Trends In Rare Book Documents Special Collections Management

This report is a new version of our 2008 report with the same title. The study profiles nine special rare book and documents collections from the following institutions: the University of Texas at Austin, New York University, the Wisconsin Historical Society, the American Museum of Natural History, the University of Toronto, Texas A&M, Yale University Law Library, the Jewish Theological Seminary, and the Rosenbach Museum and Library. Special collections directors discuss their efforts in digitization, procurment, fundraising,marketing and publicity, events and exhibitions, meeting attendance, security, preservation, collection development, cataloging, and many other areas. The report is designed to foster an awareness of best practices in rare book and manuscript special collection management.

This special report examines the management practices and business decisions of special collections libraries with a focus on rare books, manuscripts, maps, and other historical documents. The report profiles the John J. Burns Library of Rare Books and Special Collections at Boston College, the Buffalo and Erie County Public Library, the L. Tom Perry Special Collections at Brigham Young University-Provo, the Huntington Library, the Newberry Library, the San Antonio Public Library, the Watkinson Library at Trinity College, the Special Collections Research Center at the University of Southern Illinois-Carbondale, and the Bancroft Library at the University of California-Berkeley. Interviews were conducted in November and December of 2007. Additional information through an online form was provided by San Jose State University Kent State University Map Library AGS Libraries, University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee and California State University-Chico.

The study presents detailed interviews with the directors of rare books and document collections at Duke University, the University of Saskatchewan, Cardiff University, Bryn Mawr College, Hamilton College, the University of Glasgow, and Amherst College. The directors discuss in detail issues such as collection security, acquisitions, donor management strategy, digitization, marketing and outreach to students, faculty and outside users, exhibits, budgets, and much more.Dr. Naomi Nelson, Director of the David M. Rubenstein Rare Book & Manuscript Library at Duke University, discusses the impact of the largest gift received by the Duke Libraries, a $13.6 million donation earmarked for the rare books collection. Dr. Nelson also discusses in detail the history of the collections growth and the impact of donors. Julie Gardham, Senior Librarian and Manager of Special Collections at the University of Glasgow discusses, among many other issues, Special Collections' digitization efforts and its participation in the Rare Books in Scotland (RBiS) forum facilitated by the National Library of Scotland for members of staff in Scottish libraries and other organizations that have responsibility for collections of rare books. At Bryn Mawr College, Eric Pumroy, Associate Chief Information Officer and Seymour Adelman Head of Special Collections, discuss the impact on special collections of the College's move to a Drupal driven content management system, as well as, among other issues, the role Bryn Mawr College plays in the Philadelphia Area Consortium of Special Collections Libraries (PACSCL). Tim Hutchinson, Head of University Archives & Special Collections at the University of Saskatchewan, explains how the College's Archives and Special Collections divisions cooperate and how the two departments handled a literal doubling of their floor space in recent years. Christian Goodwillie, Director and Curator of Special Collections & Archives at Hamilton College, takes readers on a tour of the Hamilton collection and one of its jewels, the Communal Societies Collection, which gathers approximately 2,500 items on communal societies, with a particular emphasis on the Shakers. He also discusses how to find treasures "in the stacks," as he puts it. Peter Keelan, Head of Cardiff University's Special Collections and Archives (SCOLAR), talks about how SCOLAR is active in seeking out funding and regularly brings in funds for "cataloging, conservation, and digitization" and discusses in detail how Special Collections has prioritized digitization projects by surveying all of the academic schools across campus, culling responses from a dozen academics with preferences on what they'd like to see digitized. Mike Kelly, Head of Archives & Special Collections at Amherst College, explains the development of a three-way campus partnership between Frost Library, Information Technology Services, and the Digital Programs Department that resulted in the establishment of Amherst College Digital Collections (ACDC).

"This report presents 7 journalistic-style profile interviews with the directors of rare book collections ... [who] discuss digitization, personnel, fundraising, exhibits, acquisitions, endowments, special events, security, university relations, and other issues of interest to rare book and document and special collection management in museums, libraries and colleges worldwide" -- Publisher's website.

Entrusted with the responsibility of preserving the records of history and culture, these institutions enable access to millions of source materials. Berger offers a landmark examination of this field, aimed at practitioners, instructors, booksellers, private collectors, historians, bibliophiles, and others involved in rare and unique materials.

Once treated as exclusive spaces for valuable but hidden and under-utilized material, over the past few decades special collections departments have been transformed by increased digitization and educational outreach efforts into unique and highly visible major institutional assets. What libraries must now contemplate is how to continue this momentum by articulating and implementing a dynamic strategic vision for their special collections. Drawing on the expertise of a world-class array of librarians, university faculty, book dealers, collectors, and donors, this collected volume surveys the emerging requirements of today’s knowledge ecosystem and charts a course for the future of special collections. Expanding upon the proceedings of the National Colloquium on Special Collections organized by the Kelvin Smith Library of Case Western Reserve University in October 2014, this timely resource for special collections librarians, administrators, academics, and rare book dealers and collectors recounts the factors that governed the growth and use of special collections in the past;explores ways to build 21st-century special collections that are accessible globally, and how to provide the expertise and services necessary to support collection use;gives advice on developing and maintaining strong relationships between libraries and collectors, with special attention paid to the importance of donor relations;provides critical information on how libraries and their institutions’ faculty can best collaborate to ensure students and other researchers are aware of the resources available to them;showcases proactive, forward-thinking approaches to applying digital scholarship techniques to special collections materials;looks at how the changes in the way authors work—from analog to digital—increases the importance of archives in preserving the aspects of humanity that elevate us; and examines sustainable and scalable approaches to promoting the use of special collections in the digital age, including the roles of social media and crowdsourcing to bring collections directly to the user.More than simply a guide to collection management, this book details myriad ways to forge the future of special collections, ensuring that these scholarly treasures advance knowledge for years to come.

What does the future hold for special collections in research libraries? Will special collections be an important feature in humanistic research or will technology make special collections irrelevant to research in the humanities? The Role and Future of Special Collections in Research Libraries explores the answers to these questions by examining special collections in British and American libraries and the changing trends in research and scholarship as they relate to special collections. This book examines the particular experience of a variety of special collections in British research libraries. By learning more about British experiences related to special collections, North American libraries will discover new ways to manage existing information resources in light of diminished funding. The topics cover this essential role of special collections in these areas: the British perspective on issues relating to access and preservation of manuscripts, reproduction from originals, confidentiality, and the development of collections a historical overview of changes in special collections technology and special collections balancing the collection and preservation of books and manuscripts with the acquisition of new materials in electronic format The Role and Future of Special Collections in Research Libraries brings together international perspectives on library programs to help librarians and library administrators understand the factors that influence special collections. With the help of this insightful book, librarians will learn how to develop and modify future programs and services to maintain excellent special collections.