Warbird Information Exchange

If we're doing pictures of our libraries, here's the one at the Tri-State Warbird Museum:

At the moment it has approximately 1,000 books. The rare book collection - the collection that is largely the inspiration for the Vintage Aviation Books and Periodicals thread - is on the two shelves in the upper right. I found placing them there to be a good balance between public access and preservation - visible to the public, but out of easy reach. The center three sets of shelves normally have glass over them, but I removed it for the picture due to glare. There's also normally benches in the room, but I pushed them out of the way for the shot as well.

EDIT (24-08-26): At the beginning of the month the museum received a donation of approximately 126 books - bringing the total to 1,260 books according to the catalog - and to make them all fit I had to rearrange some of the shelves. I also took the opportunity to move the original manuals up a shelf for their protection. Unmentioned in the original post, but worth bringing up is the caulking applied to seal gaps at the corners of the baseboard as an attempt to keep insects out. Visible in the first picture as white lines, they have since been colored blue in an attempt to match the color of the existing material:

Then, a few weeks later, I reorganized the library again so that the books on the two columns of shelves on the left were in alphabetical order across the shelves and not just within them (as evidenced by how the height of the books becomes less uniform on each shelf). The rare books were also moved from the upper-right to the upper-left to put distance between them and a potential leak (the water stained ceiling tiles being just out of frame to the left):

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Tri-State Warbird Museum Collections Manager & Museum Attendant

Warbird Philosophy Webmaster

The New England Air Museum has had an active library and librarian for over thirty years and has a pretty extensive collection.
Jerry

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"Always remember that, when you enter the ocean or the forest, you are no longer at the top of the food chain."

Local Mosaic software for the libraries book donations and accessioning


When typing up the records of your donated book. The title is the first area on your records that needs to be visually displayed.
The title of the item can sometimes be considered utter rubbish compared to the contents.
It was usually done to promote a sale rather than what you would find internally through the pages of the book,
but you have to display it as per the publisher's writing as you may never find it on the shelves.
YOU THEN TYPE IT IN CAPITALS not because you are shouting, but because volunteers are usually 70 years old and upwards.
This goes to the fact that retired people usually sit on their backsides for a period of time watching Netflix or Youtube.
They then volunteer after a certain period of years or they are kicked out of the home after upsetting the wife too many
times and being told to do something.
By the time 70 years of age comes up, their eyesight is not as good as when they worked, SO YOU NOW TYPE IN CAPITALS TO MAKE THE SCREEN OF THE COMPUTER EASIER TO READ.
Then comes the author's surname first, first name last. Why I have no idea in this order.
Subject is your local records that will add two letters of the alphabet to your Dewey number. Publisher speaks for itself,
plus publication type, where published and publication year.
Edition in our case is where we are going to put it in the library, unfortunately the displayed item on the screen would go
to reference but there is no room and the general area gets the nod, so GEN for short here.
Volume number is good but other areas are maybe needed in some libraries but not ours and you simplify them to your needs.
Library number is a must and usually does not have the same number twice unless some previous person forgot to sign off on that number and allowed it to be used again, rare but has happened.
ISBN can be a nightmare as publishers love to put them anywhere to confuse, plus old books do not have ISBN numbers and others have SBN numbers, etc.
Dewey number is a mix of the subject and book number. Location and current location are a must or consider the book lost.
Notes are special as they can fix the title by actually using what is in the book's contents and other things
like extending the aircrafts name of Lightning in the title  to Lockheed P-38 Lightning.
You can go and put a lot in the notes area but don't want to complicate it too much also.
Illustrations and maps depend on the book.
The book mentioned is about Naval operations in WW2 and would usually not be a keeper
because of ship operations for an aircraft museum, but the fact that aircraft in the Pacific area and aircraft carriers,
plus seaplanes on ships were a big part in these actions and are usually mentioned in these books means they go on the shelves.
Authors signatures are another addition, plus the fact that the book is a reprint and can have a new publisher as well adds to the records.
These records will normally achieve the answers to the request for information in a timely manner,
but as is normal, people want it now and a reply of where the local KFC or Maccas (MacDonald) drive through
or as they call themselves RESTAURANT will be given.
SO NOW YOU HAVE YOUR RECORDS AND WILL BE ABLE TO FIND YOUR SPECIFIC BOOK BY THE
DEWEY LETTERS AND NUMBER PRINTED ON THE BOOK AND OR IN THE CASE OF A DUST COVER,
INSIDE THE BOOKS FIRST PAGE IN PENCIL AS WELL. GOOD LUCK.

