College Archives' Mission

From Irene Herold, Mason Library: The library invites the College community to comment on the newly drafted mission statement for the KSC Archives at keeneweb.org/academicaffairs/.

The College Archives have three main functions: preservation, maintaining information, and providing access to the information of the institution.While providing access to information is a familiar function of libraries, preservation and maintenance may not be.

Preservation refers to the physical condition of what is placed in the archive: rehousing fragile materials and capturing information produced on materials or in formats that will deteriorate over time so they will be available for the future. Maintaining refers to the organization and development of the collection. Maintaining in this context involves the creation of records management procedures to ensure that the history of the College is routinely captured and placed where future generations can access the information.

Mason Library and Franklin Pierce University’s library received a 12-month joint grant from NHHEAF Network Educational Foundation for the creation and implementation of records management at the respective institutions. The grant-funded archivist, Lucy Jones, works to establish records management protocols and is simultaneously developing supporting documents of policy and procedure to formally establish the College Archives. The mission statement is the first official step in this process.

Visit www.keene.edu/library/depts/kscarchives.cfm and www.keene.edu/library/depts/speccollections.cfm.