A year later: What's new with the Archives Database

With the new semester well underway the Special Collections & Archives (SCA) team thought it was high time to share some recent developments about the Archives Database.

The online resource for searching the department's descriptive holdings was announced last fall and since that time we've been working to improve the quality and number of available descriptive records. This work is being accomplished as part of the on-going migration from internal databases to the Archives Database, as well as (re)description work taking place to modernize legacy finding aids.

To date SCA staff have made significant strides with regards to making new or recently revised descriptive records available online. Of particular note is the description of the Bechler Family fonds recently completed by Sophia Grande-Lawlor, the MLIS candidate working with SCA this semester. This is the first time information about the Bechler Family holdings has been made publicly available as the records remained only partially processed for several decades (not a typo). Thank you, Sophia, for helping make this update possible!

Other holdings recently updated or made newly available include:

• Alpha Delta Kappa, Province of Ontario Chapter fonds (GA72)
• KW Community Foundation fonds (GA161)
• Central Ontario Art Association fonds (GA209)
• Charles E. Greb family fonds (GA189)
• W.H. Kaufman fonds (GA170)
• Dr. Stanley Francis Leavine fonds (GA116)
• Frances Kathleen Montgomery fonds (GA111)
• Maines Pincock family fonds : 2016 accrual (GA354)
• Muskoka Lakes Association fonds : 2006 accrual (GA198)
• John Ivan Rempel fonds (GA181)
• Rotary Club of Kitchener fonds (GA233)
• George Pattinson Woollen Mill fonds (GA227)

In addition to descriptive updates the SCA team has refreshed online support mechanisms to meet researchers like yourself wherever you are – likely at home, like the rest of us! We have:

• Revised and expanded overviews of SCA’s Thematic Areas that outline the nature and scope of the department’s major collecting areas. The new overviews help researchers understand the scope and nature of our collecting areas; they facilitate instruction and outreach efforts; and they act as useful points of reference for new and re-established donor relations. Many thanks to Nicole Marcogliese for all of the work that went into this effort.
• Updated the Getting started help page to introduce a link to a newly created Clipboard walk through, an Archives Database feature that facilitates the aggregating and saving of descriptive records for future (re)use.

As always, SCA remains indebted to Brandon Uhlman and Lathangi Ganesharatnam, members of the Library's Digital Initiatives department, for their on-going support of the Archives Database. We also welcome you to Contact us with any questions or suggestions for improving available information about our holdings.