Well, it doesn't take a flood to endanger some collections...

Archivists Round Table of Metropolitan New York
P. O. Box 151
New York, NY 10274-0151
www.nycarchivists.org

August 28, 2002

CLOSING OF THE TEACHERS COLLEGE SPECIAL COLLECTIONS DEPARTMENT

The members and board of the Archivists Round Table of Metropolitan
New York are writing to express our extreme concern over the
closing of Special Collections at Teachers College and laying off
its four professional staff members. The decision, apparently
announced to the library staff on Monday, August 26th without any
advanced warning or discussion, did not stipulate the fate of the
exceptional and unique archival holdings of this institution.

Teachers College Special Collections
(http://lweb.tc.columbia.edu/cs/sc/index.html) is one of the
premier collections relating to the history of education in the
US. Besides the archives of Teachers College (2000 cubic feet)
dating back to 1887, 1,600 cubic feet of manuscripts and about
200,000 volumes, the Special Collections also houses the archives
of the NYC Board of Education including 1,500 feet of records and
70,000 photographs. The repository holds a singular collection of
education-related rare books. The Special Collections department
serves as an essential repository for advanced study in the fields
of education, psychology, and the health sciences and is widely
used by scholars, teachers, media and the general public.

We are concerned that this precipitous action goes against the
professional norms that Teachers College professes to uphold. For a
century Teachers College has taken on a duty to care for the
collections in its custody, but is now taking action, which
violates that public trust. We firmly believe that the decision of
Teachers College officials to close this important department, thus
leaving its holdings without the adequate supervision, conflicts
with their basic responsibility for the safety of archival
materials owned by the college. We are especially concerned that
this decision appears to have been taken in an institutional
vacuum, without considering the needs of a broader research
community. Moreover, the college officials have not proposed any
means of ensuring that the collections will remain accessible to
researchers, expecting to use the materials. We are also concerned
about the public's access to the records of the Board of Education,
a government agency that is subject to the Freedom of Information
Law. These valuable collections cannot be left to untrained staff
and an uncertain future.

As the professional society representing New York City area
archivists, librarians and manuscript curators, we urge Teachers
College officials to rescind their decision to close the department
and reinstate staff members, pending a thorough review. In
addition, we offer our assistance in exploring options that would
result in safeguarding and preservation of this irreplaceable
educational collection.

If you share our concerns and would like to express your opinion to
the Teachers College administration, you can write to the following
Teachers College officials:
Patricia M. Cloherty and Antonia M. Grumbach, Co-Chairs of the
Board of Trustees,
Dr. Arthur Levine, President,
525 West 120th St., New York, NY 10027
http://www.tc.columbia.edu

Officers, Board and Members of the
Archivists Round Table of Metro New York, Inc