Welcome to the first blog of the Otterbein University Archives National Endowment for the Humanities Sustaining Cultural Heritage Collections (NEH-SCHC) grant blog! Here we will be tracking the progress of our project. In August 2023 we were awarded a $50,000 grant to plan for the eventual installation of compact shelving and related improvements in the University Archive, located in the Lower Level of the Courtright Memorial Library. It is our hope that others will be able to use this as inspiration and help for their own planning projects.
The first week of our project was the big kick-off meeting. I spent most of the day before cleaning up the Archives reading room, which is the only room in our building large enough to hold all our team at once. On October 5th at 11:00 we had our first meeting. In addition to myself, in attendance from Otterbein were Library Director Tiffany Lipstreu, Assistant Service Director Gary Johnson, and Grants Officer Bridgette Cahalin from Otterbein. (Also in attendance was Gabby Freshley, a recent library hire with an interest in Archives who was invited to observe the meetings and would occasionally take notes for the archivist.) Brian Pawlowsky represented Schorr Architects, the firm that would be handing our design, and consultants Tom Clareson and Katy Klettlinger were present from Lyrasis, to guide us through the project and to show us how to best utilize our space in the context of this project.
The project was broken down into three phases - design, design development, and construction documents. Design would be what it sounds like – after reviewing our needs and our space, Schorr would come up with a basic plan for the main stacks area. This will involve working with an engineering firm to plan for a fire suppression system and a localized HVAC system for our collection. Design Development would be where we make any adjustments to the plan and add in the proposed compact shelving designs from the shelving vendors. Construction documents would be the final phase, where we receive from Schorr the finished plans that we would then be able to us for the implementation plan of the project.
It was asked if the project could be done in phases, if funding for the full project (compact shelving, HVAC, fire suppression) could not be raised all at once. Schorr said that this was possible, but all present agreed that it would be better (and in the long run, more cost efficient) for the project if everything could be done at once.
The work schedule was then reviewed, with no major changes needed. The entire planning process would be completed by the end of the grant period on September 31, 2024, just under a year from now. We next spent some time discussing how we would fund the plans that would be created by this project and added an additional meeting with the Lyrasis consultants and our grants officer on November 30 to discuss this more in depth.
We next discussed what the partners needed from Otterbein to begin their work. Schorr requested that we review the preliminary drawings that had been shared, to see if we had any of the original blueprints of the building, and to provide contact information for the project committee. Lyrasis asked us to share our collections development policy, and other documents that would tell the history of the archive and its collections. They also requested at the next full group meeting to have time scheduled to interview Otterbein personnel, both on and exteral to the committee, to get a sense of what we want the finished project to look like.
Finally, the subject of the Section 106 Review was discussed. A section 106 review is required by the NEH to review any work being done to a building over 50 years old which has or might have historical significance. Even though we’re not planning on making any extensive changes to our building, the Courtright Memorial Library turned 50 years old in 2022, so this has to be done. Our grants officer agreed to reach out to the NEH to see what we would need to do, and to see where we might find funding to cover any costs attached to the review.
With all of that settled, we reviewed our tasks for the next meeting and adjourned. The following day, I sent out a contact list for all of the people involved in the project, and an invitation to the next meeting. This was a very full week, and to be honest I’m feeling a little overwhelmed. We will see what challenges arise next week!
Compared to last week, this week was a breeze. Thanks to the foresight of my forebearers in this position, we have almost all of the blueprints for the Courtright Memorial Library (and many other campus buildings) in our collection. Brian from Schorr stopped by Monday afternoon to pick them up, and he had them scanned and returned by Wednesday. Schorr shared the scans with us, which is a HUGE blessing. These scanned blueprints will be of use not just for this project, but for many library projects in the future.
On Friday, our Grants Officer and I had a Teams meeting with a representative from NEH to discuss the process and requirements of the Section 106 review. It sounds as if it will not be a difficult process, but that it will take time. As such, we need to get moving on it as quickly as possible. Bridgette, our Grants Officer, agreed to take the lead on that work.
Not much to report this week. I spoke to our architect on Monday to discuss other members of his team that need to be invited to the next full meeting. These are representatives of RDFA, the engineering firm that works with Schorr on projects such as ours. Their task will be to look at what will be needed to add both fire suppression and a localized HVAC system to the main stacks of the Archive. Once they were added to the invitation, I spent the rest of the week working on my regular archival duties.
Monday, I had a meeting with our Grants Officer, Bridgette, to discuss various grants. Some would be for general archival projects, and others we might be able to use for the implementation of the current grant project, once it’s completed. Funding is always an issue for libraries and archives, and ours is no exception. Several ideas were floated and pinned for later investigation.
The rest of the week was spent on what I think of as the clerical side of the project. I shared with the project group a suggested schedule for Lyrasis to interview the key Otterbein players at our next full group meeting. After receiving feedback, I was able to set the schedule and share the final version with both the group members and the partners not involved in the project.
Next week we should have all the interviewees confirmed and ready for the next full group meeting on Friday (11-02).
This week I hit the ground running, first with an unexpected Teams meeting with our architect, in which he asked for the room names and numbers within the Archive, as well as their purposes, i.e. what they hold and/or are used for. This was followed by a productive exchange of e-mails with one of the Lyrasis consultants, primarily on the status of their contract and the finalization of the interviews. Thankfully, we didn’t need to add any additional meetings for the interviews, but we did have to juggle the schedule a little to accommodate our Facilities Services Director and his very busy schedule.
Friday (11-02) we had the second of our monthly full group meetings. In addition to the team members from the first meeting (see “Week One” below), we were also joined by members of the RDFA engineering team. The three main objectives of this meeting were to tour the Archive and all its spaces, to tour the library mechanical room where the new HVAC and fire suppression systems would “live,” and for Lyrasis to conduct interviews will all of the “stakeholders” in the library and who would have to approve any changes made to the building. (We were also joined by Carrie Gilles, a local history graduate who has an interest in archives and is a volunteer at the Hanby House museum, adjacent to Otterbein campus. She, like Gabby Freshly, is here to observe the grant process and to help with the work as much as she is able.)
The tours went well, with the spaces in question examined, measured, and photographed, in order for the architect and the engineers to properly design the HVAC and fire suppression systems.
