Berkeley students interested in studying water are lucky that we have on campus one of the few libraries in the country devoted to water: the nationally acclaimed Water Resources Center Archives (WRCA). Begun in 1958, WRCA’s one-of-a-kind collection is devoted to recording water development in California and throughout the arid West. Because struggles over water have shaped so much of the state’s history and landscapes, it is hard to underestimate the significance of these materials. The libraries rich holdings include technical reports from sources such as local water agencies, consultants and engineering firms; specialized newsletters; maps; videos; and an extensive photograph collection that captures the construction of California’s major water projects and much more.
The Whitney Siphon, Saugus Division, 1909, from the WRCA's Lippincott Collection
WRCA pulls together a wide array of water-related materials that are difficult to find elsewhere, let alone all in one place. Their ongoing efforts to collect and preserve water-related information have recently focused on capturing electronic data, as more reports, meeting minutes, and information appear only online. Using web archiving tools, librarians are able to save and make searchable otherwise ephemeral data from websites, for example those run by water and irrigation districts, or federal, state, and local water agencies.
For those interested in exploring further, WRCA’s collection can be accessed through both Melvyl and Oskicat. One element of this collection that Head Librarian Linda Vida suspects is underutilized by graduate students are WRCA’s archival materials, which must be searched with finding aids. Fortunately, these finding aids are now available online. WRCA also participates in the eScholarship Publishing program, which makes the full-text of scholarly publications available online for free. The recordings of the California Colloquium on Water lectures are another online resource that students may find useful. WRCA also sends one student each semester on a Water Education Foundation tour. During these 2-3 day tours, you will learn more about state water issues and meet other water professionals. Join WRCA’s mailing list to find out how to be considered for this opportunity by sending an email to waterarc@library.berkeley.edu. To keep up-to-date on the latest WRCA news you can also follow them on Facebook.
Men working with water jets, 1912 from the Lippincott Collection
Sadly, the future of the WRCA on Berkeley’s campus is in jeopardy. Although WRCA is located at Berkeley, it is funded by the Office of the President for the benefit of the UC system as a whole. In October, Dan Dooley, the Vice President of the Division of Agriculture and Natural Resources (ANR) announced that to save money ANR would seek a UC campus to adopt the library and its $230,000 annual cost. Berkeley risks losing this unique resource. This would be a serious loss to the campus community and water professionals who regularly consult WRCA in their work. WRCA is truly a public resource; a UC library card is not needed to check out or use their materials, and the library would like to maintain its liberal lending policy. For now, the library will remain open in its current location (410 O’Brien Hall) until June 30, 2010. If you’re interested in supporting WRCA’s bid to stay at Berkeley, you can send an email to Linda Vida (lvida@library.berkeley.edu) expressing your interest in helping their cause. WRCA librarians are compiling a list of people who are willing to take part in a letter writing campaign and will send out an email to the group once they’ve decided on a course of action. However things end up – and WRCA is definitely a campus resource worth fighting for – I highly recommend that you stop by WRCA, either to become acquainted with their collection or to enjoy a peaceful place to study.
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