After several months of planning, The ARRL Library is now live! The online Library is a free repository of educational presentations and oral histories. It is aimed at helping to preserve Amateur Radio’s history and to educate clubs and individuals.

“This long-term project will be home to what I hope will eventually become one of the largest repositories of Amateur Radio-related papers and presentations, created by and for the Amateur Radio community,” said ARRL Media and Public Relations Manager Sean Kutzko, KX9X. “This is your opportunity to submit material for the betterment and education of all radio amateurs.”

Kutzko said the Library will initially consist of three major areas. These will include PowerPoint presentations that may be used at club meetings, outreach efforts to the general public or other public presentations; PDFs of general educational material about Amateur Radio, and oral histories of radio amateurs describing their personal experiences with Amateur Radio.

Current content includes presentations on operating digital modes, HF basics, and impedance matching. While the available material is sparse right now, Kutzko invites all radio amateurs to submit material for consideration in The ARRL Library — as long as it relates to Amateur Radio. The Public Relations Committee will vet all submissions, and if a submission is approved, it will be entered in The ARRL Library.

“We have lots of tutorials and information on how to create presentations on the site,” Kutzko pointed out. “Giving somebody else’s PowerPoint is tough,” he added, “so we’re asking people who submit presentations to make use of PowerPoint’s ‘Notes’ feature, which allows the author to provide more detailed information for the talking points found on each slide, visible only to the presenter. This will make it easier for the presenter to emphasize what the author intended to convey.

Answers to typical questions as well as information on how to upload content and how to conduct an oral history interview can be found in the Frequently Asked Questions area.

“Sharing expertise is one of the best things we can do for Amateur Radio,” Kutzko said. “I hope you will consider submitting material for the Library and help give back to the entire community.”