One unexpected item was brough to our attention by Schorr – in reviewing the original building blueprints, it was discovered that the floor tiles in the library (including parts of the Archive) are made from asbestos. Based on the age of the building, there may be asbestos present in other parts of the building, including the ceiling tiles and paint. This means that we’ll need to talk to the University Environmental Safety Office about the issues this will raise in our project.
Once the technical personnel were finished, that part of the team left and Lyrasis set up for their interviews. The Otterbein staff they talked to were:
Patrick Siconolfi (Director of Service Facilities)
Stephen D. Grinch (Archivist and Principal Investigator of the grant)
Tiffany Lipstreu (Library Director)
Wendy Sherman-Heckler (Provost)
The questions focused on what the project would be allowed to change, what would not be allowed to change, and to get a sense of the vision for the completed project. With this information, Lyrasis will be able to help us plan for the best use of the space, the best arrangement of our holdings, and how and where to move the collection during the work that is being planned in this grant.
Next week will probably be a light week for the grant, as I try to catch up on archival work that was postponed for this week’s meeting prep and meeting.
Work for the grant this week was light and tangential. One thing that compact shelving hopes to help alleviate is the threat of water damage, by giving us enough space to get all our materials off the floor. Additionally, we need to purchase some water monitors for all areas of the Archive. Thanks to our Lyrasis consultants we now know which water monitors to purchase. They recommend the Zircon Water/Leak Alert.
Early in the week we received from Schorr the notes from our last meeting as well as some preliminary drawings of the Archive (and the Lower Level of the library) for review. We were all impressed at how quickly the drawings were prepared and how good they looked.
Beyond that, it was a busy week with other Archival activities and year-end and semester-end business at work.
It’s Thanksgiving week, which means two days with students on campus and then one day with just the staff before the two-day break. Thanks to our library director we had a meeting with the University Environmental Safety Officer and the building Safety Captain on Monday to talk about the asbestos in the building. The good news is that any materials containing asbestos are completely safe unless “disturbed” (cut into, damaged, etc.). However, due to the age of the building we aren’t certain what materials other than the floor tiles contain asbestos. Our library director is going to see if we can get the building tested to determine how much this is going to affect our project.
A happy Thanksgiving to everyone out there reading this! We’ll be back next week with the penultimate week of the semester and a meeting with the library crew and Lyrasis to discuss grants for the next phase of the project (when it comes to funds it’s never too early to start planning).
I began the week by submitting a formal request to our Institutional Advancement office to be able to engage in fundraising for the eventual implementation of our compact shelving plan. This may not be necessary if internal support and external grants are available. However, we want to explore every avenue available to us.
On that subject, we had a not-quite full group meeting on Thursday (Lyrasis, Library, and Grants Office staff) to talk about grants that are available to us for the implementation phase of this project. The most important grant is the NEH-SCHC Implementation Grant that is complimentary to the NEH-SCHC Planning Grant on which we are currently working. Other possible sources included the Ohio History Connection, some private philanthropic groups that had worked with the University in the past, and even some more creative ideas like seeing if we could qualify for what remains of COVID relief funds, and even approaching Pivotal Ventures. (This appeals to your humble blogger, who is no fan of the founder’s ex-husband and his products.)
These are all sources for further investigation, though we will rely on our Office of Grants and Sponsored Programs to guide us towards the best fits for our project.
This was the last week of Fall Semester at Otterbein. Exams are next week, so I’ll be losing my student workers and will have to pick up more of the daily work of the Archive. This will mean less time for grant work, but we appear to be in a good place with the project. No worries for now.
This was a week of e-mails. There was a snafu of some kind in our business office that prevented the Lyrasis contract from being paid. After much back-and-forth between the library, the business office, and Lyrasis, we managed to get them paid. Meanwhile, I sent a list of requests from Schorr to our Service Department representative. These consisted mostly of technical specifications that they needed for the drawings. I also managed to find additional blueprints from the library’s construction that focused on the plumbing and electrical, which were shared with Schorr. Service responded quickly with everything that they had on file and explained why certain things (like a monthly estimate of energy usage in the building) were unknown.
Schorr asked me to share with them three additional items this week. First, the compact shelving plans and estimates that we had gathered prior to COVID. These are obviously outdated, both in financial estimates and in terms of what we need for the collection five years later. However, this will help Schorr get a sense of what kind of shelving layouts we’ll be looking at, which will help them design their improvements for the space.
Next, Shorr asked me for a copy of our university style guidelines and for a copy of the library logo that could be worked into their drawings. These were easily pulled and quickly shared.
Finally, Schorr asked me if I could pull together a list of items in the collection of special historical signifigance, things that could possibly be highlighted in the plans and drawings for the new archive. This one was the last priority, so I was only just able to scratch the surface before the end of the week.
Exams are over, and as of next week the school is officially on Winter Break! (Us old-timers still call it Christmas Break, but what else would you expect from a guy whose last name is Grinch?) This means we have two weeks before the university closes down completely for the holidays. I have my assignment for next week (the items of historical significance), so I’m ready to hit the ground running on Monday.
With the library empty and my calendar mostly open, I spent this week photographing and assembling a PowerPoint presentation about all the items in our collection that I think have a special historical significance. The slides are divided into four parts – Top Priority, Middle Priority, Low Priority, and a fourth category for things that aren’t necessarily important to tell our story but are of interest or would look good on display. This was shared with Schorr upon completion and was a good way to close out the penultimate week before Christmas break.
The last week before Christmas break was filled with meetings and events that took precedence over pretty much everything else, including the grant. I did have a quick meeting with our grants officer to review where we were in the process, and to make certain that we were keeping up with everything that was required by the NEH. So far, so good.
The one thing I carved out time to do was to poll all our team members (Otterbein, Lyrasis, Schorr) to see when they would be available for the next full group meeting. Thursday, January 4th was the best day for all involved, so we will meet then.
That’s all for 2023. May you all have a very Merry Christmas, and a Happy New Year!
Otterbein University is closed for the holiday season.