Sorry I had to play around with this thread as the writing extended into two pages width.
Traced corrupted missing picture back to Flickr.

Noah: I suggest contacting the team at the Classic Flyers NZ museum as they have a library (unfortunately I can offer no more info other than I've seen a sign for it!) which may be eligible for your list. Likewise the New Zealand Warbirds Association - while not a museum as such they have a "visitors centre" and library at their headquarters.

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Zac in NZ
#avgeek, modelbuilder, photographer, writer. Callsign: "HANDBAG".
https://linktr.ee/zacyates

"It's his plane, he spent the money to restore it, he can do with it what he wants. I will never understand what's hard to comprehend about this." - kalamazookid, 20/08/2013
"The more time you spend around warbirds the sooner you learn nothing, is simple." - JohnB, 24/02/22

For some reason all the information was corrupted so I removed what was there.

So you may wonder if Kids Aircraft books should be kept and they should, then look at this one.
No doubt there may be a quick look by you all to see if the Christmas gifts all those years ago are now worth anything.
We have two of these. Google Abe books or Amazon for relevant pricing if you have any,
and or put in the Title and Author that will get you these two book sellers and pricing.
Good luck.

Although not an historical book, the Observer's book of Aircraft was a way of getting children to appreciate Aircraft. It was the ideal Christmas, Birthday Present and cheap enough for children to buy with pocket money, plus fit into your pocket.

It seems most UK boys of a certain age grew up with various years of
Observers Book of Aircraft.
Many years ago, we stayed with friends in a small farming village just outside Canterbury.
We stayed in one of their sons room since he was away at univetsity.
On his bookshelf along with other childhood treasures, was a few copies of the book.
The companion volume on autos was even more successful.
In the mid-70s on a school trip to the UK I bought one of those, and still have it.

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Remember the vets, the wonderful planes they flew and their sacrifices for a future many of them did not live to see.
Note political free signature.
I figure if you wanted my opinion on items unrelated to this forum, you'd ask for it.

For the British and the American people in these threads here are some books from WW2 The Aeroplane Spotter.

I tried to develop some definitions for an appendix to our collections management policy for the various documents and publications in our collection. The result is a mix of more or less established cataloging terms and some specific to aviation:

Archival/Library Object Type Definitions

• Aeronautical Chart - a graphical document used for aerial navigation. Can be broken down into the categories: sectional, local, world, and flight.
• Book - a published, bound document.
• Booklet - a publication with a non-traditional book binding that is not a periodical. Contrast with pamphlet.
• Log Book - a booklet with preprinted forms used to record time, duration, and character of flights. Can be broken down into the categories: aircraft and pilot.
• Pamphlet - an ephemeral unbound document.
• Periodical - a document published at regular or semi-regular intervals. Examples include journals, magazines, and newsletters. Almost exclusively soft cover.
• Technical Manual - a series of educational booklets on specific subjects published by the War Department. Usually square bound and 6 1/2 to 9 inches tall. The designation follows the format "TM [N]N-NNN[N]", where Ns are numbers and the characters in brackets are optional.
• Technical Order - a series of instructional documents for use in maintaining equipment published by the United States Army Air Force. Often three hole punched. The designation follows the format "T.O. NN-NN[LL-N]", where Ns are numbers, Ls are letters, and the characters in brackets are optional."
• Unit Classbook - a commemorative book or booklet listing members of, and describing day-to-day life in, a military unit. Usually created upon completion of stage in training. If the subject is a USAAF unit, it often includes a designation which follows the format "YY-L", where YY is the last two digits of the year and L is a letter. Compare with United States Navy cruise books.
• Unpublished Manuscript - a personal document that has not been widely disseminated or mass produced. Often a recollection of one's military service.

