June’s Archives Hashtag Party theme is Archives Sustainability! Trinity College has long been a leader in sustainability, and that influenced the planning for the renovation and relocation of the Trinity College Archives in 2015-2016.

The space the archives occupies now was not being used, except as overflow storage for our Friends of the Library book sale. It required major renovations to transform it into a storage facility and workspace, part of which involved excavating the front lawn of the college to waterproof the foundation. Thinking ahead to how the college would maintain stable climatic conditions for the records storage area, the decision was made to take advantage of the planned excavation and install a geothermal heat pump to provide for an energy-efficient, environmentally-friendly HVAC system. Good for the planet, good for the archives!

While this excavation was going on, a rainwater capture system, which includes this 1200 gallon cistern, was also installed. It means the college can irrigate the lawn and gardens with greywater and reduce its demand for fresh city water.