The demand from patrons for village and library historical materials has demanded a consolidation of resources in both microfilm and stored original forms. It is the intent of the Library to continue this process of consolidation with other materials in the future, once its groundwork has been financially established. In fact, this endeavor is called a "Project" since it will be continued in the coming years.

The Society will provide a working area for helpers for the summer season. Over 40 volunteers work each summer to carry out activities of the Society including docent tours. Part of the historian's and the major library liaison's salaried time will be provided by the Society.

The Director will act as Project Manager and work at least a half day per week at this project. The Administrative Assistant, for whom an additional day per week is being requested, can not guarantee having any time to give to the project during her regular two-day stint. It is hoped that an extra one or two volunteers can be recruited who can help occasionally on this project. Present volunteers have specific responsibilities which already keep them busy. Donations of these fine collections at this time was not anticipated; we have been caught unprepared so far as staff time an budget needs demand.

The Head Archivist will devote 12 percent of her time to the project; 15 percent of the Assistant Archivist's time will be contributed. (See Budget, p.9 and description of activities under Plan of Work). The staff will perform all processing involved in the project, including cleaning before shipment to the vendor, and reboxing and revoldering original materials after their return.

As Project Director, the Curator of Collections will spend 5 percent of his normal working hours supervising this project as described in the plan of work (IV.B).

The Town has provided the manpower and materials to renovate the facilities for the historical collection. They also maintain the building, provide heat, lights and show a lot of interest in this program. There is a $1,400 budget for historical expenses plus the volunteer time of the Historian and her staff. These costs are significant if the taxpayers had to pay for this service.

I do not see any item in the budget from which we can take cash to contribute toward costs of this project.

The Archives will provide supplies and other special needs which at this time can not be foreseen. Due to the limited nature of our staffing and budget, we will only be able to contribute in-kind expenses to the project. The Executive Director will be made available to pursue other sources of funding for this project once the grant is approved. Local businesses and individuals have already expressed interest in the project and may well be interested in helping to fund it. At this time it is difficult to estimate the amount of local funding which could be obtained for the project.

The Center's financial contribution to this project will cover all incidental expenses beyond the partial salary of a part-time archivist. These costs include telephone calls to the Media Resource Service Center (long distance) and to the vendors chosen by MRSC, photocopying, postage, and all supplies used by the project team.

The Center currently pays for storage of archival negatives in an environmentally controlled "vital media unit" at a commercial facility. At least two more media boxes will be rented for the microfilms resulting from the project. The Center will also fully fund the purchase of a new microform reader/printer to replace an older, wet copy model. The head Archivist is currently investigating available equipment and surveying neighboring facilities to determine which machine will best meet our needs. This equipment will cost approximately $5,000. Funds are provided to purchase archival quality boxes, folders and Permalife paper for use in photoduplication - approximately $1,000 was spent last year. The Archives also uses funds from its general budget to make archival negatives, and prints of fragile photographs required by researchers.

The Historical Society will contribute $1,918 of the total $4,796 for the project, or 39 percent of the total budget. The Society will pay from its own operating budget for the Project Director's (Curator of Collection) salary and benefits, the "use" copies of the printed material, the film and processing for the photographs of the artifacts from the collection, and miscellaneous expenses of telephone and postage. The time that the collection management consultant will be spending on this project to photograph the 76 artifacts will be paid to the Society from NYSCA collection management project award.

Last modified on January 20, 2000/djr
For questions or comments contact Barbara Lilley
URL: http://www.nysl.nysed.gov/libdev/cp/instcont.htm