Pikes Peak Library District - Special Collections General Preservation Assessment

FAIN: PG-266688-19

Pikes Peak Library District Foundation, Inc. (Colorado Springs, CO 80903-1694)
Tim Morris (Project Director: January 2019 to December 2022)

A comprehensive preservation assessment of the library’s special collections to establish baseline measurements for environmental monitoring and collections assessment, as well as to develop security and disaster plans. The Pikes Peak Library special collections, comprising over 50,000 cataloged titles and a substantial backlog of uncatalogued material, document the history of Colorado Springs and the surrounding area. Highlights include oral histories collected after the 2012 Waldo Canyon fire as well as mineral maps and bank records from the nineteenth-century mining town of Cripple Creek, Colorado, where the “unsinkable” Molly Brown made her fortune. The completed assessment would guide prioritization of future workflow and growth for the library’s special collections.

Pikes Peak Library District, a 14 branch library system serving El Paso County, Colorado, will conduct a general preservation assessment of the institution’s Special Collections. A 1905 Carnegie library, restored in 2001, houses the collection. The comprehensive collection documents the history of Colorado Springs and the surrounding region, from the exploration era to the recent massive population and economic growth. An independent consultant, Northeast Document Conservation Center, will administer an assessment to establish a realistic baseline for stewarding and protecting our significant community assets. The assessment will include evaluation of the building and environment, fire protection and emergency preparedness, preservation related policies and procedures, and general care for paper, photography, and digital collections. After completion, the recommendations will inform and guide organizational decisions on prioritizing staffing, projects, and capital purchases.