“All of this will improve the rate at which records are processed, arranged and described, and made available to the public, adding to the deep well of information they can draw on,” said Fells. Records processing and digitization stations will be set up in the receiving room for pre-processing, while staff work areas will be optimized to speed up records processing. The reference desk will be located closer to the closed stacks where records are held, and there will be a larger public washroom.Ĭhanges to the layout of the work room, offices and receiving room will streamline the flow of records through the archival records processing pipeline. The reading room will be made more welcoming and user-friendly by adding self-serve reference and microfilm libraries, a small room for reference interviews and privacy, and secure storage for researcher belongings.

The reading room is where researchers spend their time, while the work room, offices and receiving room are where staff perform their duties, including: receiving, appraising, arranging and describing, digitizing, microfilming and otherwise preserving records before they are made available to the public. The renovation will include the reading room, work room and offices, and receiving room. The project aims to improve the overall public experience at Simcoe County Archives, including enhanced barrier-free access, the creation of a safe and secure space for researchers and collections, updating aged and deteriorating finishes and streamlining workflows in staff areas to facilitate records processing and digitization. Phase two will take place this fall into early next year. Phase one of two design phases has been completed. No renovations have yet taken place, as they are still in the design phase.

There have been 156 visits to the archive so far this year, and the forecast is for 267 visits by year’s end. “There are many reasons people visit the ,” said Matthew Fells, the county’s archivist, “but the three most common are, in no particular order, almost always genealogy and family history, property research and local history.” Its aim is to improve accessibility, as well as the overall public experience there, and increase the efficiency of collection work processes. The financial strategy for the multi-phase, $1.63-million renovation project was endorsed by Simcoe County council earlier this week.įunding was approved in the county’s 2022 budget, a long-term plan for a project to renovate the public facing area of the Minesing facility. Simcoe County Archives, of all places, is being updated.

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