After a week off of work it was time to call the whole group back together for a meeting on Thursday the 4th. One of our tasks was to update our operational schedule. Some things are way ahead of schedule, and other things needed to be pushed back a month or so due to the outside commitments of our non-Otterbein partners. Next, we reviewed the latest draft of drawings from Schorr, which now include certain archival elements we want to showcase when we update our facility, and the inclusion of university-approved colors. These may change, as our building has its own historical colors that draw from the vibrant palate of the early 1970s. In addition, the architect asked the Otterbein members of the team to make a detailed inspection of the drawing for Phase One of the project, and to report questions or concerns back to him. After that, our grant representative updated us on Form 106. It would appear at this point that we can’t move on until later in the project, however she is planning on reaching out to our NEH contact to see if this information is correct. Other topics of discussion included the need to take the size of our total holdings (with Lyrasis providing the metrics to do so), the creation of a Best Practices document for the project (which was delivered by Lyrasis the day after the meeting). Finally, our next group meeting was set for February 5th, and I set up a time to meet with our grant rep and the library director to discuss some internal matters, including the possibility of closing the Lower Level of the library to house the collection while shelving is installed.
As it happened, we had a ladder safety training session with our Environmental Health and Safety Officer later that week. Before the session began, I was able to talk to her about the safety concerns surrounding the closure of the Lower Level for the duration of the installation. She seemed to think that it wouldn’t be a problem, which opens the possibility of keeping our archival collections on-site and partially accessible.
Next week will be the meeting with the library director and the grants office rep to discuss some of the internal projects relating to the project.
We hit a bit of a stumbling block this week, as we received word from our Institutional Advancement department that we would not be able to create a fundraising campaign for this project. This is understandable, as the university has several other, more urgent needs for which they are trying to raise money. However, this does not restrict us from looking for grant funding to complete the implementation phase of this project. Once we’ve finished with the planning grant in September 2024, that will be our next endeavor.
The library director and I continued our discussions with the Environmental Health and Safety Officer about the possibility of closing the Lower Level to accommodate the housing of our archival collection while compact shelving is installed in the main stacks area of the Archive. The EHS Officer believes this is possible without compromising the safety of the three staff who have offices in this space, and without breaking any safety regulations. The Library Director has asked that I get this in writing from both the EHS Officer and our committee representative from our campus Facility Services department.
On Thursday the Library Director and our Project Representative from the Office of Grants and Sponsored Programs met to discuss four items:
Can we move the Archives Collection into the Lower Level of the Library for temporary storage during the installation of compact shelving? Per our previous e-mails with Tara, we all believe this is possible and the best course of action. Will make this recommendation to our consultants at the next group meeting.
What changes need to be made to the most recent drawings provided by Schorr and Associates? Using sticky notes, we labeled the drawings where we had questions or changes. I will reach out to Schorr in the near future to ask if they want our comments at or prior to the full group meeting on February 5.
Do we need to push for the HAZMAT report now or in the next phase of the project? There is a bit of confusion where this part of the project is concerned, because of the turnover in the Facilities Services department. Based on discussions that the Library Director has had with her supervisors, we will seek approval of a localized report covering ONLY the areas affected by Phase One of our proposed project (the Archives Main Stacks and the Salt Reading Room).
Who should reply to the e-mail from Patterson Pope? The Library Director and I received an e-mail this week from one of the compact shelving vendors we had reached out to for a quote several years ago. We decided that I would send the reply, letting them know that we are in the planning phase, and that we would reach out to them when we’re ready to ask for revisions to their pre-pandemic estimates for the shelving and installation.
Next week we will be carrying out the assignments from this meeting and answering any questions as they arise.
This was a short week, and there was work outside of the grant that kept me from dealing with many of the items on my list from last week. However, a few new items were added to the to-do list.
On Tuesday our architect for the project called to ask if we could invite one of our compact shelving representatives to the next full group meeting on February 5, as he was anxious to add the actual dimensions and details of our shelving to his drawings. I said I wasn’t sure if that was proper, since we have two other vendors in the mix, but that I would talk to our Lyrasis consultants and ask what the proper protocol was for such matters. In addition, he asked if I could confirm that our representative from Facility Services would be on hand for the 02-25 meeting, as the engineers who were working with him would be present and have questions. I confirmed that I had reached out to our FS rep, but that I’d not heard anything back from him yet. As I’ve mentioned before, our Facility Services are undergoing a major change in personnel at the moment, so everyone is stretched a bit thin. I promised I would check back with our rep as soon as possible.
Several e-mails were then exchanged between the library director, one of our Lyrasis consultants, and myself. However, I was hit with a wave of research requests, including one from the President’s Office that was of the “DROP EVERYTHING AND DO THIS NOW” variety, so I have yet to review them. That will be my top priority for next week.
I would like to say that I did manage to get to the e-mails from last week, and that work has progressed on the grant, but this was another busy week. There were several meetings (including one to discuss other grants for which we need to apply) and several more unexpected researchers. Add in a few personal appointments that I couldn’t reschedule, and this week simply vanished. The one thing I did manage to accomplish was to coordinate with the Library Director to push for a response from our Facility Services representative concerning his attendance at the next full group meeting.
Next week I must, and I will get back to the grant work, and make sure that all my ducks are in a row for the next full group meeting on February 5.
It took most of the week, but I managed to get back onto the grant work. Part of this was spurred by a phone call from the Architect on Wednesday, asking if we had confirmation that our Facilities Service representative would be at the meeting next week. Without their presence, the meeting would have to be rescheduled. After weeks of sending e-mails and requests through my superiors to our rep, asking him to respond to the invitation, I finally just called his office and left a message. This worked, because shortly after he left me a message saying that he WOULD be at the meeting and had responded to it in Teams several weeks ago. This was not indicated in the meeting invitation, but I’ve had more than my fair share of problems with the system and am willing to accept his word that he did. Either way, the crisis was averted. I called the Architect back to let him know, and to discuss the agenda for the upcoming meeting.
Next, I reviewed all of the unanswered e-mails from the grant participants and made a list of action items to deal with before the end of the week. Then it was back to research requests for the next day and a half. Finally, on Friday afternoon I was able to contact one of our Lyrasis reps to discuss the remaining questions I had prior to the meeting. Because the fine folks at Lyrasis are amazing, she got back to me within the hour, and all questions were answered. The only thing that remains undone going into next week is to clean up the Salt Room (the Archive’s reading room and our meeting space). This will be done first thing on Monday, prior to the meeting, along with printing off the minutes provided by our Architect.
Despite having to run like crazy to get things done around the regular business of the Archive, I feel good going into our second full-group meeting of 2024!
