Scholars will now use a single reading room on the third floor of Deering Library to view materials from Special Collections and University Archives. (Photo by Matthew Gilson)
Last fall, two of the Libraries’ rare-material collections and the archival processing unit combined under a new name: the Charles Deering McCormick Library of Special Collections and University Archives (in brief, the McCormick Library).
Traditionally, each collection had its own reading room, but as of January, they are now combined. Visitors accustomed to stopping by University Archives in the Deering Library basement can now request and view archival materials in the new unified reading room, formerly the Special Collections reading room on Deering’s third floor.
“Combining the two reading rooms has allowed us to streamline our services and policies, providing the best experience for our patrons,” said Dana Lamparello, assistant University archivist and head of Public Services for the McCormick Library. “With a single access point to all our rare holdings (including for the Music Library), patrons don’t have to make multiple stops when they come to Deering – it’s now a one-stop shop!”
In addition, she noted, visitors have access to experts from all areas of the collection who are now on a single team. The combination of collections and their respective teams creates “synergies among these formerly disparate collections.”
For example, Lamparello, said, the McCormick Library has already seen this kind of serendipitous overlap occur with a winter quarter seminar that pulled heavily from Special Collections’ Femina collections and University Archives’ student protest collections. At the same time, an undergraduate student, doing a senior thesis on physician and social activist Quentin Young, found Young’s papers in University Archives, then discovered some underground medical publications in Special Collections and could view all the materials in the same sitting.
When Deering Library opens again on campus, visitors will also find collection curators in a new location: Kevin Leonard (Archives) and Scott Krafft (Special Collections) are now in “Curators’ Row,” the south corridor of Deering’s second floor.