New Archives and Special Collections Home Page Offers More Resources for Teaching, Learning, and Research

A new and improved home page for the Ball State University Libraries’ Archives and Special Collections now provides more information and resources for students, faculty, and researchers. Archivists Philip J. Deloria and Maren L. Read developed the webpages.

New Features
The new home page includes many new features. Archives and Special Collections is now featuring an Ask an Archivist service similar to the Ask a Librarian service offered from the University Libraries home page. The home page features a button at the bottom of the page that links to information about how to ask an archivist a reference question by email, phone, or in person.
The home page also features a New and Notable banner to create awareness about current exhibits, news stories, and upcoming events. Currently it is featuring the Bernarr MacFadden Physical Culture Exhibit, the upcoming Digitizing Oral History Conference, the archives blog, and news stories featuring Archives and Special Collections.
The new Homepage also takes advantage of features like a rollover menu and images that rotate upon refresh. All images on the page, including those in the banner at the bottom of the screen, link directly to the Digital Media Repository collections from which they are drawn.

New Content
The new homepage links to new secondary pages presenting information grouped according to the following categories: About Us, Collection Areas, Digital Collections, Conducting Research, Services and Forms, and Donating Materials.
The Digital Collections page, the Conducting Research page, and the Instructional Sessions and Tours page offer new avenues for students and faculty to access information as well as new content to facilitate the reader’s interaction with the Archives and Special Collections in more meaningful ways.
A new Alumni Portal is under development. It will provide access to resources of particular interest to alumni wishing to revisit their days at Ball State.
Visit the new home page either directly at www.bsu.edu/libraries/archives/index.html or navigate to it from the University Libraries home page by clicking on the About button, then on the link to Archives and Special Collections in the Collections category. I invite your comments and suggestions.
For more information, contact Philip James Deloria, Assistant Archivist for Digital Projects and University Records, PJDeloria@bsu.edu, (765) 285-5078.