Please note, the above was developed by an American in an American museum with mostly American collections, so they may not represent a worldwide view of the subject. If anyone has any ideas for additional entries, please feel free to suggest them.

For example, as inspired by a post mentioned in a recent thread, ideas for a basis of other possible types of document - possibly subcategories of technical order - are:

• Operation & Flight Instructions
• Service Instructions
• Overhaul Instructions
• Parts Catalog

Furthermore, other, potentially overlapping, types I came up with include:

• Pilot Training Handbook
• Pilot's Notes
• Pilot's Handbook of Flight Operating Instructions
• Preliminary Pilot's Handbook
• Information Manual
• Performance Data
• Characteristics Summary
• Standard Aircraft Characteristics
• Airplane Characteristics & Performance
• Erection and Maintenance Manual
• Illustrated Assembly Breakdown
• Illustrated Maintenance Parts List
• Airplane Parts Catalog
• Structural Repair Instructions
• Field Service Manual
• Handbook of Operation and Flight Instructions
• Handbook of Service Instructions
• Basic Weight Checklist and Loading Data

EDIT (23-01-31): For an explanation of the technical order number format, see a pair of posts titled The “T.O.” System and WWII Military Technical Orders by Ester Aube of AirCorps Library.

EDIT (24-06-11): A few more types of documents, courtesy of a 1950 Pratt & Whitney Overhaul Manual:

Service Publications

• Maintenance Manual
• Service Bulletins
• Engine Parts Catalog
• Installation Information
• Tables of Clearances

(Source: AirCorps Library)

Also, the Chapter 9 of the FAA's Pilot's Handbook of Aeronautical Knowledge covers flight manuals and other documents. Specifically, it notes that aircraft have either or both an Airplane Flight Manual (AFM) and/or Pilot Operating Handbook (POH) and the differences between them. Responses to a question on Quora note that the AFM is specific to an airframe, while the POH applies to all aircraft of a type. An answer to a similar question on StackExchange notes that there are also Owner's Manuals and Pilot Information Manuals (PIM).

Lastly, to build upon the previous edit, there's an explanation of the technical order numbering system in another post.

_________________
Tri-State Warbird Museum Collections Manager & Museum Attendant

Warbird Philosophy Webmaster

Our museum library is not as sophisticated as others.
We use the publication types as the usual Book, Magazine, Manual, Booklet, but we have others as we have a world wide collection of items.
Bookazine is a new one where the item looks like a magazine but thicker and only has one subject. Key publishers in the U.K. provide these.
Thesis. Are items that University students have written concerning Aircraft history to get a University degree.
Scrapbook. Is a must as we have one set of six volumes of these that have newspaper cutouts going back to the beginning of the 1920s
concerning a Western Australian Pioneer who started an airline route before QANTAS did. His name was Norman Brearley.
CD. For oral histories of flying crew and ground staff.
DVD. Cinema films on a variety of flying.
Manuscript. Published and non published written history papers of various experiences.
File. Contains correspondence concerning information that helped Authors write books.
Folder, Same as above.
Plan. Scale drawings by manufacturers and other outlets like publishers.
Drawing. Non scale drawings.
Gramophone. Covers vinyl records of aircraft music (Battle of Britain, etc)
We try to keep it simple as it can confuse the over 70s volunteers, especially myself.

The next volumes of books to look into.

AIRCRAFT of the FIGHTING POWERS. Sample of aircraft and different years of these types.

Some other details and drawings of the (type, model, variant) of aircraft that did not make big construction runs.