All Together Now Kris Kiesling Society of American Archivists 13 August 2009

Becoming a “Department” 1994—discussions for a special collections library building initiated —Elmer L. Andersen Library occupied 2004—director position established to honor Gov. Andersen’s 95 th birthday

Department of Archives and Special Collections Charles Babbage Institute (1980) Children’s Literature Research Collections (1940s) Givens Collection of African American Literature (1986) James Ford Bell Library (1953) Kautz Family YMCA Archives (1985) Manuscripts Division ( ) Northwest Architectural Archives Performing Arts Archives Upper Midwest Literary Archives Social Welfare History Archives (1964) Nathan and Teresa Berman Upper Midwest Jewish Archives Special Collections and Rare Books (1959) Tretter Collection in GLBT Studies (2000) University Archives (1940s)

Management Challenges Immigration History Research Center reports through College of Liberal Arts Babbage Institute “co-owned” by Institute of Technology Don’t own YMCA or Jewish Historical Society materials Bell Library not in Andersen building Outliers—rare medical and horticultural libraries not part of ASC

ASC Staffing 11 FTE Professional/Academic (2 are faculty) + 1 FTE project archivist and.5 FTE resident 3.75 FTE Civil Service 4.65 FTE Bargaining Unit student assistants

New Building … Opportunities Not Realized

Reading Rooms Three reading rooms No staff presence Occasionally also used as work space THEFT! New policies and procedures

Reading Rooms Consolidation—July 2007 –Staffing in 2-hour shifts –New procedures established Extended hours—October 2007 –Thursday evenings initially –Saturday mornings Fall 2008

Collection Management Cavern space divided by collecting unit Each unit tracks collection locations and pages only its own materials

Collection Management Cross-training staff to page from all collections Sharing space in the cavern Unified location database—2009

Researcher Registration New paper registration form agreed to by each unit No sharing of information between units

Changes and Opportunities Processing project (MPLP) Consolidation of functions –processing? –reference service ? Reorganization?

Getting from here to where you want to be Changes of necessity Challenges are opportunities Listen and be willing to compromise Find projects that encourage collaboration and have a good chance of success, then build on that success Share the vision

Institutional Context Campus alignment Every library role/function being re-evaluated Every vacancy scrutinized Process improvement Collections of distinction within University Libraries context