BUSY WEEK! First, we started the week with the monthly full group meeting. Therein we discussed:
The HAZMAT report is shelved until we need it for project implementation
The upcoming space inventory to be taken so we can bring in our shelving vendors to revise their estimates
A proposed HVAC system was shared with the committee, and the importance of having a humidification system was discussed. It was determined that the archives would have a smart thermostat that could be adjusted by the staff without going through the Service Department.
A Hi-FOG mist fire suppression system was discussed as the best option for the collection
An air filtration system needs to be added to the HVAC (and NOT, despite many jokes made at my expense, because the Archivist likes to smoke in the collection!)
The final design specifications, including the proposed compact shelving design from the vendor we chose, needs to be finished and submitted to us by March 22nd
On Wednesday, the Archivist and an Archive volunteer spent the entire day going through the main stacks area of the Archive, taking stock of how many boxes, artifacts, and other items are held therein. It was a learning experience, figuring out how to accurately record all of the different shapes and sizes of the parts of our collection. A shout-out to my most excellent volunteer, Carrie Gilles, who then spent most of Thursday compiling all of our numbers and adding them to the spreadsheet provided to us by our Lyrasis consultant. On Friday we shared our results with the consultant, asking her to review our work. Next week we will get her, and then (hopefully) complete the rest of the survey.
On Monday, our Lyrasis consultant returned the spreadsheet to us with a handful of corrections and suggestions to make our lives easier in the rest of the space inventory. Tuesday my volunteer and I were able to go through the rest of the Archive and complete the survey. Once again, I’d like to especially thank Carrie Gilles for doing the lion’s share of the work on this project, including typing up the numbers we collected during the survey. These were shared with Lyrasis on Thursday, along with our final questions about how and what to count among our oversized furniture. Calculating this would take me through to the end of the week.
One more item was crossed off of our list this week. At the request of our architect, I invited a representative from one of the Compact Shelving vendors to attend our next large group meeting. The vendor agreed and is planning to join the meeting in-person.
It’s been a busy week, but I’m feeling pretty good about where we stand in the project. Next week we should be able to contact all three Compact Shelving vendors to ask them for updates on their proposals, including our completed space survey.
I started the week by sending the final figures to our Lyrasis consultant for the space survey. Our Lyrasis consultant said it would take until Friday to get the spreadsheet updated and ready to share with our Compact Shelving vendors. Though I had hoped to have it done sooner, this gave me time during the week to catch up on multiple other projects, including a large scanning and collection reboxing project that has been hanging over my head for several years now.
First thing Friday morning our consultant delivered the spreadsheet. After thanking her (and admonishing her for having never seen The Princess Bride), I immediately contacted our shelving vendors. I updated them on the scope of the project, asked a few questions, and shared the space survey spreadsheet. So far, I’ve received two responses, scheduled one team for a site visit next Tuesday, and I hope to hear from vendor number three early next week.
This week we had one of the Compact Shelving vendors visit the Archive to take notes and measurements. Another one has a confirmed appointment for next week, and the third is in the process of setting up their visit. The only other grant work this week was to send out parking passes for next Monday’s meeting. We’ll see what next week’s big meeting will bring!
We had our monthly full group meeting on Monday. The two observers and one of the Lyrasis consultants were unable to attend, but we were fortunate to have one of the compact shelving vendors present to discuss their plans with our architects. The vendor assured us that their cranking mechanism would be usable from an ADA standpoint, and showed myself and the library director what the shelves would look like without the wooden end-panels. A decision was made at that moment to forgo the end panels, as the bare shelves looked good without them. It was also discussed that a doorway may need to be installed to seal off the main stacks of the Archives for fire suppression and safety reasons. The location of this will be determined, possibly by the fire marshal. An action item for me from this meeting was to get the dimensions of our larger furniture items to the compact shelving vendor, in order to allow them to determine how many shelves we would actually need in the oversized racks. The next full group meeting will be on April 15th, with a smaller group meeting on April 1st to discuss funding ideas for phase two of the project.
On Wednesday a rep from the second of our compact shelving vendors came in to look at the space and revise their designs based on our new project parameters. One of the valuable takeaways from this visit was the question of what to do with our vertical files and photo files that are currently kept in file cabinets. We discussed the pros and cons of adding these materials to the new shelving and left the meeting with the tentative agreement to make allowances for them in the new system. Later in the week, to assist with their designs, I shared the CAD files from our architects. The architects stressed that the vendors needed to verify all measurements before submitting their designs. Measure twice, cut once, as the old saying goes.
Originally, our third compact shelving vendor was due to make a site-visit on Thursday of this week, but due to an illness in their design team, they asked to reschedule for the following Monday. We were happy to accommodate.
Finally, on Friday I was able to get back to the first compact shelving vendor with the dimensions of the large furniture items. I also asked about the items in the file cabinets, and what their thoughts were on how to handle those materials. The vendor suggested we talk on Monday next week to hammer out these details. I prefer talking to people over lengthy e-mails, so I agreed. That’s where we’ll pick up the project next week!
Compact shelving vendor number three came in on Monday morning to discuss the changes in our plan for shelving, and to reassess the space. One of the major concerns in their original design was the way it would close in over the electrical panel in our main stacks. The vendor asked for the name of our health and safety officer, so they could run their designs past them before finalizing anything. In addition, they also asked for the CAD file drawn up by our architects. After asking for permission to do so, I was able to share the file and put it into direct contact with our Environmental Health and Safety Officer.
That afternoon I had a virtual meeting with the first compact shelving vendor to talk about the oversized items being housed in the collection, and to discuss the placement of the items from the vertical file and the photograph file. In terms of the furniture, we talked through the dimensions of each item and how best to fit everything into the cases. This allowed the vendor to limit the number of shelves ordered to exactly what we needed. In addition, we discussed what size map cases I wanted for the collection. Originally, he had specified three stacks of the small sized cases, but I asked if we could bump that up to the middle size, allowing for a (literally) wider range of materials to be stored. Since we had the available space in the design, this was an easy change. Then we came to the big question - What to do with the Vertical Files and Photo Files that are currently in file cabinets? This turned out to be a simple answer, as the vendor told me he discussed this question in a separate meeting with one of our Lyrasis consultants. The consultant recommended that we keep the materials in the filing cabinets. Having spent most of the weekend second-guessing myself over moving the two collections into the new shelving, I was relieved to have their opinion confirm my thoughts. I told vendor number one to disregard my request to try adding these items to the shelving, and shortly after sent e-mails to the other two vendors, asking them to do the same.
