We have a reading room

We have a reading room!

OK, so we're not ready for patrons, but the room has furniture, the doors have locks, and the lights work. We're using the space as a temporary processing area so my student assistant and the Public History students can work on projects.

My office (behind the windows in the above photograph) is mostly in chaos -- since we can't yet occupy the processing area or the stacks, my office continues to hold archival supplies and recent donations. In addition to my desk, my office currently holds 2 bookcases, 2 legal-size file cabinets, 3 letter-size file cabinets, and an Easi-File cabinet for oversized materials (maps, posters, etc.). Add the dozen or so boxes of "miscellaneous University Archives materials" and I've pretty much filled the place to the brim.

It appears we will have to wait at least 2 more weeks before work can begin on the floors. The bare cement in the processing area and stacks needs to be sanded, polished, and sealed before we can occupy those areas. Until we can complete the move-in process, I'll be working on finalizing the archives series outline and setting up the accession database.

Construction

Construction started on the University Archives space this week. On Thursday, a sign appeared (literally) - some talented librarian contributed this to alert students that the floor will be noisy for a while.

Once we move our offices and set up the reading room, we'll begin physically separating the University Archives materials from the "special collections" - up to this point, all archival materials have been housed together. Our respective collections are growing so quickly that this move will provide only temporary relief - but we all look forward to a bit of breathing room for our incoming accessions.

Check out the slide show to see how quickly the construction is progressing (you can enable captions if you want more information about each image).

The Adventure Begins

Welcome to my new blog, From Zero to Archives. I was hired nearly 3 years ago to create a university-wide records management program and establish the institutional archives. Now that the records program is up and running, it's time to focus on archives.

Before we can begin any major accessioning and processing initiatives, we need a space suitable for archival work. We spent last summer planning and preparing for the physical archives -- space was allocated on the 5th floor of the library, initial plans were drawn up for the architect's review, quotes were received for shelving and furniture, and a construction budget was approved. And then we waited. And waited.

After a year of wishing and hoping and waiting (im)patiently, the campus construction office finally announced a July 2009 start date. This month. This year. Things are looking up.

The photograph above shows the future home of the University Archives. The alcove will be divided into a reading room, an office, a processing area, and a smidgen of stack space . . . just enough to hold ready reference materials and whatever accessions we're currently processing. We'll never have enough storage space, so I prioritized patron and work space in hopes of having ample room to perform our basic functions. I hope I chose wisely.

More photos and stories will be posted as events warrant. Thanks for visiting.