Media Contacts: Leanne Ingle, Communications Specialist, 360-704-4508 or Liz Stroup, Reference and Adult Services Coordinator, 360-704-4554. Outside Thurston County calling area: (877) 284-6237.

Timberland Regional Library (TRL) is launching a new project, the Veterans History Project, on Sunday, December 7, from 2:00 to 4:00 p.m. at the Centralia Timberland Library. TRL is the first public library in Washington to become an official partner of the Library of Congress in its national Veterans History Project.

The project honors our nation’s war veterans and those who served in support of them and preserves their accounts of wartime experiences. Trained volunteers will create a lasting legacy by interviewing and video recording veterans and other citizens. TRL and the Library of Congress will preserve these accounts for future generations. Timberland’s first focus will be on the World War II era.

The public is invited to attend the project launch Sunday, December 7 at the Centralia Timberland Library meeting room. The library is located at 110 S. Silver Street, Centralia.

During the first years of the project, TRL is focusing on World War II veterans and civilians with World War II experiences, because they are the elders of our national heritage and we are in danger of losing their stories. These accounts will help keep the stories of "The Greatest Generation" alive.

TRL is recruiting volunteers to help in several ways:

Allowing TRL to record their wartime memories for future generations.

• Locating World War II veterans, as well as home front supporters such as the "Rosie the Riveters" who worked in the Chehalis or Hoquiam Boeing Airplane factories, and other civilians involved in World War II, so they can have their experiences preserved.
• Interviewing veterans while a library staff person operates the camera. TRL needs a few special interviewers and will conduct training about twice a year. The most important qualifications are being a good listener and caring about the story and the teller.
• TRL plans to expand the project eventually to include other wars, as veterans’ numbers dwindle by 1,500 each day. Timberland also sees the Veterans History Project as the first step in creating a "Living History Program" of interviews with old timers throughout the library district.

A videographer from TRL will record the interviews on a digital video camera that allows for making a DVD and/or VHS copy for the Library of Congress, the Veterans Memorial Museum in Centralia, the Timberland library collection, and the person who was interviewed. TRL will also record digital audio interviews for people who do not want to be videotaped.

The Library of Congress will create a comprehensive, searchable national catalog of all the oral histories collected for the project. They plan to eventually place the actual interviews on their web site http://lcweb.loc.gov so people around the world can see and hear them.

At the national level, the Library of Congress, AARP and the Disabled American Veterans founded the project in 2000. Locally, TRL is receiving the advice and support of Lee Grimes of the Veterans Memorial Museum and Karl Schmidt of Bristol Productions. Underwriting for the program comes from the Timberland Regional Library Foundation.

For more information about the project, people may contact Liz Stroup, TRL Reference and Adult Services Coordinator, 360-704-4554, email: lstroup@trlib.org.

Timberland Regional Library serves Grays Harbor, Lewis, Mason, Pacific, and Thurston counties at 27 community libraries and 6 school-based cooperative library centers. For information on any subject, the public can telephone Timberland’s Central Reference Service librarians at 704-INFO (704-4636) from Thurston County, Shelton and Oakville or 1-800-562-6022, toll-free, from all other areas in the district. Or they can "Ask a Librarian" online at http://www.trlib.org/asklib.htm. Anyone needing special accommodations to participate in a library’s program may contact the library 4 days in advance.