Archives Renovation

In December 2008 and January 2009, the Cleveland Colby Colgate Archives underwent a complete remodel and renovation of its storage space.  This exhibit documents the process that was undertaken to complete the endeavor.

Background

The Cleveland Colby Colgate Archives opened in 1996 as part of the Cleveland Library.  The original archives layout used book width fixed shelving and file cabinets to store all of the archival material, but this set up quickly raised some issues.  First, the shelving was not designed to support archival materials; the boxes (as seen below, far right) were hanging off the shelves.  Many an unbalanced box has fallen with this setup.  In addition, this shelving left us with a choice: allow the boxes to hang off the shelf and risk falling boxes or turn the boxes and use up more precious shelf space to ensure steadiness.  The second method was used at first, but as the collection grew there was no choice but to allow the record and manuscript boxes to dangle.  This problem led to an even bigger issue: fixed shelving did not allow for expansion as the archives accepted more material, resulting in no room for future acquisitions, and, in 2008, the archives was nearly at capacity.  It was obvious that change was necessary.

A Better Archives
In the summer of 2008, the staff decided that it was time for a new solution.  When an archives has to make this decision, there are usually two choices: off-site storage or compact shelving.  Since Colby-Sawyer College is not located in a region that makes off-site storage a feasible option, we called up our local compact shelving representative and began to plan the new archives layout.  This renovation provided us with an opportunity to completely rethink the layout of archives storage.  We knew that we would need to keep one of our scanning stations there so we couldn’t fill the entire space with compact shelving and that we’d be limited by the timber posts throughout the space, but the plan allowed for as much standard movable and stationary shelving as was possible as well as two types of specialty shelving: an art rack and hanging photograph storage.  The design would also bring new lighting into the space, allowing archives staff to see regardless of where the shelving was located.

After months of preparation and anticipation, the archives move began in mid-December with an allotment of four days to move and a weekend in the middle just in case. The archives would be moved by the College Archivist with the assistance of work-study students and any Information Resources staff that could lend a hand.  The plan was solid and the first day of moving went smoothly.  Everything was going according to schedule…until the ice storm hit, knocking out Colby-Sawyer’s power from late Thursday night until Tuesday morning with the college reopening on Wednesday, the same day the movers were originally slated to arrive.  The move time was shortened to two days and we lost the help of our work-study students who were sent home early when power wasn’t quickly restored.  Fortunately, with the help of various members of the Information Resource staff, we were able to move all of the archival materials out of storage only one day behind schedule.  The professional movers arrived the next day and took down all of the fixed shelving and removed the file cabinets and furniture from the space.  The site was ready for the renovation to begin when the college returned from a two week holiday shutdown.

The Reading Room served as temporary storage for archival material

Fragile materials and archival supplies were stored in the Archives Workroom

Monday, January 5, 2009
The Systematics work crew arrived midday on Monday after battling another bought of snow in Massachusetts.  They promised that despite the delays, they would be finished by Friday and immediately got to work.  They began by removing the carpet where the new shelving was going and drilling into the sub flooring in order to secure the new tile floor system that would be put in place.

The guys get ready to go to work

The early stages of work

Preparing the new floor

Tuesday, January 6, 2009
Work began bright and early on day two with the workers arriving at 7 am. They immediately picked up where they left off on Monday.

The renovation continues with the floor installation moving along on the morning of day two

Another look at the floor

Wednesday, January 7, 2009
Despite another blast of snow and ice, the guys from Systematics were right on time and ready for another day of work. By quitting time on Tuesday, one of the tile floor sections had been laid and another section was nearly done. They planned to spend a large portion of Wednesday continuing to break ground for the new floor and deal with the electrical issues that they had inherited from the old archives layout.

A completed tile floor section

The other side of the room in various stages of construction

A mouse’s perspective

Shelving from above

The shelving staging area

The shelving is going up

Thursday, January 8, 2009
By the morning on the 8th, the stationary shelving was almost entirely in place with the exception of the art wall.

The stationary shelving on the smaller side is now in place

A rare chance to look through all the stationary shelving

Friday, January 9, 2009
By Friday morning, archives storage was transformed. Nearly all of the fixed and rolling shelving were in place.  The rest of the day would be spent adding the final touches to the space.

The shelving on the right side of the room is nearing completion

Just missing some handles…

The End of the Day…
The work crew left and the shelving was complete. All that was left to do was completion of the electrical work the following week and, when that was finished, the archives staff would be able to move the archival materials back in.

The shelving in and ready to roll

The art wall for hanging painting and frames

The new photograph collection storage

Moving Back In
We began moving materials back into the archives the week of January 19th. It took about a solid week of moving to complete the task. This included making labels for the new shelving and creating a shelf list as materials went onto the shelves.   After that, all of the photographs had to be moved into the hanging files and the art had to be hung on the new art wall.  Our more fragile materials were the last to return to storage along with the rare books from our Special Collections.  The final step was to add labels to boxes that used to face in a different direction and change all of the box labels so that they would reflect the new location of the items. With this complete, the scanning station was moved back into place ready for the interns and work-study students to begin scanning once again.

The first box goes back into archives storage

Carefully moving items from the reading room

One cart at a time…

Before and After

Here are some before and after shots of archives storage.

The shelving before the renovation…

And after…

Everything fits on the shelves the way it was meant to

And the photos are no longer sitting in filing cabinets…

Art storage before the renovation…

And after…

With the completion of the renovation, archives storage capacity has increased by over 100%.  For the first time in years, there are empty shelves waiting for future acquisitions and the materials are being stored in ideal conditions.  Mission accomplished.