Today’s guest blog post comes from Rick Blondo, management and program analyst involved with NARA building projects.
A new Microfilm Research Room is scheduled to open on Monday, May 21, 2012, in the Robert M. Warner Research Center in the National Archives Building, Washington, DC. It will house 27 researcher carrels, 5 public use computers (and printer), custom millwork bookcases, and a custom millwork staff control desk at the entrance to the room. From the old room will come microfilm and microfiche cabinets, map cases, DVD spinners, and more than 150,000 microfilm reels. While systems furniture panels and work surfaces that form the carrels will be reused from the old room, the fabric and trim will be new.
The look of the room will be similar to the new Finding Aids/Consultation Room, with its oak millwork and cork floor. Ceiling lights can be dimmed, and wall washer lights are situated where microfilm cabinets line the walls.
Work to create the new room is taking place overnight and behind construction barrier walls. Relocation of the cabinets, film, and equipment from the old room to the new room will occur after research hours on Saturday, May 19, and continue non-stop into Sunday, May 20. If all goes as planned, the new room will open on Monday, May 21.