And bibliographic access now exists for most material. But a great deal remains to do. Hours when the Paine Room is open are few and usage is low. The Archive continues to be seen in some quarters as a dumping ground for old stuff. A collection development policy remains unwritten.
Archive acquisitions are only slightly better than haphazard.
I intercept printed newsletters and organization meeting minutes, and create print copies of much e-mail material. But much material still arrives unannounced in boxes labeled Archives when a faculty member or administrator dies or retires. And very few of the files one would expect to find in an archive ever make it to the Paine Room. The University has no records management program by which working files are transferred on an established schedule to the Archive for storage and preservation. And judging by other institutions experience, it is easier to get such a program officially approved than to get it followed in practice by records-creating offices.