Undergraduate researchers have run into a problem in recent weeks.
The online database Hillsdale College’s Mossey Library used is no longer accessible while the files are transferred and updated into the new platform that is accessible through the url, digitalarchives.hillsdale.edu.
The library is in the process of transferring its online archive to a new system, forcing researchers to contact Library Archivist Lori Curtis for access to the complete collection, though three pages of archives are currently accessible.
“I have been working on that. In order to make the materials full-text searchable, I had to reformat, resize, so it’s been slow-going,” Curtis said. “But I am slowly getting them over.”
The decision was made last spring as the college sought to tighten its budgets across all departments. The archive department decided to move its online archive to the platform Content DM, which is hosted by the Online Computer Library Center, a non-profit co-op that hosts the online catalogue WorldCat.
“It should be really great,” Curtis said.
Several departments rely on the archive service. The President’s Office, Alumni Relations, and Institutional Advancement use the archives to look up past Hillsdale publications, find information about past students, and use old pictures.
That interest extends beyond campus as well. Curtis said children of recently-deceased alumni putting together a memorial for their parents often come to the Alumni Relations Office to find old mementos.
“They’re working on a memorial for someone and want all the Collegian articles that mentioned that individual while they were a student here,” she said.
Additionally, students in Museum Studies use the archives to put together research projects.
Curtis said she recently helped find information about the Civil War statue ahead of the Legacy Board’s announcement of the 2021 senior gift to restore the memorial.
“The ability to look back on the lives of past generations of Hillsdale College students provides perspective on how the mission of Hillsdale has been maintained and emulated by their actions,” Assistant Director of the Student and Young Alumni Programs Fiona Shea said in an email. “The Class of 2021 is restoring the Civil War Monument, which honors a generation that fought hard for freedom. We are lucky to have information on what life was like for them during that time, and it’s encouraging to know that the same core values that moved them to action during the Civil War are still being taught today.”
Curtis said she hopes the changes will help in encouraging more departments and students on campus to use the archives in their research.
“As the word gets out that there’s information, lots of great stuff in archives, and more and more of it available digitally, I think we’ll see more departments using it,” Curtis said.
While the interruption has taken the old system offline, Curtis says the archives are still accessible.
“I’ve been telling various departments that if anybody needs to research maybe a particular year of the Collegian, or anything else, just let me know and I can usually have them uploaded within a day,” she said.