As the contents of the Carleton F. Burke Library move to a new home at California State Polytechnic University, Pomona, many of the books will continue to be available for research at the office of the California Thoroughbred Breeders Association. In donating the books to Cal Poly, the California Thoroughbred Foundation is working with the university to make the transition as seamless as possible.
Katie Richardson, the department chair of the Cal Poly library and department head of special collections and archives, is processing the books as they are moved to the university. That will allow material to be as accessible as possible during the transition.
Those books not yet processed will remain at the CTBA. Among the last to move will be the American Racing Manual set and racing chartbooks, both popular with researchers.
“We thought it would be best to do a gradual move of the collection to minimize interruptions to the collection while materials are being transported and cataloged at Cal Poly Pomona,” said Richardson.
The move began in late August and is expected to take several months. As the books are organized and cataloged, they will be available at either the CTBA library or Cal Poly. Richardson noted that anyone can come to Cal Poly to use the special collections and archives. The university has welcomed researchers from around the world.