They’re the gateway to Burnaby’s past. Decades of documents and information are housed at the City of Burnaby’s archives office at the McGill library, but recently things are starting to burst at the seams.
The archives office is coming off one of its busiest years to date, finishing or working on a handful of capital projects and dealing with more than 500 research requests from both city staff and the general public.
“We’ve been working on how to deal with what’s coming in next, what kind of records are accessed the most and essentially how we’ll handle the space shortage,” said city archivist Rebecca Pasch.
She told the NOW a recent audit of the records helped clear some space in the current location, while discussions between staff and council continue around an expansion or relocation of the archives office.
“We are not completely full at the moment, but we’re definitely getting there,” the archivist noted.
It’s the mandate of the archives that keeps this office hopping. The activity of the office in 2015 was recently highlighted in a report to the community heritage commission.
The archives is mandated to keep all records of permanent value to the city, with about 10 per cent of all records eventually making their way to the archive.
Pasch noted the bulk of the records, or about 88 per cent being stored, are city records. In 2007, the office expanded to take in records from the public, which now make up the remaining archives.
In 2015, the archive office received 516 research requests from both the public and city staff, including a record 92 in the month of March.
The record was set back in 2012, when the office received 700 research requests for the year.
As the city considers an expansion of the archives, the office is also trying to figure out how to handle all the digital files now being created within the city, with Pasch pointing out 10 per cent will become permanent archives.
Coun. Nick Volkow, a member of the heritage commission, said he understands the space pressure the archive office is facing. He believes it’s just a matter of finding the space for a new office.
“I’m a big fan of archives and heritage and libraries, that kind of stuff,” Volkow said.
The councillor also suggested residents with relevant archive material want to know when they donate it’s going to be properly looked after.
“Otherwise people will just say, ‘W hat’s the point?’” Volkow said.