Friday, we received the first draft design from compact shelving vendor number three. I have reviewed it, but we’re still waiting for the input from the EHS officer before we can know for certain if this is a viable plan. Hopefully we’ll hear back from her early next week.
We end this entry on a slightly sad note. Our project lead in the Office of Grants and Sponsored Programs informed us on Tuesday that she would be leaving Otterbein. This is a bittersweet moment for me, as she was my student worker when she was an undergraduate here in the late aughts-early teens. We wish her nothing but the best in all her future endeavors, and we know that her supervisor will be able to continue her good work on this project.
Compact shelving vendor number three came back to us this week with some questions about certain items in the collection. Thankfully, I was able to have my volunteer come up with the answers. As of right now I am still waiting to hear back from our EHS officer concerning vendor three’s shelving proposal. Late in the week vendor two came back with their proposal, which I shared with our project team for review. Vendor two also asked for a time next week to come in and offer up a presentation on their proposal. This has been scheduled for next Thursday, though most of the team will be unable to attend due to prior commitments.
The week started with a bang, as Schorr shared with us their first full draft of the compact shelving, HVAC, and fire suppression plans, complete with drawings and the paperwork that would be needed to bring the project to fruition. I spent a good part of the day on Monday reviewing the paperwork. When I saw the projected price tag for the entire project, I was reminded of this scene in the film White Christmas:
“Wow” is going to cost us approximately $850,000, and that’s using the numbers from the previous compact shelving designs, which are about five years out of date. This is concerning, but not insurmountable. Next week we have scheduled another grant meeting to brainstorm how to widen our funding net.
We received these plans as digital files as well as paper files for ease of use. I kept one set of the paper plans in the library, to share with the library staff and to show off to possible donors, and I shared the second set of paper plans with our Service Department representative, for him to share with our new Service Director.
Yes, you read that right – Otterbein has just hired a new Executive Director of Facilities Services. Tim Priest has worked at Otterbein Services in the past and we are all very pleased to welcome him back to campus. I sent him an e-mail in which I brought him up to date on our project and asked him how much he wanted to be involved. This is a professional courtesy rather than a cry for help, as we already have a representative from his department on the team. However, we want to make sure he knows what’s going on, and to give him the opportunity to be a part of the process if he so chooses.
Finally, on Thursday the representative from compact shelving vendor number two came to campus to run through his proposal and to answer the committee’s questions about their products and services. Those in attendance were few, but we were all pleased with the designs. Obviously, it is too soon to choose who our vendor is going to be, but at this point I can tell you with certainty that it will be a difficult decision!
This entry is short, as I was out sick two days last week. We had a meeting to discuss the new projected cost for the implementation of our planning grant project on Monday, and on Tuesday I talked to a rep from compact shelving vendor number three, who told me to expect their new drawings and cost estimates by the end of this week. Wednesday, I started to feel sick, so I ended up staying home on Thursday and Friday. And that’s all she wrote for that week.
I was scheduled to take this Monday off, which was fortunate because I was still coming off the cold that took me out at the end of last week. (It wasn’t COVID, thankfully.) When I returned to the office on Tuesday, I was faced with all the backlog from the three days out office. In addition, I am on a hiring committee which started its work in earnest this week, and I had an interview for a new student worker, so there wasn’t much time for Grant work. I did, however, review and share the updated compact shelving proposal from vendor number three, which arrived on Thursday. They included some unique arrangements that I was very pleased to see.
Next week is full of meetings and events including our next full group meeting, so there should be more to report then.
Monday, we had our monthly full group meeting. We discussed the need to shift and protect items in the Salt Reading Room, which (due to the physical arrangement of the Archives) would be used as a pass-through for all the compact shelving parts, and possibly as a staging area for the same. Neither our consultants nor our staff felt that it would be an issue, either through covering materials or moving them temporarily out of the space.
Next, the committee looked at all of the compact shelving proposals and offered their commentary on them. Each plan is excellent and brought design elements or arrangements to the table that the committee liked. However, we did have an issue with one of the designs, in which we felt that they brought the shelves too close to the electrical panel in the Main Stacks area. My job is to now take these comments back to the vendors and ask them to make some changes to their designs to add the things that we liked (and in the one case didn’t like).
We continued to discuss the types of fire suppression that are available, and in all likelihood, we will go with a clean agent system over a water mist system. If there is a fire and the system is triggered, it will be easier to recover materials that have not been wetted (which was the reason no fire suppression system was installed in the building when it was built over 50 years ago).
The engineers who have been working on the project recommended that a smaller system just for the Main Stacks area be added to the space, complete with filter system and controls in or near the space itself, so that the Archives staff can adjust to keep a relative constant temperature and humidity year-round.
Schorr presented us with a preliminary bid/construction schedule that they estimate will take between 5 to 6 months. This tracks with both expectations and our planned schedule for implementation. Further, if everything continues on track, Schorr believes that they will have the completed construction documents to us in July. With that, we set our next full group meeting time and date for May and then ended the meeting.
The rest of the week was spent in meetings, end-of-the-year programs, and in dealing with other work unrelated to the grant. It’s hard to believe that we’re almost at the end of the spring semester. Times flies when you’re working on a grant project!
It is exam week at Otterbein. While the students are finishing their classes for the term, we are just starting up two of the three hiring committees that the library is dealing with this spring. The one I serve on met just once this week, but the Salt Room (the Archives Reading Room) has hosted two of the three interviews for the second position, and though not part of the committee it was my job after the interviews to take the candidates on a tour of the library.
Somewhere in and around all of that I was able to reach out to our compact shelving vendors to ask for the changes and updates that the committee requested. I was also able to schedule a meeting next week with Schorr and representatives from the City of Westerville to come into the Archives for a code review. What that means is we want to know now if anything we’re planning is going to run afoul of city building codes. We don’t expect there to be any problems, but it makes sense to find out now if we need to change anything in our designs.
This weekend is the 167th Annual Commencement at Otterbein University. I couldn’t be prouder of the young men and women I have been privileged to know who will be graduating on Sunday. Our best wishes to them and remember that you will always be welcome here in the quiet, peaceful village.
More hiring committee work this week, and I was out for an afternoon to take my kid to the dentist. That said, there was a lot of grant work going on this week.
The three compact shelving vendors were in contact with me, either via phone call or video call, to discuss the changes to their plans. I should say that everyone is incredibly easy to work with and have been wonderful about taking our feedback. I can’t wait to see all of the updates.
