State’s Iowa City archives plan is flawed

I am concerned that the agreement between UI Libraries and the State Historical Society to offer ‘interlibrary loan’ access to the SHSI Library collections (if they are moved to Des Moines) will mislead the public into thinking all is well. It is not.

The SHSI Library is used by families, volunteers, history buffs, community groups, local history museums, as well as students and scholars. It is a beloved repository for documents and mementos of all facets of community life in the history of our state.

Loan of materials would first require that they are maintained, rather than deaccessioned (removed elsewhere or recycled), and that they are stored and cataloged for access. There is not room in the Des Moines facility for all these materials, and due to a decade of funding cuts, there is a backlog in cataloging and listing archives online. Current plans call for reducing the size of the collection by as much as 60%. Even if some of those materials are moved to other archives or libraries, they will no longer be available as a statewide resource.

The agreement is more PR than it is practical. Shipping of fragile materials and large, centuries-old reference books back and forth between DM and IC is not a realistic way to care for or use these materials. It will be costly, risks damage to irreplaceable items, and make them unavailable to other users while out on loan. I am confident the librarians at UI are knowledgeable and responsible. But those making the decisions in Des Moines either do not have any real understanding of how the archives are used by actual Iowans, or they don’t care.

On a recent visit to the Library, I was able to look through over 20 boxes, each containing dozens of files, in just a few hours. A librarian retrieved the boxes a few at a time, refiled them when I was done, and brought out more as I requested them. Archival research takes sifting through many sources, often with no way to know what is there until you look for it. The current collection is well-organized and the librarians are knowledgeable and familiar with the materials. But not everything is cataloged online, and even the best listings provide just a brief summary of contents. Many boxes turned out not to contain what I needed, while others were filled with useful papers I did not know to request in advance because their contents are not listed in detail online.

The library that morning was busy, with many people using books, files, maps and microfilm to access a wide array of materials. Several groups researching genealogy were able to look through a shelf of old, fragile county directories to find family listings. Those led them to other county and state volumes, which they were able to find, use for an hour and have quickly returned to the shelf for others. With help from the librarian, one visitor was unrolling a set of fragile maps to research a story for a local history museum. Two women brought their nephew from southeast Iowa to view an important artifact that their family had proudly donated to the library years ago.

The research that was happening on just that one morning, using the proposed “loan" system, would have required hundreds of items to be removed from the collection, shipped, stored at UI for a period of time, packed, unpacked and handled multiple times, then reshipped back to DM. They would have been exposed to damage, and unavailable to other users for days or weeks at a time. It’s a terrible way to treat materials that belong to all Iowans and have been painstakingly collected, organized and carefully maintained for over 150 years. This is not a realistic or responsible solution to the loss of access the closing of this library would mean for Iowans.

These valuable, irreplaceable materials belong to all the people of Iowa. To dismantle the amazing collection housed at the IC Library is a tragic mistake that it will be impossible to undo. We deserve a more thoughtful, transparent, and informed process to decide the best way to care for these resources and make sure they are truly available to the public. When the Legislature convenes in January, ask your representatives---Democrats and Republicans — to vote down the Governor’s backdoor attempt to change the law that requires a library in both Des Moines and Iowa City. Support legislation that will follow the law, keep the Library in Iowa City open, and ensure it is properly staffed and funded.

This is not just an issue for scholars or Eastern Iowans. It is about preserving and having access to our history for all Iowans for generations to come.

Susan Futrell is a writer and independent history lover who has used the Iowa City facility for many years. Futrell lives in Iowa City.