Wednesday, October 13, 2010

The Times They Are a Changin'

Some great news for Archives and Libraries everywhere. At least one institution is finding the resources to expand their public hours of operation!

Let us hope this foreshadows the future economy. Read the following announcement from the New York State Library and New York State Archives.


The New York State Library and New York State Archives will institute
new Saturday hours beginning on October 16th. Saturday hours of
operation at the two facilities, located on the 7th and 11th floor of
the Cultural Education Center (CEC) at the Empire State Plaza in Albany,
will be from 9:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. Free public parking will be available
in the Madison Avenue parking lots adjacent to the CEC. Directions and
parking information is available on the New York State Museum website at
http://www.nysm.nysed.gov/information/general/muswhere.html.

This new policy for expanded access does not affect the hours of the
New York State Museum, which is open from 9:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. seven days
a week, except Thanksgiving Day, Christmas Day, and New Year's Day.
However if a major holiday (e.g. July 4th, Memorial Day, Veteran's
Day) falls directly on a Saturday, the Library and Archives will not be
open (checking their websites is advised for such holidays).

The New York State Library (http://www.nysl.nysed.gov/) has served New
Yorkers, New York State government and researchers from throughout the
United States for more than 190 years. It is the largest state library
in the nation and the only state library to qualify for membership in
the Association of Research Libraries. The Library's research
collection of more than 20 million items includes major holdings in law,
medicine, the social sciences, education, American and New York State
history and culture, the pure sciences and technology.

The New York State Archives (http://www.archives.nysed.gov/)
identifies, preserves, and makes available more than 200 million records
of colonial and state government dating back to 1630 that have enduring
value to the public and private institutions and to all the people of
the Empire State and the nation.


Best wishes,
Emily Allen

And thank you to the GeneaLib listserv and Eric Grundset of the DAR Library for bringing this to my attention.