LSU Shreveport archives in desperate need of repairs

Nearby, a bright floral-patterned plastic table cloth drapes over the head archivist's computer to prevent damage to files from leaking storm water.

The archives currently resides on the third floor of the new Noel Memorial Library — which makes it a prime target for water damage caused by leaks from storms, said head archivist Laura McLemore.

The university also has spent more than $45,000 on the roof this past fall and has a $1.4 million emergency capital outlay project request in with the state to replace the archives roof and also parts of the Health and Physical Education building on campus.

The mission of LSUS Archives and Special Collections is to "collect and preserve and make accessible the history of Northwest Louisiana and the Red River Region" and to provide "orderly retention and disposition of all university records," according to Library Associate for Archives and Special Collections Domenica Carriere.

The LSUS Archives and Special Collections contains of 1,100 individual collections, 800 maps, 200 oral histories, more than 1.5 million photographs and 23,000 linear feet of records and manuscripts that document the history and culture of the Shreveport area, northwest Louisiana, and the Ark-La-Tex region.

McLemore said it would cost thousands of dollars to move the archives from its current location, so the staff places valuable documents in plastic sheet protectors, covers computer storage files with plastic tablecloths and catches rainwater in various trash receptacles.

McLemore's endowed professorship through William Wiener, Jr.— which amounts to about $4,000 a year— and the archive development fund, which comes from revenue the library engenders by charging customers for services such as copying.

McLemore added that some of the archive's most valuable documents include architectural drawings, which are used by homeowners and developers wishing to renovate historic homes and buildings.