A new Washington state regional archives building, which had been planned at the Riverpoint Higher Education Park just east of downtown Spokane, now likely will be built at Eastern Washington Universitys Cheney campus on about five acres near the universitys football practice fields.


Changes also have been made to the plans for what will be stored in the proposed two-story structure. The first floor will house important paper documents, as planned all along, but the second floor now is being eyed as Washington states first electronic data center.


This building will house the mother lode of electronic data records, says Philip Coombs, Washingtons state archivist with the Division of Archives and Records Management at the Secretary of States office in Olympia. The division oversees the states various regional archives facilities, including the Eastern Region Archive, which currently is located in cramped space in EWUs athletic building on the Cheney campus.


In (other states) where these types of electronic data centers have been opened, they have become magnets for researchers, academic leaders, and industry research-and-development types, Coombs says. We believe (the new archives building) will prove to be a real strong magnet for conventions and exchanges about the best way to handle records over the long haul, and how to organize information so that its searchable and usable.


The Division of Archives and Records Management plans to receive electronic files at the data center from various state and local government agencies, then index the information so it can be accessed and searched via the Internet.


Theres history and policy data out there thats vital, but the problem is, it exists in thousands of different locations, Coombs says. Our hope is that well be able to centralize that information and provide a one-stop shop for research and retrieval.


Coombs says the Secretary of States office expects to seek $15 million from the Washington Legislature in the 2001-2003 biennium budget. If those funds are appropriated, they would be used to cover the cost of construction and the purchase of equipment and furnishings for the building.


In 1998, the archives division had hoped to ask the Legislature for between $11 million and $13 million to build, equip, and furnish a regional archives building at the Riverpoint Higher Education Park, but the item was struck from the governors budget and never made it through the Legislature, Coombs says.


This time Coombs is more confident.


Resources are definitely tight, but I think there are enough people out there who are not willing to jeopardize the states ability to retain these government records, Coombs says. People have recognized the need for this building. If were going to have government programs that are leaning more and more on electronic records, we have to have a way to store and organize that data.


An evolution of plans


When the proposed new archives building first was designed in 1996, plans originally called for construction of a single-story structure with only about 23,000 square feet of floor space. Washington State University paid to have the building redesigned in 1998, Coombs says. At that point, he says, a second floor was added to the planned building, and the structures size increased to 47,000 square feet of space. WSU planned to use the second floor to consolidate its Cooperative Academic Library Services, which serve WSU and EWU students who attend classes at the Riverpoint campus and faculty members who teach them.


The archives building was slated to be erected on a one-acre site on the south side of Trent Avenue, just to the west of the former F.O. Berg Co. building, which now houses a bookstore for Riverpoint students. The one-acre site now is vacant, but once had housed The Nut Factory, which moved to a new Spokane Valley location last year.


Coombs says that WSU since has withdrawn its offer to locate the archives building (at the Riverpoint Higher Education Park.) He says its his understanding that the university now has other plans for the land on the south side of Trent.


When negotiations with WSU seemed to stall, Coombs says EWU President Stephen Jordan offered to lease land at the Cheney campus to the archives division for a nominal price. As currently planned, about 10,000 square feet of floor space in the new archives building would be set aside for EWU to use for academic purposes.


Jordan says EWU is considering a couple of different uses for that space, but its premature to discuss such plans.


EWU sees several benefits to locating the archives building at the Cheney campus, Jordan says. For example, the electronic data center would tie in well with the universitys computer science program. A faculty member in that department already has been discussing with the archives division what types of software would be needed to operate the center, he says. Jordan also would expect the data center to provide internships for EWU computer-science students.


Additionally, EWU has been looking at the feasibility of developing a center that focuses on Inland Northwest history, Jordan says, and the archives building would be an important element of such a center.


Coombs says he hopes work will begin on the new building by October 2001. Hes anxious to move forward with the project because the paper documents that are being stored at EWU arent well-protected, he says.


Meanwhile, some electronic documents arent being properly stored by various government agencies, he contends.


Some of the records that need to be preserved are getting pitched or are being put on backup tapes that may or may not actually be storing the documents, Coombs says. Other stuff is just out there, and were concerned.


The Eastern Regional Archives opened in 1978 in Cheney and currently employs three people there. Coombs says he expects an additional four people to be hired to work in the electronic data center, if it goes ahead.


The Eastern Regional Archives stores records, some of which date back to territorial days, for state and local government agencies in 11 Eastern Washington counties. The documents include immigration records, property records, school records, and local government minutes, Coombs says.