As of today, the Rare Book Room is officially kaput. The electricians are working to install the new outlets (at waist height, so no more crawling around on the floor to plug in your laptop) and to get the ceiling lights just right. We are very excited about the emergency lights, so when the fryers go on at the State Fair and the building goes dark, the Microfilm Room will have ample generator-fed lighting.
The new floor plan will group the microfilm cabinets at one end and the viewing machines at the other, which will make it easier to find a staff person to help out when you can’t get the film to behave. Today we got the first shipment of new microfilm cabinets (new to us, these were empty cabinets sitting in our Youngstown facility). All told we will add 12 new cabinets, each with a five drawer extension on top. And do we have plans for these!
This coming fall and spring the newspaper and government records collections are going to be growing in leaps and bounds, so keep an eye on the OCC (online catalog)!
So stay tuned for more pictures on Monday!
