project.

I don't know where the NRHS library is now located, but like Sandy, I am under the impression it is in storage, has been for a number of years, and that it is currently touted as a membership benefit.

FYI, legal counsel is John Fiorilla, of the Capehart firm that is also handling the receivership/equipment disposition at Pemberton.

Matt Bumgarner

Somebody else may be passing on bad information, but you're sure doing a wonderful job of passing on no information at all.

Yes, I know, it's fun to play "I know something you don't know!" with AMD, the question he's asking is rather obvious, and you're being totally evasive with the answer.

Is the NRHS public open to the members? If so, how does a member obtain access? Where is it located?

Seems like a simple and reasonable question.

I am Jeff Smith, a current member of the NRHS Board. I am also the editor of the NRHS Bulletin. Let me try to clear some things up with a few facts.

NRHS Legal Counsel is John K. Fiorilla of Capehart and Scatchard.

Walter Zullig is a lawyer, however, he serves the NRHS as a Global Director meaning that he is elected by the entire society membership (as oppose to a specific geographic area) as defined in the bylaws. Mr. Zullig is also the inspector general.

The Board has not authorized anyone to sell anything from the NRHS library.

The NRHS Library is in storage in Massachusetts at a company called the National Library Relocations, Inc. (NLR). It is in an archival storage facility and frankly is better secured and cared for than it ever was in Philadelphia.

If a member wants to access something from the library, it can be accommodated. NLR charges a fee to pull something from the collection and send it where we request them to. Requests for such access can be made to our National Office. Some exceptions to this would be material that is too fragile to be moved from the facility (some books, glass plate negatives, etc.).

The library is not a circulating library - it never was - and it is not open to the public - it never was. We have handled research requests for non-members on a case by case basis in the past and would do so in the future as well. But, it is not a facility that has regular operating hours that someone can walk into.

The NRHS does not currently have a plan for the future of the library - beyond keeping it secure at NLR. That is something the board will determine as part of its ongoing strategic planning efforts as we determine how library operations fit into the operating model the NRHS will use going forward. When there is news on this front the NRHS will make an official announcement.

Hopefully that helps. If anyone has specific questions they can reach out to me directly at bulletin@nrhs.com.

Thanks,
Jeff Smith
NRHS Board Member

Thank you Jeff. That's a great example of the proper method of answering the question.

Jeff,

That is good news. As someone who is considering joining the NRHS I have a question.

Is there a catalog or finding aid so a member can know actually what is in the library? If so, are items that do not circulate marked as such?