On Wednesday we had representatives from the City of Westerville come in to do the code review. It was quick and easy. The reps looked at the space, reviewed our plans, and gave us the “go-ahead.” Now, this isn’t the end of the story; when we are ready to implement, we’ll have to reach back out to the city for permits. This will probably require another review, but if it goes as smoothly as this one, I have no worries whatsoever.
The next day we had an Ohio History Connection-approved auditor come in to do the Section 106 Review of our project. This consisted of a quick tour of our space, discussion of our plans, and they took some photographs of the space and of the building. It took very little time, and the only follow-up they required was an ask to see the blueprints for the building, which I was able to share with them digitally. It sounds like we’re going to get an “all clear!” for the review. Once they have their review written up, we will submit it to the OHC for approval. From there it will be filed with the NEH for their review. All in all, a very good start to summer at Otterbein!
One of the major concerns in our project has been what to do with our collection while the compact shelving is installed. The committee has been exploring different options, and the one that makes the most sense for us would be to store the collection on-site. Storage space is difficult to come by on campus (hence the need for this entire project), however, one of the ideas that was floated by the committee was to move the collection from the main stacks of the Archive out into the Lower Level of the Library. The floor would need to be taken off-line for the duration of the project, but if it were done during the summer term (as we’re planning to do) it would have minimal effect on the students, faculty, and staff of the University. This raised a lot of questions from the committee, and we quickly figured out that we would need to talk to our Enviromental Safety Officer for the definitive answers.
The ESO joined myself, the Library Director, the Building Safety Captain, and our Service Department rep on Monday for a quick review of the space and a discussion of what we wanted to do. After review, she was able to tell us that yes, we can close the Lower Level for 3-4 months to be temporary storage for the archives. That said, we will need to get a permit from the city in order to close the floor, even though it’s only temporary. We were also informed that our staff can continue to work in the Lower Level while it’s off-line. (In addition to the Archivist, two other library staff have their offices on this level, and all staff will need access to the materials during the project.) However, there would be certain conditions to this permission:
Staff will not be allowed in the designated construction zones,
Clear egress from the floor must be maintained, especially because the Lower Level will still need to function as the building’s emergency shelter (again, provided no one goes into the designated construction zones).
In addition, we confirmed that the double-doors in the Becker Gallery (located at the bottom of the stairs in the Lower Level) are NOT fire doors and can be closed to prevent access to the Lower Level. This will allow us to secure the floor and use all available spaces in the Lower Level to store the collection.
Finally, the ESO asked that we have our consultants draw up a plan of what the storage arrangements will look like. We all agreed that would be optimal for our plans going forward.
Next, we asked our Service rep if he thought that his department would have the time and manpower to execute the move. He told us that projects like these are usually outsourced, and that he could put us in touch with the company that they usually hired for projects like this. When we mentioned that we’d probably have to get estimates from multiple moving companies, our Service rep asked that we keep him in the loop on our choice, so that they can make sure they are qualified and bonded.
Other than typing up the notes from this meeting and sharing them with the rest of the partners, that was it for grant work this week.
The full group meeting for May was held this past Tuesday. In it, we discussed the revised plans from compact shelving vendors one and three. (We’re still waiting for the revisions from vendor two, which should arrive next week.) It was brought to our attention that there is a louver in the main stacks area that no longer serves any function and could be removed. Thinking it could be utilized as either display or additional storage, the committee agreed we should ask the vendors to offer us suggestions on how to utilize the space. Our Schorr rep also brought up that he had asked the engineers to look at the floor under the main stacks, the “slab,” to make sure it could hold the weight of the shelving. While there is little doubt that it will be fine, it just makes sense to check it out now.
While we have not chosen a vendor for our implementation, and we will not do so until we are ready to implement, we did decide that going forward we would use compact shelving vendor number one’s layout in the construction plans and drawings, as a way of indicating how the project will fill and utilize the space within the archives. Schorr will have updated drawings at our next meeting.
There was further discussion of the three types of fire suppression that are available, and we reviewed the pros and cons of each, as well as the cost for each system. At this point we have chosen to go with the clean agent system, as when triggered it will have minimal to no impact on our holdings, and (coincidentally) it is the least expensive of the three options.
Next, we discussed the move plan with Lyrasis. It was determined that they will create a move plan, based on the space available in the closed-off Lower Level, and then we will use that plan to get quotes from moving vendors. Lyrasis will then help us to review the vendor quotes to pick the best one. We also discussed the logistics of closing off the Lower Level, focusing on what internal departments and staff would have to be notified.
No next meeting was set at the end of one, as June is going to be full of internal work at the library, as well as vacation time for several of the participants. We will schedule a July meeting in late June, when things have calmed down.
On Thursday we received a report from the engineers, based on the compact shelving designs, that the slab under the Archive would be strong enough to hold the weight of whatever shelving we choose. However, they recommend that we avoid utilizing rails attached to existing slab with anchors which may conflict with existing steel reinforcement within concrete slab. Instead, the engineers recommend utilizing concrete screw/tap cons that drill in place without the need of pre-drilling.
This was a quiet week for the grant work. We received the updated proposal from compact shelving vendor number two, and it was shared with the group for review. I also spoke to our Schorr rep on the phone about the next steps for the project. Beyond that, everything was focused on unrelated library work.
This was a short week due to Memorial Day on Monday. Most of the grant work this week dealt with a question that I should have asked earlier – what are we going to do with the old shelving once the new shelving is in place? We utilize many different types of shelving in the Archives, some better than others. Ideally, we would look at the other areas of the Archives and determine where to put the higher-quality shelving. That will still leave us with a large amount of unused shelving. Do we save it for future use elsewhere, or do we recycle it? Then there’s the question of the file cabinets that contain our vertical files and some of our photograph files. I met with the Library Director and the Building Safety Captain on Friday to discuss this. It was determined that there is already a surplus of shelving being stored in the library, so it makes the most sense to recycle what is left over at the end of the shifting. My next step is to look at all of the shelving we have, and determine what I want to keep, where I want it to go, and then find out if this is work that should be rolled into the request from the move vendors, of if our Facilities Services Department can handle the work.
