| The Donohue Group Company History |
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In 1984, The Donohue Group, Inc. (DGI) began as many small companies do-- in someone’s basement. Christine Donohue, a professional librarian, had a vision to fill the need for specialized staffing services in libraries. She also had an empty basement. Christine’s company, based in Wethersfield, CT, originally worked with Connecticut libraries to provide on-site services such as filing and research. Guided by Christine’s ever-expanding vision, DGI entered the retrospective conversion business as traditional card catalogs were migrated to online databases. The company also assisted libraries with strategic planning, inventory and barcoding. Our early clientele ranged from school and public libraries to corporate, college and university libraries. DGI’s expertise in MARC record creation and data manipulation brought us work with libraries that are still our clients 25 years later. DGI’s growing proficiency with creating and manipulating databases led to the company offering additional services such as shelf-ready processing and direct-access cataloging in clients’ databases through remote connections. By 1989, DGI had added publishers to its clientele and was providing A/V cataloging for many audiobook and e-book vendors. DGI had also outgrown the basement and moved across the street to a conventional office space. Through the 1990s, DGI extended its range of services as well as our service area. We attracted more professional librarians to our staff which broadened our base of experience for project design and management. The allure of “Traveling Librarianship” enticed professionals as we staffed cataloging projects from Nantucket to Virginia and Oregon. The type of institutions supported by DGI began to diversify and include historical societies, museums and universities across the continental U.S. We (drolly) claimed international status with the addition of our first international publishing client for whom we are still providing UKMARC records to support legacy systems. By the 21st century, we had developed a method for providing Information Audits to institutions that were struggling with the collection, storage and usage of information gathered from a variety of sources and in multiple formats. This expansion of service added many non-library institutions to DGI’s client base. A satellite office in downtown Boston was opened in 2002. We were able to serve our clients located in the Boston metro area and northern New England more efficiently. We also established a core on-site staffing team in New York City. With this staff we were able to effectively respond to the constant need for in-library personnel with all skill levels. We added native-language catalogers to our professional cataloging staff in response to a new direction in collection development policies directed toward stronger foreign language resources within American libraries. DGI confidently provides high-quality records in a variety of languages. The year 2007 brought major changes to the company. Our corporate headquarters relocated to a beautiful, restored factory space in the center of Windsor, CT and our Boston operations were consolidated into the home office. Christine Donohue’s retirement coincided with our move. Ownership of the company passed on to longtime employees Audra Zimmermann and Bob Geoghegan, who continue DGI’s commitment to service and value for the library community. Audra and Bob take pride in retaining DGI’s high-quality staff and responding in a timely and professional manner to our clients. We look back fondly to our basement origins, but as we look to the future, we welcome the challenge of changing and growing along with the library profession. |