Meyera E. Oberndorf Central Library

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Contact Information
Email: Website: Facebook: Address: Telephone: Hours of Operation:  Directions/Parking Map:

Collections
Our Local history and Genealogy collections include the following:

Digital Collections: Our digital archives collection includes thousands of postcards, photographs, local maps, family papers, yearbooks and other materials. Our digital books collection includes a wide variety of historical books and texts available in electronic form. Email the library at library@vbgov.com for permission to share these collections in digital or written publications.

Physical Collections: The Meyera E. Oberndorf Central Library holds the comprehensive Local History and Genealogy collection for Virginia Beach Public Library. The 13,700 item collection can be found on the second floor. The materials are reference and will need to be used in the library. Included in Local History and Genealogy are books, microforms, digital materials and periodicals. There are how-to books, local histories for most of Virginia and some of North Carolina, and genealogical sources for many states. Ask a staff member, and we will be happy to assist you. Our archives are also located at the Meyera E. Oberndorf Central Library. Many archival items are available as digital copies, or as microfilm available at the Central Library. Customers needing access to the original documents may make an appointment to view the archival items. Call (757) 385-0150 in advance to set up an appointment.

Services
Research Assistance: Find out how you may use library materials on a fair use basis only, in accordance with Title 17, Section 107 of the United States Code. Are you looking for local, state, or national genealogical societies or other organizations? You'll find them here. Use VBPL's research databases for your local history and genealogy research. Need help getting started or moving past a road block in your research? We're available, by appointment, to assist you with your more in-depth research needs. To make an appointment, please contact the Central Library at 385-0150 or library@vbgov.com​.

Programs: Our Moonlight Madness events will help you "Climb Your Family Tree in the Dark" with Virginia Beach Public Library staff and volunteers from the Virginia Beach Genealogical Society and the Lynnhaven Parish Chapter of NSDAR. You will spend the evening in the Central Library conducting genealogy research and taking classes. Call the library at (757) 385-0150 for more information or search the online calendar for class schedules. Classes are offered once a year, on a Saturday evening, from 7 p.m. until 11 p.m.

Tours and Classes: Enroll in a one-hour orientation tour of the Central Library Local History and Genealogy area. These tours are offered regularly by the Virginia Beach Meyera E. Oberndorf Central Library staff. Each tour provides insight into the library's collection of family history materials and includes basic research techniques and sources. Call the Library at (757) 385-0150 or search the online calendar for class or tour schedules. Other programs, presented at all library locations include: African-American Genealogy, Genealogy Boot Camp, Organizing Your Genealogy Project, Using Newspapers and Periodicals, Hispanic Genealogy, Tips and Tricks for Using Ancestry and Heritage Quest.

Help Us: Do you have photographs, playbills, fliers, posters, postcards, funeral bulletins, school collections and papers of local interest? Don’t toss them away! The Virginia Beach’s Meyera E. Oberndorf Central Library staff is hard at work digitizing both the collections we already own, and items lent to us by local collectors. Check out the Library's Digital Archives and Digital Books collection to see what we have already posted.If you have items you would like to donate (they are tax deductible) or a precious item you are willing to loan for digitization, please contact Mary Lovell Swetnam at (757) 385-0122. The Library has a collection of old pictures of city employees. We need your help to identify the people, places and things in these pictures. If you are a long time city employee, resident or retiree with an eye for details, please contact Mary Lovell Swetnam at (757) 385-0122.

Guides

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