I assume that this will be for members only. Not sure how we do that, but Todd will hopefully figure that out. Since digitizing the library and scanning the Reel News and making it searchable took a lot of effort by many and also costs were involved (they were donated), we need to make this just available to our members. A per page charge will be involved with the library.
The entire library is accessible to only ORCA members as is the searchable database. This is a huge perk.
Todd's daughter Asa has been scanning for months and months. She told me she was finished then Todd found a huge box that was missed (have you ever seen his garage???). Todd said she was so mad at him!
I hope there is a lot of interest and requests for articles and catalogues. There is nothing else like it.
I am glad you asked.
Once again, I think this is an amazing step in the right direction. What a great incentive to give ORCA a try through membership. There is an astounding amount of information floating around right now that may be lost for ever if not for the effort of a few to digitize and save this historic data.
As I said in a post about Langs Auction past auction information, this is reel history information that can be preserved or lost to time.
Yes! This is a members only benefit.
Asa Larson has worked all summer and will have scanned 40,000 pages by the end of the week, completing the entire library. Todd has the monumental job of creating a searchable database so that the ORCA library is a one-of-a-kind source of all information regarding the history of reels.
I wish we could put a full page ad in every outdoor magazine touting this benefit. Combined with Reel News and our National meeting, we are simply the best there is. Cheers!
Thanks to the Larson family and everyone else who created something as awesome as this. At least announce it on the Home page of "O.R.C.A. on line". Things can be hard enough to find on this website, so hopefully it won't only be accessible in some drop-down menu or obscure page (if you'd like an explanation of this statement, PM me).
Mark