Davenport Library moving Special Collections upstairs; staff outline digitization projects, new shelving and community partnerships

Davenport City — Catherine Buena, special collections supervisor for the Davenport Public Library, told the board June 17 that Special Collections staff are moving offices to the library’s second floor and will begin relocating portions of the collections next week as part of a phased move to improve public access and storage.

Buena said the department is moving office spaces first and then collections: "So right now, we're moving most of our office spaces up, right now, and then, next week, we'll be starting to move our collections," she said. The move will not place all materials on the second floor; large items and map cases will remain in secure compact shelving in the department’s current closed-stack area.

Why it matters: The realignment is intended to create better public access to special collections materials, expand storage using compact shelving, and to support digitization and preservation projects that make local-history materials available online.

What trustees heard

Buena described staffing and daily functions: the department has four full-time staff members including Buena as special collections supervisor, Katie Reinhart as special collections librarian, Amy Driscoll as special collections archivist (who also assists the city with records retention and FOIA requests), and principal clerk Christina Hamador Perez. Buena said the department answers intensive reference and genealogical queries, conducts outreach, catalogs and describes archival materials, and runs a digitization effort.

Buena outlined current and planned projects:

- Digitization and online access: the library places many images on the Upper Mississippi Valley Digital Image Archive; Buena said the library is "always trying to make things more accessible" and highlighted the Special Collections Indexes site the library launched with IT support to unify 45 index collections and provide a simple search across them.

- HRDP grant for local music preservation: the department completed a Historical Resource Development Program (HRDP) grant project to preserve recordings from the Front Row recording studio (historic local recordings) and is finishing the final report for that project.

- Newspaper and microfilm digitization: the library purchased a Davenport Daily Gazette volume (1863) and coordinated microfilm digitization with Advantage Archives; staff said some microfilm reels are showing chemical degradation and digitization is planned to preserve access.

- Outreach and events: Buena described the Quad City Archives Fair (October 18) and other community partnerships with the Scott County Historic Preservation Society, Scott County Iowa Genealogical Society, Quad City Arts and the Downtown Davenport Partnership.

Staff and facilities

Buena said the department will receive compact shelving acquired from another institution to expand storage capacity. Technical services will move into staff space vacated by Special Collections, and staff encouraged trustees and other board members to request tours of the new space after the move. The department’s grand opening may be scheduled for late summer or early fall, Buena said.

Usage and access

Buena provided usage figures for the department’s online and in-person services: since June 2021 the department recorded more than 9,000 visits, with about 900 visits in the most recent year; Upper Mississippi Valley digital-image traffic is high, and Special Collections indexes and ArchivesSpace catalog entries have seen increased use. Several items in the collection—recordings and unique newspapers—remain available only in-library because of copyright or format concerns.

Trustee and staff names cited

The board packet and Buena’s presentation named staff members and partners: Katie Reinhart (special collections librarian), Amy Driscoll (special collections archivist), Christina Hamador Perez (principal clerk), Meredith Willett (head of technical services), Quad City Arts, Downtown Davenport Partnership, Advantage Archives, and the State Historical Society of Iowa (HRDP program).

Closing and next steps

Buena invited trustees to schedule personalized tours and encouraged trustees to refer potential donors with Davenport- or Scott County–related materials to Special Collections for evaluation. The department will continue digitization and outreach work and return to the board with any items requiring trustee action (for example, collection-development purchases or significant conservation projects).

Quote

"We are always trying to make things more accessible in our collection," Buena said, summarizing the department’s digitization priorities.

Notes

- Buena said some recordings from the Front Row/Front-Row studio are not yet available online because of copyright considerations; staff are finalizing grant work and digitization priorities.

- The special-collections move is phased: offices first, then selected collections; very large or fragile items will remain in secure closed-stack storage with staff retrieval procedures.