Tom Kemp joins NewsBank

Thomas Jay Kemp is stepping down Friday, Oct 21st from his position as Director of the Godfrey Memorial Library. He has accepted the newly created position of Director of Genealogy Products at NewsBank, Inc.

I've known Tom for several years and have watched his career grow through a series of positions with ever-increasing responsibilities. For the past three years he has served as the Director of the Godfrey Memorial Library in Middletown, Connecticut. When he arrived at the Godfrey three years ago, the library was a well-kept secret. It was a great genealogy resource but with a small number of patrons.  Under Tom's leadership, the Godfrey Memorial Library has been completely renovated; the book collection grew from 20,000 to 35,000 items; a book security system has been installed; and a new newsletter, the "Godfrey Update," was started. When I asked about the newsletter, I was told that it now has 16,500 subscribers in more than 8 countries.

The Godfrey Library also now serves thousands of patrons electronically with an ever-increasing number of services available from its web site for modest fees.

The Godfrey Library and Tom have won recommendations and awards in the past three years:

• Family Chronicle called the Godfrey the "Best Bargain" in the field
• OCLC rated the Godfrey as the 6th most productive library in the world in their last annual report
• In September of this year, Tom received the Silver Tray Award, presented by Neal Southwick, President of the Utah Genealogical Association during the FGS Conference in Salt Lake City.  In part the remarks at the presentation read:

Thomas Jay Kemp, Director of the Godfrey Memorial Library, is the recipient of this year's Silver Tray Award for a lifetime of achievement and dedication to genealogical service. He is he is well known for his vision, dedication and tireless service to the Godfrey Memorial Library. He has served as the Chair of the Council of National Library and Information Associations; President of the American Society of Indexers; on the Board of Directors of the Utah Genealogical Association and the Federation of Genealogical Societies. In 2000 he was a keynote speaker at the first genealogical conference held in China. He is a life member of the New York Genealogical & Biographical Society; the New England Archivists and the New Hampshire Library Association. For many years he was the Chair of the American Library Association's Genealogy Committee. He is the author of more than two dozen books and his articles regularly appear in national and state, library, archival and genealogical journals.

When I heard that Tom was leaving the Godfrey, I contacted him and asked what was going on. Here is his reply (in part):

"I am excited about working with NewsBank. Their extensive resources are just what genealogists want. I am looking forward to making these resources even more accessible to genealogists. It has been an honor to be at the Godfrey. I first used this Library when I was a teenager. I am very pleased with all that has been accomplished in the past three years. It is difficult to leave the Library at any time but it is gratifying to know that the Library is now on a firm financial footing, with a strong future and will remain so with its hard working staff, board, volunteers and thousands of members across the country."

Tom is going to an organization that is not yet well known in the genealogy world, although most genealogy librarians do know that NewsBank, Inc. has excellent online current and retrospective newspaper and digital book collections. Collections already available through NewsBank include:

• Early American Newspaper Collection
• America's Obituaries
• U.S. & World Newspaper Collections
• American State Papers
• Early American Imprints (1639-1819
• The U.S. Congressional Serial Set

Tom's new position is Director of Genealogy Products at NewsBank, Inc. I suspect that all genealogists will soon be hearing a lot about NewsBank.

Good luck, Tom!

Comments

[Joy Rich]

Tom rules!

[Don Johnston]

Life is always about moving on, learning new experiences and using your past to hopefully model things ahead. As an Australian subscriber who relished in the resouces available with Godfrey Library and enjoyed a couple of emails from Tom in respect to a customer service which is generally unknown elsewhere I'd like to extend him and his family our very best of wishes in his future endeavours, I can never see you going backwards Tom, speed up the forwards part so many more Genealogical Researchers will enjoy your hard work!
Best Wishes
Don Johnston
Melbourne, Australia

[Kathleen Tracy]

As they say, "You can't keep a good man down!" Although I am saddened to hear that Tom will not be with Godfrey anymore, I am eager to see all the new and fresh ideas he will bring to Newsbank. You are a super guy, Tom, and I send all my best wishes to you and your family.

Kathleen Tracy
New Canaan, CT.

[Cheryl Kale]

I'd just like to add my best wishes to those above. Tom, you have made a big difference in the lives of many genealogists, both amateur and professional. Though I'm very sorry you are leaving Godfrey, I'm looking forward to even bigger and better things from you at Newsbank! I think this is a win-win situation for everyone. I wish you all of the best in your new endeavors.

Sincerely,

Cheryl

[Diane]

Good Luck Tom in all you do and I look forward to hearing more about NewsBank!

[Linda Banwarth]

While I am sure that Tom has done an excellent job at Godfrey, I would like to point out that he has only been the director for less than a year and a half and not the three years given in this article. The prior director, Nancy Doane, retired in June of 2004, and Tom moved into her position at that time. Many of the improvements at Godfrey were begun by Nancy during her tenure there, including the Scholar Program, raising money for the security system, air conditioning, etc. It was she who closed out the 50 year ABGI series and its supplements. I served on the Board of this fine institution for a number of years and know the work and planning that went into these programs. I am not trying to take anything away from Tom (who I do not know) but am saddened that he is getting the credit for many of the changes that were actually made or begun under Nancy's ten years at the facility. She took this dying institution and made it into the thriving facility that Tom took over in 2004 upon her retirement. She brought a library that was about to close into the 21st century with computer technology, improvements to the facility and establishing a financial security that Godfrey had not enjoyed for many years. I am sure Tom has made many contributions during his year and a half there as director but I don’t think we should give the entire credit to him for programs that were started many years ago by another director. Tom is an outstanding and prolific author and his presence at Godfrey has been most beneficial to the library. I wish him the best in his new pursuits and I hope and trust that Godfrey will continue to grow into the well deserved reputation that it has developed in the past decade.

Linda Banwarth
Columbia, MD