Historical Society Director Richard Hughes (second from the right) and members follow Amanda Hill’s lead into the new reading and research room on the second floor of the Belleville Public Library on January 22, 2016. Note the stained glass window depicting a floor-to-ceiling William Shakespeare on the wall at the end of the line. It was brought over from the former Corby Public Library, where it had once stood watch over patrons in the Reference Department for a number of years. (Photo by Orland French)
Members are impressed with the spaciousness and lighting of the newly-constructed room. Amanda Hill (second from the left) explains where furniture and other equipment which will be used by the public performing research, are going to be located. (Photo by Orland French)
Outlook newsletter editor Donna Fano tries out one of the new mobile rolling shelves, that will faciliate the retrieval of materials by the archivist for members of the public who request certain documents and materials from the back storage area. The documents and related materials will be housed in special archival quality acid-free containers, with the ideal temperature in the room regulated to approximately 19-20 degrees Celsius (68 degrees Fahrenheit) and the relative humidity 40-45% to avoid fluctuations in the surrounding environ. The amount of light where the materials will be housed will be monitored as well. (Photo by Orland French)
One of a number of floor to ceiling mobile shelving units that will soon be home to well over a hundred years worth of city council minutes, family histories, newspaper articles, land deeds, photographs, and fonds, etc., collected and preseved from the second largest county in all of Ontario: Hastings County. A grand opening is scheduled for sometime in mid-April 2016. (Photo by Orland French)
