University of Nebraska launches Nebraska
Archives Online
Archivists
from the four University of Nebraska campuses have collaborated to launch
Nebraska Archives Online (http://archives.nebraska.edu), a
shared online database that provides access to finding aids and guides for the
university’s unique archival and manuscript collections. Through the work of
the University of Nebraska Consortium of Libraries (UNCL), Nebraska Archives
Online meets a longstanding need to provide a one-stop portal to these
collections. It’s a resource meant to engage the public’s curiosity and improve
the research process for students or anyone with a research need. The materials
in each of the NU archives are available for anyone to use.
“Bringing
together the University of Nebraska’s unique collections provides benefits to
users of archives as well as the repositories. Folks visiting the archives in
Kearney can now easily find material in Omaha and Lincoln,” explained Amy
Schindler, Director of Archives and Special Collections at the UNO Libraries.
For
example, a researcher searching for materials relating to social workers Grace
and Edith Abbott may now find their personal and professional papers at the
University of Nebraska-Lincoln and materials relating to the Grace Abbott
School of Social Work at the University of Nebraska at Omaha, which can lead to
a greater understanding of the location and variety of resources.
The four archives and special
collections repositories spent the last year migrating their individual
databases into a single instance of the ArchivesSpace platform. The public now
has a tool that provides descriptions of collections physically located across
the university system with links to thousands of pages of documents and audio
and video recordings. This includes over 3,500 records associated with unique
collections and materials at UNK, UNL, UNMC, and UNO.
“Its ongoing work, but we’ve
collaborated before on the online exhibit on the 1968
university merger. Actually, what a way to celebrate that achievement, bringing
together our resources today, and looking towards the future,” stated Mary
Ellen Ducey, university archivist/special collections librarian at UNL.
As with the earlier exhibit project
(http://exhibit.nebraska.edu),
the project benefits from building a community of practice to share ideas and
collaboration opportunities. Nebraska Archives Online will continue to grow
with new material from the four campuses of the University of Nebraska and with
new opportunities for potential future expansion. Archivists at each campus
will continue to focus on matching professional archival standards, such as
those supported by the Society of American Archivists, with local best
practices and operations.
The University
of Nebraska’s four archival repositories share a mission of long-term access
and preservation of the historical record by maintaining millions of pages of
documents, photographs, letters, policies, and material in all formats that
answer questions, tell a story, and celebrate something unique about our
university, our communities, and the state of Nebraska.
Nebraska
Archives have helped students working on class projects, someone researching
their neighborhood, administrator looking for a policy document, genealogist
seeking a piece of information about an ancestor. In order to help people reach
these goals, archivists create finding aids or guides to the thousands of collections
in the University of Nebraska’s archives and special collections repositories. Now
these guides are collected together in one portal, Nebraska Archives Online (http://archives.nebraska.edu).
About the University of Nebraska
Consortium of Libraries (UNCL):
UNCL leads the University of
Nebraska libraries to create and sustain a rich, supportive, and diverse
knowledge environment that furthers teaching, learning, and research through
the sharing of collections, expertise, and programs. Each campus preserves the
unique history of the University of Nebraska and offers unique collections that
support the research needs of each campus and interests of the state of
Nebraska. Our reading rooms are open to the public.
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