With the start of a new school year (even during a pandemic), we frequently hear: “So, I have a question for Special Collections & Archives, who should I contact first?”

The first, best place to start is archives@wfu.edu, your go-to for anything e-mail and for referring reference questions, faculty requesting instruction for classes, or donations. Messages sent to this email go to Finley, Megan, Rebecca, and Tanya, so we can make sure something is handled even if one of us is out of the office. Rebecca has recently updated our reference procedures–please note, we are not hosting any on-site reference requests for external researchers, but we will schedule appointments for WF students and faculty as best we can.

The SCA Team is staggering our time in the office, and ZSR time is marked on all of our calendars. Each Team member still has an area in which they focus their attention, although we all multitask. Stephanie Bennett (Collections Archivist) processes collections (including born-digital), supervises students working with collections, and oversees the creation of collection finding aids, which are then made available online. Ashelee Gerald Hill (Processing Archivist) is responsible for our collections accessions (keeping track of all the material incoming to SCA) and is currently reviewing a large transfer from Athletics. Craig Fansler (Preservation Librarian) continues to create boxes for rare books and completes minor repairs on both SCA and General Collection materials. Rebecca Petersen May (Public Services Archivist) coordinates our introductory instruction efforts (including Lib100), answers reference questions, and coordinates the reference/chat desk. Megan Mulder (Special Collections Librarian) does in-depth instruction and works closely with faculty to integrate our rare books into their curriculum, and creates original catalog records. Beth Tedford (Cataloging Assistant) continues to review catalog records after the Alma migration and also creates copy catalog records for SCA materials. Finley Turner (Archives Assistant) is helping research many of our reference questions, compiles research resources, and oversees the History Timeline. Melde Rutledge (Digital Services Librarian) oversees reproduction requests from our patrons and coordinates the many SCA digitization projects. In addition to managing the department, Tanya Zanish-Belcher (Director) interacts with on-campus and external donors about collection donations or transfers and develops outreach events and projects with campus and external partners. Finally, we could not do everything we do without our student assistants who continue to create metadata, assist with reference chat, or do research projects.

Please refer on-site visitors with questions to the SCA website or archives@wfu.edu. We will also keep you posted on our upcoming fall 2020 online events and hope to “see” you soon!