There was literally no time to do any grant work this week, as the interview committee on which I sit had all the candidates for the position come in for the final round of interviews. It was so bad that when our Schorr rep asked me to join him for a video call with one of the compact shelving vendors I had to decline due to a literal lack of time. Fortunately, with the interviews done, there is light at the end of the tunnel for that project, and I can get back to work on everything else that has been put off this week.
This week was not as calm and quiet as I had hoped, but I did manage to find time to make a review of the shelving in the archive, and to begin sketching out my ideas for where everything should go after the compact shelving is installed. There won’t be as much swapping as I had feared, though some of the old book shelving will need to be replaced in certain rooms with more stable industrial shelving.
This week was surprisingly productive, given that it was a bit of a Swiss cheese kind of a week. We had Wednesday off for Juneteenth, and I’m taking Friday off to celebrate my birthday. (My birthday is actually Thursday, but my wife couldn’t take that day off, so we pushed our celebration back to Friday.)
This week I was able to get our new Grants Officer listed as our Grants Administrator with the NEH, so that will allow her to move forward with the Section 106 review paperwork.
I then reached out to our three compact shelving vendors to ask them for suggestions to fill the space currently occupied by the unused louver. As part of that, I asked the representative from vendor number one if he had time for a video call the following week to guide us through how all our holdings will fit into their compact shelving proposal. (Our Library Director was concerned that we might have more than the shelving proposals can handle, and wanted to see an example of how it would all fit.) As of this writing, I’m waiting for him to let me know if and when he has time.
Next, I reached out to our Service rep, asking if they could handle the shifting and recycling of the old shelves and the filing cabinets after the compact shelving is involved. He referred me to another member of the Facilities Services Department who handles this kind of work (a great guy, whom I’ve worked with before on other projects). It turns out that he’s about to leave for vacation but would get back in touch with me after he returns on July 1st.
Finally, I sent an update on all of this to Lyrasis, asking them 1. Should I go ahead and reach out to the move vendors or wait until I have spoken to my contact in Facilities Services, and 2. Am I missing anything. (This is something of a concern, as I have been incredibly busy with work outside of the grant both this month and last month.) Our Lyrasis rep told me to go ahead and contact the move vendors now, and that as far as she could tell I was on top of the project. With a sigh of relief, I thanked her, and I am now ready to take off for an extended weekend.
The grant work this week began on Tuesday with a visit from compact shelving vendor number three. Having been asked to fill the place where the redundant louver now sits, they wanted to come in and review the space. They also showed me a new computer imaging tool that created a highly detailed three-dimensional model of our main stacks, almost in real time! I look forward to seeing what they come up with for us.
Additionally, on Tuesday we received the updated drawings from compact shelving vendor number two. This was both fortunate and frustrating, as will be seen further down in this entry.
Wednesday, after a quick call from Schorr, I set our next full group meeting for July 18th. By then we should have all of our final compact shelving proposals and our move proposals to review.
On that subject, after reviewing the list of suggested move vendors shared with us by Lyrasis, I chose the three that looked like the best fit for our needs. One of them has been used frequently by the University, so we have a good rapport established with them, and another is actually a division of compact shelving vendor number one. As such, I have no doubt we’ll find a good company. I contacted everyone on Thursday and received responses soon after. As of right now we have move vendor two and three scheduled for meetings or phone calls next week.
Move vendor one is the same company as compact shelving vendor one. We had previously scheduled a meeting with the shelving rep for Friday, and he was able to bring in a move rep to talk to the Library Director and I about our needs and to start developing a plan for us. However, the main goal of the meeting was for our shelving rep to guide us through how he had laid out his plan for compact shelving, and where he saw all the archival materials from our inventory fitting into it. Once we were satisfied that everything would fit (and still leave room for growth) we discussed what to do in the space left behind by the unused louver.
There was one more request made for the compact shelving design, one that had recently been brought to my attention as a necessity. While reviewing the donation forms for one of our collections (acquired before I was even an undergrad at Otterbein) I discovered that we are required to keep the collection in a fireproof container. This was a bit of a surprise, but it also explained why parts of the collection are already kept in small, fireproof containers. So, my final (I hope) ask to the compact shelving vendors was to add to their designs a fireproof cabinet large enough to hold this entire collection. Vendor number one said that it shouldn’t be a problem, and that he would add it to the updated drawings. Next week I’ll need to reach out to the other two compact shelving vendors and ask them for the same thing.
Thus ended our meeting, and my week of grant work.
For the most part, this week was all about planning to move our historical collections from the main stacks to the Lower Level of the library during the installation of compact shelving, HVAC, and fire suppression.
Move vendor number two came in on Tuesday to review the space and take notes and photos. On Wednesday, vendor number three called to discuss the project and to ask for photos, schematics, and other materials to help them craft their move plan. I then spent most of Friday taking photos of the collection to share with the movers.
In addition, the Facilities Services contact who could answer our move questions met with me on Friday. After discussing the scope of the work we need to do after compact shelving is installed, it was determined that it would make more sense to have the move vendors handle all the work on the back end of the project. This means that I’ll need to update the work plan shared with the move vendors to reflect this decision.
The only other grant work this week was that I reached out to compact shelving vendors two and three and asked them to add a fireproof cabinet to their designs. We’ll see what they have to say next week.
Once again, it was a week primarily dedicated to the collection move and providing information for the move vendors. I gathered all the requisite photos and drawings for the project in a OneDrive folder and shared that with the vendors. I also had a meeting with vendor number one on Monday afternoon to further discuss details of what needs to be done in the move. As questions arose from the other vendors, I did my best to answer them, or I referred them to materials already available in the shared OneDrive folder.
On the compact shelving side, vendor number three shared with me a flyer with all the fireproof cabinets that they use. After a quick review I let them know which one would best suit our needs.
More next week, when we’ll have our next full group meeting.
The week began with move related work, answering questions for the vendors, reviewing the estimates, and sharing them with the rest of the committee. I also shared the compact shelving plans with our Grants Officer, so she could pass them along to the Ohio History Connection, as part of their review of our Section 106 report.
Our full group meeting for July was on Thursday. We began by dealing with a bit of confusion from the last meeting. Certain members of the committee felt that we hadn’t gotten proper approval from our Service rep to go with the clean agent system for our fire suppression. Since our Service rep couldn’t make this meeting, I was assigned to get in touch with him and make sure that the clean agent system is acceptable to the Facilities Services Department.
