Water archive finds a new home in SoCal

The UC Water Resources Center Archives will be moved from UC Berkeley to a new home at UC Riverside and California State University, San Bernardino, the Contra Costa Times reported yesterday.

The archive - which contains technical reports, speeches, photographs and other historical materials - is considered the West's premier collection of historical materials about water development. As a way to reduce expenses, the UC Division of Agriculture and Natural Resources sought proposals to relocate the collection.

Transfer of the materials will begin in the fall, said the article, written by Mike Taugher.

"We have a strong interest in preserving and digitizing the collection for the future . . . to ensure the widest research access to all of the archive's contents," the story quoted UC Riverside librarian Ruth Jackson.

Taugher also sought comment from Linda Vida, who has served as the archive librarian and director for more than 17 years.

"I think it's sad that we're going to be leaving Berkeley after 51 years, but I look forward to the water archive continuing to serve UC and the California water community from the Riverside campus," Vida was quoted.

A UC Riverside news release said both UCR and CSUSB have strong water-resource centers already in place. UCR is home to the Water Science and Policy Center and CSUSB houses the Water Resources Institute.

“Water is the lifeblood of this state, and it’s vital that all students of water issues and decisionmakers have access to this material,” UCR chancellor Timothy P. White was quoted in the release.

"This collaboration between UCR and CSUSB will serve all campuses of our two systems, as well as the public,” the release quoted Albert Karnig, president of CSUSB.

UC ANR vice president Dan Dooley praised the collaborative effort with the California State University system reflected in the relocation proposal.

“This is an outstanding proposal and the review committee and I strongly support UCR as the new home for the archives," Dooley said in an announcement.

Links to the three proposals that were submitted for the water archive are available online.

Also, the Riverside Press-Enterprise and Water Tech Online published brief announcements about the archive's move.

A historic flood photo from the collection.

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