De-archiving

This week has been fun! It started on Monday when the library I'm working in had a delivery of over 100 archive boxes, partly due to the regular process of review and partly due to the recent acquisition of the contents of another library that needed to be amalgamated within the existing system.
Anyway, we had all these boxes piled in tottering heaps due to their age and battered condition.

After a careful review of the records - there was a certain degree of speculation as to the real contents of “Box 13”, for example - it was decided that with few exceptions, the contents of most of the boxes could be safely de-archived.

When I started my library course I must admit that I held books and records to be among those things that should be preserved. One does not bend fold or mutilate the spine of a book; one does not dog-ear the corners to mark ones place, that is what book marks are for; one always approaches books with hands cleansed of soil or garlic or paint, unless it is a book on those topics that one owns - books owned by others are treated as prized relics! I recall my discomfort when first confronted with the complete life cycle of a book in the total information process. It was comforting to know that most of my fellow students also felt that way too.
But out in the Real World where the cost of unused or physically stored information is high, keeping stuff "for ever" is really too expensive. So a rubbish skip was ordered, and then the fun began!

It wasn't too hot on Tuesday or Wednesday (we will not discuss Thursday, but I sincerely pray that our very hot days this summer are dry ones!) so it was not too bad doing the repetitive lifting. What was really killing was the stairs! So there we are, the Librarian and I, hoicking and humping these boxes of ex-archives up the stairs at one end, along the scaffolding and down the stairs at the other so we can toss what is being de-archived into the skip (the building is undergoing refurbishment, hence lots of interesting and stair-full ways of getting between places at the moment).
After a couple of hours and the pile not getting appreciably smaller, I think we started getting a bit punch-drunk as we suddenly discovered what the mysterious “box thirteen” contents were . . . Another 65 copies of the same ten-year old annual report! During the very necessary tea break we took at that point, it was decided to offer some “fun” to other members of staff.
“We have all these old microfilm we can't read, everyone can streamer them into the skip!” quothed one guilty party.
“Like this?” as another, gripping the end of the film, rolled the old reel the length of the library.
“You can't do that!” I cried, aghast. But we did!

A little while later one of the other staff members wandered down to the library, intrigued by the invitation to ‘have fun’ with the disposal of some small boxes. They were shown what to do in order to have fun disposing of the old microfilm into the skip and exited with a grin on their face and a twinkle in their eye.
Moments later there was a chortle from outside the library, so we stuck our heads round the door to see the staff member streamer the microfilm, not into the skip but across the car park with a whoop of glee!

Don’t ask me how, but we managed to clear the library of all the contents of the old archive boxes, retaining just enough for propriety (and legality’s) sake. But it was fun, even if my legs felt if they were going to drop off by Wednesday evening.

I’m having far too much fun for this to be legal! * chuckles at self again *