Next, we discussed the plans from our move vendors. Move vendor number one submitted their proposal before all aspects of the move had been solidified, so we’re waiting for an updated proposal from them. The other two came in at very similar costs and scope, although everyone was most impressed with vendor number two’s proposal. In addition to the budget it contained a detailed move plan, one which was so well written that we no longer need Lyrasis to write one up. Though we aren’t making any final vendor decisions until it’s time for implementation, the committee felt that move vendor number two is our top choice.
Moving on to the Section 106 Review, our Grants Officer told us that the Ohio History Connection wants to see our final plans for the entire project before they can approve the review. Schorr said that they would have the final plans ready for us by the next full group meeting in August. Their work is done; however, they want to be able to include all the final compact shelving and move plans in the final submission.
Our next (and possibly final) full group meeting has been set for August 19th.
It was a busy week in the Archives, though almost entirely unrelated to the grant. However, we did receive the final draft of compact shelving vendor number two’s plan, which was shared out to the committee. At this point we have the final proposals from compact shelving vendors one and two and move vendors one and three.
Nothing to report on the grant this week. In addition to the usual duties of the Archives I was hit with two “drop everything and do this” requests from higher up in the University. Back to it next week.
This week I finally had time to e-mail our committee Service rep and ask him for final clarification and approval of the clean agent fire suppression system for the project. His response was swift and definitive – Service agrees that the clean agent system is the best choice for our space. I shared this information with the rest of the committee and then went back to non-grant work for the balance of the week.
This week was spent away from the grant, as I was attending multiple interviews for our last open staff position at the library (and giving the candidates tours of the library afterwards), a talk to the University’s Residents Assistants on the history of the campus, a staff meeting, and an Archives orientation meeting with the new Library Graduate Assistant. More news next week, when we have our full group meeting.
We had two big meetings this week, which will play major roles in the implementation of our planning grant.
First up was our last full-group meeting for this project. Schorr delivered to us the final construction documents, in both digital and paper form, including a rendering of what the space will look like using one of the compact shelving vendor’s plans as an example. Everyone, both the Otterbein team and the Lyrasis consultants, were very happy with the plans. With these in hand, the grant project is mostly complete. We are still in need of the final compact shelving design from vendor number three, but even without it we have enough information to know the approximate cost of the project. This gives us almost everything we need for implementation, and the completion of this grant.
The second meeting of importance was an originally unrelated discussion between myself, the library director, and the Director of Facilities Services. We were talking about the Service needs for the library and the Archives, and this project was part of that. Our Service Director shared with us three unexpected things:
His previous employer had compact shelving that was no longer needed. It might be possible to use it as part of our project,
Facilities Services has a couple of spare HVAC systems in their inventory that might work for the Archives, and
The University’s Frank Museum of Art has a now-redundant clean agent fire suppression system that we might be able to reconfigure for use in the Archives.
This is welcome news, as any reduction in cost will help ensure that the implementation of our plan can go forward. Our Service Director will investigate if the HVAC and the fire suppression can be used, and in the meantime, he will contact his old employers to see if we could make a site visit to look at the shelves and see if we could put them to use.
Beyond these meetings, I exchanged e-mails with Lyrasis, discussing the need to finalize our "move plot,” the guide to show the move vendor where to set up the displaced Archives shelves in the Lower Level during the compact shelving installation. I also asked them to set up a final meeting in late September to wrap up all the loose ends before the end of the grant period.
To help with this, I also reached out to our Grants Officer and asked her to review our grant contract, and to provide me with the upcoming deadlines and expectations to finish the grant.
One final note – compact shelving vendor number three provided me with their final plans early in the week. This was shared with the project committee and will be attached to the Constuction Documents provided by Schorr.
It was with great joy that I sent an e-mail to our Lyrasis consultants updating them about the news from our Service Director about the shelving, and the HVAC and fire suppression systems we might be able to source internally or for free. We also set a final meeting date of September 24th to finish up their grant work.
We are about to enter September, which is when Otterbein celebrates its combined Homecoming and Alumni Weekend. It’s a good thing we’re almost done with the grant because I am about to embark on numerous large-scale projects for Alumni Relations and Institutional Advancement, which will take almost all my time. We’ll see what happens next week!
This week I am scanning photos like crazy and preparing PowerPoints like my life depends on it. The only grant work to cross my desk was our consultants needing to change the date of our final meeting from the 24th to the 30th, coincidentally the last day of the grant period.
Our Service Director set up a time for us to go to Newark, Ohio (about an hour east of Otterbein) to look at the compact shelving that his former employer is looking to rehome, but that was the extent of this week’s grant work. I expect next week will have even less grant work, as it is the week of Homecoming and Alumni Weekend.
Just a quick word this week – our Grants Officer is still working with the OHC to get the Section 106 Review finalized, and she had a handful of questions for the Library Director and myself on Wednesday. Luckily, they were easy answers, and I was able to respond quickly. Happy Homecoming, Cardinals!
We hit the ground running first thing on Monday, with a trip to Newark to look at the free compact shelving. We quickly determined that it wouldn’t necessarily work in our plans for the main stacks, but that it might be possible to use it in another part of the Archives. As such, it is no longer a part of this project. However, I shared our measurements and photos of the shelving with our Lyrasis consultants, in order to get their opinion on its use.
I also spent time this week working out the final details of the “move plot” with our consultants. We had at one point hoped to be able to fit everything into lockable classrooms in the Lower Level, but after review and revisions it became clear that we need to close the floor and place some of the shelves in public areas.
Finally, one more question came in from the Ohio History Connection for the Section 106 Review. We have promised not to paint any of the concrete columns in the main stacks of the Archive.
Next week, the final meeting and the final blog post of the grant!
It has been almost one year since this grant-funded planning project began. Today, September 31, 2024, we had our last meeting to wrap it all up. Realistically, the grant work was completed back in August, and since then we’ve been tying up the loose ends.
The Construction Documents are done. The move plot is ready. The Section 106 Review is in, and we’re just waiting for final approval before we submit it to the NEH. Now we need to write up the White Paper, the final report, and the final budget for submission on January 31, 2025. Before that, however, we need to prepare a grant application for the NEH-SCHC implementation grant, which will be due on January 10th (though we want the narrative done in time for an NEH early review in December).
So, the grant is done, but the work will continue until we have compact shelving, and a new HVAC and fire suppression system installed in the Archives. Wish us luck!
