The document discusses the Jefferson County History Center located at the Jefferson College Library. It details some of the historical materials in the collection, including probate files, census records, newspapers and maps. It describes the discovery of additional materials in poor condition stored off-site and the library's efforts to establish policies and procedures to preserve, catalog and provide access to the collection with limited staff and funding resources. It highlights some successes in partnering with other institutions and individuals to increase digitization, cataloging and research services for the materials.

1. Jefferson County History Center — The Year in Review
Lisa Pritchard, Access Services Librarian | Lisa Wolfe, Director of Library Services
Jefferson College Library
What we have
probate files dating from the 1820's
real estate and personal property taxes
from the 19th through the mid-20th
century
the federal census for Jefferson County
county newspapers from 1869-1952
local histories and maps
In July 2009, directly after starting our new
positions, a work order was delivered to the
Library announcing the future delivery of a large
amount of History Center materials. These
materials had been stored for over 20 years in
the basement of another building on campus.
The Librarians immediately toured the storage
location and discovered water damage, mold
and general disorder. Delivery was halted and
the Library staff began to formulate a plan.
History Center web page
What we need: staff, funding, time
The same thing every Library needs... The staff at Jefferson College Library consists of only 3 full-time
staff members, only two of which are Librarians. The rest of our 12 Library staff are part-time; 6
Librarians and 6 Paraprofessionals. Managing the History Center Materials are a challenge when there is
little or no staff or funding allocated for the project. Our part-time Librarians spend the majority of their
time with reference, instruction and circulation. It was discovered that Joette Klein, one of our part-time
Librarians, had experience working with historical materials and her personal interest could be useful
with our collection.
What we’ve done
Educated ourselves
Learned from other archivists & librarians, read literature about archives best practices,
subscribed to listservs and joined local archives group.
Established procedures
Protected the collection from theft and damage by developing policies and procedures, began
gathering statistics on use of the collection, conformed with best practices.

2. Maintained existing collection and space
Newly discovered off-site collection—not cataloged & in bad repair—researched restoration
techniques; documented parts of the collection; wrote guidelines and prepared a proposal to try
to restore this, collection, even incrementally, purchased new shelving.
Used local resources to establish procedures and increase access
Spoke with local librarians, out of state colleagues, Missouri History Museum staff; college IT
employee wrote a local history article and partnered with our county historical society to make
it available online - he used an historical map from our collection and Google Earth to create
interactive map available online discovered; enlisted one of our history professors and the IT
employee to help form a campus committee to help preserve the newly discovered materials.
Used available resources to increase access and awareness
Partnered with Missouri History Museum for small digitization project involving civil war
documents; discovered the capability of one of our library partners (MLNC)to catalog discrete
portions of our collection; local genealogist and amateur historian agreed to do research
projects and file copying for out-of-area patrons—this provides a much needed service to those
who cannot travel to our library; updated History Center web page; IT person repaired index file;
investigated exchanging links and information with local historical society.
Looking forward
start small but think long term
concentrate on one small thing you can do to increase access
learn about opportunities for grants and partnerships
begin to advocate, build support
Damaged materials in Land Assessment books
storage location from the 1930s
Probate file from the
collection

3. Jefferson County History Center Policies
Located on the second floor of the Jefferson College Library in Hillsboro,
the Jefferson County History Center serves as an archive for Jefferson
County. The Jefferson County History Center is available by appointment
only by calling Joette Klein at 636-942-3000, ext. 166 or Barb Liebman at
636-942-3000, ext. 171.
Rules and Regulations
1. ALL patrons must sign in
2. All backpacks, briefcases, purses, coats, etc. must be kept away from the
research table
3. No pens allowed --- pencils only
4. No flash cameras or video recorders are allowed
5. No food or drink, including bottled water allowed
6. History Center materials may not be checked out
7. No more than 3 folders or books will be pulled at one time
8. Staff reserves the right to retrieve information as time allows
9. Photocopying is allowed at $.10/copy. All items must be handled with care
and staff reserves the right to not allow copying if condition of the material
is deemed too fragile
10. Researcher will assume full responsibility for conforming to the laws of
copyright

4. Jefferson County History Center Sign In
Newspaper Marriage Deed Family/people Books Misc. Staff
DATE Probate Wills MF MF MF Histories initials
Rules and Regulations
1. ALL patrons must sign in
2. All backpacks, briefcases, purses, coats, etc. must be kept away from the research table
3. No pens allowed --- pencils only
4. No flash cameras or video recorders are allowed
5. No food or drink, including bottled water allowed
6. History Center materials may not be checked out
7. No more than 3 folders or books will be pulled at one time
8. Staff reserves the right to retrieve information as time allows
9. Photocopying is allowed at $.10/copy. All items must be handled with care and staff reserves the right to
not allow copying if condition of the material is deemed too fragile
10. Researcher will assume full responsibility for conforming to the laws of copyright
I agree to the above rules and regulations:
Signature:________________________________ Date:________/_____/_______
Printed Name_______________________________________________________

5. Jefferson County History Center
2009 Statistics
Family/People
Probate Wills Newspapers Marriage Deeds Histories Books Misc. Total
September 2009 21 21
October 2009 5 2 2 4 13
November 2009 1 1
December 2009 6 3 9
January 2010 3 1 6 10
February 2010 14 5 1 20
March 2010 2 9 3 14
April 2010 9 7 1 17
May 2010 6 6
June 2010 10 1 11
Total 76 2 0 0 0 10 19 15 122
Probate File Index 
 Map from our
collection on Google
Earth, thanks to John
Linhorst, Computer
Support Specialist at
Jefferson College