Happy April First, or as I like to call it, the day when the internet become useless for 24 hours as every amateur comedian and corporation tries to be funny. Rest assured, you’ll find no such japery here, at least not this year. Instead, we continue our fascination with unique libraries, whether those housed in a nuclear bunker, or hosting a collection of rare colors. Today, a look at an archive in a salt mine under the British countryside. It’s an active mine, and as the mine continues to grow, new storage space is created. The conditions offer ideal temperatures and very low humidity, great for long term storage of archival materials. Below, a tour of the mine and the treasures it stores.

David Crotty

David Crotty

David Crotty is a Senior Consultant at Clarke & Esposito, a boutique management consulting firm focused on strategic issues related to professional and academic publishing and information services. Previously, David was the Editorial Director, Journals Policy for Oxford University Press. He oversaw journal policy across OUP’s journals program, drove technological innovation, and served as an information officer. David acquired and managed a suite of research society-owned journals with OUP, and before that was the Executive Editor for Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory Press, where he created and edited new science books and journals, along with serving as a journal Editor-in-Chief. He has served on the Board of Directors for the STM Association, the Society for Scholarly Publishing and CHOR, Inc., as well as The AAP-PSP Executive Council. David received his PhD in Genetics from Columbia University and did developmental neuroscience research at Caltech before moving from the bench to publishing.

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