About This Item

  • Call NumberOSOS_OH_0233-accs
  • Summary(0:17) Working at Brooklyn Public Library since 1989 -- (0:32) Family living in Bay Ridge since before the consolidation of the boroughs -- (1:13) Parents looking for great grandfathers norwegian ancestors in Stavanger -- (2:25) Relatives buried in Greenwood Cemetery and “Valhalla” in Staten Island -- (3:35) Grocery shopping in Bay Ridge in the 60’s and 70’s -- (4:38) Researching Cousin Laura -- (5:13) The family burial plot -- (5:56) A Scandinavian neighborhood -- (6:50) The Scandinavian connection to fishing and water -- (8:18) The ancestor and civil war deserter Johannes Heinrich Dengler -- (10:12) Grandparents communicating in old norse and german -- (11:57) Grandfather coming from St Petersburg to New York -- (12:30) Grandmother working at Namm -- (13:09) The family investing in property -- (14:44) The Norwegian sweater -- (15:29) Difficulties researching relatives without birth certificates -- (16:45) Visiting Brooklyn as a child -- (17:12) Starting working at the Central Library in 1989 -- (18:46) Getting to know colleagues (19:30) Being promoted to division chief -- (20:22) Pioneering technology at the library -- (21:21) The Libraries Online project -- (22:41) Wiring the library in one month because of donor press conference -- (24:12) Trying to meet the needs of Microsoft publicity people -- (27:38) Bill Gates and mayor Giuliani at the Libraries Online conference in 1996 -- (29:31) Managing the public computer sign-up system -- (31:00) Accessing internet resources and getting rid of cash handling -- (32:09) The digital catalogue -- (36:08) A growing, changing and living institution -- (37:10) The Multilingual Center -- (39:33) Watching the demand and collections change -- (41:37) The telephone reference department and fact checking -- (42:20) Getting gifts from publishers -- (42:50) Collection of news clippings -- (44:06) The first BPL web page and maintaining lists of credible web pages -- (45:20) The library chat -- (46:17) The Information Commons -- (47:57) Redesigning the youth wing -- (49:13) Visits and funding from Brooke Astor -- (50:49) The 100th anniversary in 1997 -- (51:37) Cocktails with Lena Horne and Shirley Chisholm -- (52:02) Harvey Fiersteins memories of the library -- (53:26) The 50th anniversary of Central Library in 1992 -- (55:12) The library of the future -- (56:03) The dangers with too much digitalization -- (57:39) Brooklyn Public Library being a loving and supporting family -- (60:19) Becoming a mentor himself -- (61:19) Turning 60.
  • Date2018-08-17
  • Physical Description1 sound file (62 min.) : digital, MP3
  • CreatorEriksen, Norman
  • Cite AsBrooklyn Public Library, Center for Brooklyn History
  • Digital Public Library of AmericaThis item is represented in the Digital Public Library of America (DPLA).
  • Formatsound recording-nonmusical
  • GenreinterviewsMP3
  • NoteAudio interview conducted on August 17, 2018, by Johan Norberg at the Central library. Collected through Our Streets, Our Stories, an oral history project of Brooklyn Public Library. This project is a partnership with Services for Older Adults and the Brooklyn Collection.
  • SubjectBrooklyn Public Library ; Immigrants ; Norway ; Stavanger (Norway) ; Green-Wood Cemetery (New York, N.Y.) Genealogy ; Staten Island (New York, N.Y.) ; Lutefisk ; Brooklyn daily eagle ; Atlantic cod fishing ; Waterfronts ; United States--History--Civil War, 1861-1865 ; Military deserters ; Germany ; Old Norse language ; Nassau County (N.Y.) ; Department stores ; Irish Americans ; Jews ; Copenhagen (Denmark) ; Property ; Investments ; Blue-chip stocks ; Library materials--Digitization ; Periodicals ; Telephone reference services (Libraries) ; Publishers ; Finance ; Endowments ; Archeology ; Antiques ; Microsoft software ; Astor, Brooke ; Horne, Lena ; Chisholm, Shirley, 1924-2005 ; Fierstein, Harvey, 1954- ; Compact discs ; Xerox Corporation ; Urban fiction ; Gates, Bill, 1955- ; Giuliani, Rudolph W ; New York Yankees (Baseball team) ; Library circulation and loans ; Collection management (Libraries) ; Library resources ; Web applications in libraries ; Public libraries ; Computer specialists in libraries ; Digital libraries
  • PlaceBay Ridge (New York, N.Y.)Long Island (N.Y.)Prospect Heights (New York, N.Y.)
  • RightsThis work is covered by a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Users are free to share and adapt the work for non-commercial purposes as long as appropriate credit is given to the source and new material created with this work is shared under the same conditions.
  • TitleOral history interview conducted with Norman Eriksen on 2018 August 17.