The Albuquerque Archaeological Society is the proud owner of a substantial library, presently numbering approximately 2,000 volumes. It is a collection of volumes relevant to archaeological topics, of course. Subject categories include not only New Mexico (Chaco and many other sites, Mimbres, Mogollon, Navajo, etc) but include Arizona Hohokam, Texas archaeology, Rocky Mountain states and the greater United States. Subject areas also include Mexico and Central America, South America, and Europe. Southwest Art is included as well as the art of other sites.

Mari King was kind enough to provide a brief history of the AAS Library, which began as early as 1972, when Sam Houston kept the books at his home. The same year the Library was moved to the Museum of Albuquerque at the airport and kept in the basement there. Margaret Dobbins was librarian two years later, then Lois Minimum. A series of moves of the collection ensued over the years - Mari King was Librarian from 1981 to 1994, bringing books to meetings and encouraging member use of the resource. The collection moved again in 1994 to the old gas station at Walter and Coal, where it still resides.

The Members of AAS are currently interested in updating the records of the collection (and the collection itself) since many additions have been made over the years. We have recently learned of a software program that was used in cataloging the Hillsboro, New Mexico library, where they "cataloged 4000 books in 4 months". The program is called "Resource Mate" and is available from Jaywil Software in Canada. An ongoing effort is underway in researching the utility and feasibility of this program for our needs. Stay tuned!

Karen Armstrong, Library Committee

Questions about the AAS Library or its resources? fybate@aol.comcast.net