On a rainy and gloomy Friday afternoon with an empty library, Carla Cain walks in smiling and greeting everyone.

She had just finished attending a long meeting, but it seemed like she just came back from a stroll in the park.

Her positive energy brightened up everyone’s mood.

Carla Cain is a five-year El Camino College Librarian who recently received her master’s in library science with a concentration in archival studies from the University of North Texas. She is El Camino’s first-ever archivist, taking on the position in fall of 2021.

“I’ve always been a nerdy reader, so I knew I wanted to be a librarian,” Cain said. “And then I saw archives as an option and jumped right into it.”

Before Cain took the position as the college’s first archivist, all historical documents and files from the school were kept in big boxes without any labeling.

Library services librarian Gary Medina recalls the days without an archivist, as he was the one managing the archives part-time.

“The archive was just a small percentage of what I could focus on,” Medina said. “It was something that I would get to when I had time.”

Now the archives room is one of the most organized rooms in the library.

“We got documents here from 1947 onwards,” Cain said. “Here are all the early documents of how the school was founded.”

Her job is noticed and appreciated by her colleagues.

Library technician Lisa George-Hall said Cain has done “a great job” with the archives.

“Carla has been such a blessing,” Hall said. “Those documents are very important.”

Medina agrees as he can now put more focus on the other parts of his job.

“Now that we have Carla, she is able to really focus on the majority of it, and I can help support her,” Medina said.

Now that most of the documents are labeled and in order, Cain is working on creating digital copies of all documents to publish on the El Camino’s archives website.

“This is probably the hardest part of the job, keeping up with all the technologies,” ” Cain said. “We not only need to keep the old films, but also the old projectors, or else we would not be able to watch those films.”

To reiterate the importance of archives, Cain recalled a story from World War II, when an Asian American attorney went through the national archives to prove the camps for Japanese Americans were unconstitutional.

Cain added when there is a dictator that rises to power in a nation, his first action is always to burn the nation’s archives.

Besides the value that is held in historical documents, Cain explains she gets some visits and calls from former students.

“There are people who are writing a book, or something similar, and they come to me for information,” Cain said.

Cain recalls a story about a woman looking for the name of an old philosophy professor to include in her book. She called Cain for the information.

Cain said any student can approach her for help with obtaining historical information.

“If someone is working on a history paper for example,” Cain said. “They could always come to me for any historical information or document that they need.”

She told The Union if she is not in a meeting, she is available. All someone needs to do is email her.

“We are part of the library, and we are open,” Cain said. “We are just trying not to be a secret.”

Archivist Carla Cain works Monday through Friday, from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m.

Editor’s Note: Uploaded video on June 8.