Yesterday I took a trip to the Elmer L. Andersen library at the University of Minnesota - West Bank. We toured the library storage and the GLBT selection. The special archives storage is below ground - way below ground. We were so below ground that the bottom of the Mississippi river bed was above us. The climate down there is cool (cold) and dry - conducive to storing old books, papers, art work, and other archive materials. The materials are stored in huge rooms lined with concrete. They have floor to ceiling shelves loaded with materials in boxes. The rooms are so large that 8 semi trucks can unload at a single time. The semi trucks come in at the east side of the river and travel down a quarter of a mile to unload. Every item is treated to eliminate mold, bacteria, bugs, bug eggs, bookworms, etc. All folders and boxes are replaced with acid free materials. They have a huge GLBT selection of books, newspaper articles, movies, tapes, posters, artwork, buttons, matchbooks and almost any other thing you can name. They have materials in 82 languages. Some of the GLBT community who live in oppressive countries send their materials to this library so it can be preserved. I don't know much about the GLBT community but my eyes were opened yesterday. I highly recommend this place.
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