Ball State University Libraries’ Archives Create Web Pages to Showcase Digital Resources and Services for Alumni

Are you a member of the alumni community who would like to revisit your time spent as a student at Ball State University? Would you like to browse photographs, videos, and documents that recall some of your campus days?

To provide additional library services to our alumni community, the University Libraries’ Archives and Special Collections created an alumni home page as part of its Web site. Browsing these pages, alumni can view the extensive resources that the University Archives maintain to document the history of the university and the lives of the university community members. These new alumni pages can be reached at www.bsu.edu/libraries/archives/alumni.html.

Digital Resources
The new alumni pages present easy access to digital collections likely to be of interest to former Ball State students. Many of these resources are made available through Ball State University’s Digital Media Repository, a project of the University Libraries.

The Ball State Campus Photograph Collection, commencement videos, and materials documenting significant campus events, such as Robert F. Kennedy’s 1968 Ball State visit, may be of particular interest to alumni.

The site features direct links to Web-based exhibits, such as those that feature Beneficence (also known as Benny), student life, past University presidents, the College of Architecture and Planning, and the Alexander M. Bracken Library.

The E-Archives is a collection of Ball State University electronic publications, meeting minutes, and other recent documents. Alumni can visit the E-Archives to read the President’s Perspective, view the University’s Strategic Plan, or browse departmental newsletters. The University Archives’ FAQ page is where alumni can learn about University history using timelines that highlight notable events, the erection of Ball State buildings, and more.

Future Digital Resources
The University Libraries are in the process of digitizing more materials. We have copies of the student newspaper dating back to 1922 and yearbooks spanning the period between 1913 and 1996. Look for these materials to become accessible online in the future. Additionally, the Campus Photographs Collection, which currently contains primarily documents from the 1960s and 1970s, will be expanded with additional documents, including photographs from subsequent decades.

On-Site Resources and Services
The site also showcases the University Archives’ physical collections. Physical materials that will be of interest to alumni include yearbooks, Ball State directories (also known as the B-Book), student newspapers, course catalogs, faculty papers, photographic prints and negatives, and the records of some student organizations. The University Archives’ personnel are available to assist persons between the hours of 8 a.m. through 8 p.m. Monday and Tuesday, and from 8 a.m. until 6 p.m. Wednesday through Friday. Alumni may also contact us with reference questions concerning University history or the use of our resources.

If a member of the alumni community needs course descriptions from the course catalogs to support transfer of credits to another institution, they can be requested via telephone, 765-285-5078, or email, libarchives@bsu.edu.