Special Collections & Archives is currently under way with a bold new plan to barcode all of our materials (as the main library did in 1977). This project will ultimately give us greater control over our holdings both in terms of space available for new collections and also in terms of allowing us to better track the use of our collections.
While this is exciting enough on its own, co-op student Eva Lau discovered some material in an archival box that had been uncatalogued.
We are therefore pleased to welcome the Alexander McNeill fonds back into the collection. The fonds consists of 4 letters to the editor, including one about the first five-year plan; this is especially interesting because Eva also just completed a digital exhibit for us, dealing largely with that topic.
First page of Alexander McNeill's letter to the Mail & Empire newspaper in Toronto, entitled The Rich Blessings of the Five Year Plan.
And here are two snapshots from the original barcoding project:
Baiba Gomes, Else Riedel, Kathryn Ryans, and a partially hidden fourth staff member apply barcodes to books in the Dana Porter stacks.
Rose Schilling uses some high tech gadgetry to sign a book out.
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