All about Archives

My goal this week was to learn more about archives. I began my quest with the folks in special collections.

An archivist recently joined our staff within the last year. I thought she would make a terrific starting point for my archival quest and I was right! Not only was she pleased that I asked about her job, but she was more than willing to share her work with me.

Currently she's working on the Breece D'J Pancake papers. Pancake was a highly regarded short story writer from West Virginia. His death is largely considered a suicide but others believe it was an accident. She's promised to show me how she processed the collection and created the finding aid.

We talked about some important concepts in the archives world, such as EAD and DACS. She also loaned me a book from her library, Arranging & Describing Archives & Manuscripts by Kathleen D. Roe. She said Roe's book is a good introductory text. It will serve me well as a starting point. I'm looking forward to delving into the book and familiarizing myself with the principles of archival work.

I also learned that there's an archives course offered at WVU through the public history program. That may be an option for me to consider. The special collections archivist taught courses in archives at her previous institution. In short order I've been able to locate some excellent resources for a little archival education right in my own back yard.

I also checked out the SAA site, http://www.archivists.org/, The Society of American Archivist. SAA offers some continuing education woekshops. There's one planned for August 24th at the conference in San Francisco called Understanding Archives: An Introduction to Principles and Practices. I'd love to enroll in that session. Unfortunately the conference is held during the first week of class for USC. I'm sure there'll be other opportunities in the future. But I've got lots of opportunities available to me right now.

Last but certainly not least I can check into course offerings at USC. One of my professors for the fall term is an archivist and she'll be a good resource too. It looks like I'm going to learn a lot about archives!

Back to work

After an entire day spent laboring over mountains of laundry and a bit of relaxation tucked into odd moments I was ready to return to work today.

I don't know if I can adequately describe what it feels like to unlock the door to the Rare Book Room, swing it wide and step inside. It's a Dorothy kind of moment for me. Every day I feel like I'm walking into a land of delights. I've often described this feeling as akin to a settler in an undiscovered country - just so much to explore! I had that same feeling when I entered the RBR, as I call it, today.

Now that I'm home and back at work I've gone through my notes and created some short lists of topics I'd like to explore:

1. Instructional ideas:

• Invite new faculty to tour special collections and share the rare book pedagogy model developed by an English professor designed to assist faculty and introduce students to primary source materials.
• Host an open house in special collections for new students during orientation. Students are given a tour of the library, so why not include a visit to special collections?
• Initiate a student book collector's contest. I plan to enter the collector's contest at USC. Offering the contest at my institution will foster scholarship, create a new class of future donors and expose students to the world of books.

2. Guidelines:

• Examine the rules currently in place for the reading room and suggest adjustments, if needed.
• Compare security guidelines to those discussed in class. Consider options addressed during class for adoption, if needed.

3. Archives:

• Seek information about archives and archivists.
• Search for ways to gain experience in archives.

4. Join!

• RBMS
• SAA
• ALA

One of the best ways to meet people, keep current on issues and learn more about a field is to join a professional organization. I spoke with several folks during my week at RBS who had joined one or more of these groups and worked on committees. Everyone of them urged me to participate. It's the next step on the way to my professional development.

Donor Relations

Now that I'm home I'd like to take a closer look at Friday's class. We began the day with a discussion about donor relations that focused on copyright issues and the essential document, a deed of gift. Takeaway points include:

1. Never take anything on deposit without a deed of gift stating terms of copyright holdings.


2. Don't accept anything with permanent restrictions. Restraints of this nature relegate your gift to storage with no further opportunities for use.


3. Short restrictions are acceptable. For example, personal letters cannot be published during the author's lifetime due to privacy issues.


4. Know what to keep and what to throw away! The deed of gift should cover disposal of items that have no value. Options include returning them to the donor or throwing them away, but you can do neither of these without a well defined deed of gift.

Some details of donor relations amount to pure common sense such as sending the donor a formal thank you note denoting the contents of the gift. After all, that's how mother taught me to write a thank you note. Further acknowledgements may take the form of bookplates, exhibitions, both physical and virtual, as well as publications.

Appraisals are part of the gift process. Several good points were discussed including:

1. Librarians cannot appraise the gift, neither can the institution due to conflict of interest issues.
2. The IRS form 8283 is used by the appraiser. If a gift is under $5,000 the form is not required.
3. Librarians cannot recommend an appraiser but can provide a list of qualified appraisers.
4. Contrary to popular belief, the IRS does not prohibit libraries paying for appraisals.

We closed the day with the mystery book exercise. This time there was an additional question: Would the book at hand be added to special collections or would it be returned to the open stacks?

The first time we used the mystery book exercise (see Tuesday, July 22nd post) it was to familarize ourselves with a new way of examing a book. This time the application was to examine the book for suitablility for special collections, providing yet another way to view the book.

It was a great way to end the week. We'll be taking everything we've learned home with us and applying the lessons to our daily activities.

Home again

I think it was Paul Simon who said "Gee, it's great to be back home!" That's pretty much how I feel. It is, indeed, great to be back home.

The week I've spent at Rare Book School has been well worth it. I have a notebook full of ideas to plow through and organize into bits and bites that I'll incorporate into my work in the Rare Book Room at WVU. Our instruct0r, Alice Schreyer, provided each member of the class with a comprehensive workbook covering everything we discussed in class. I'm looking forward to spending more time with it. I'll be taking it to work with me where it will serve as a reference, like the workbooks for the other RBS courses I've taken.

One of the most memorable and impressive exhibits I saw last week was Terry Belanger's interpretation of John Carter's ABC for Book Collectors in 3-D! Carter's text is not illustrated and readers have often wished for pictures to define the descriptions. Rare Book School has done an admirable job creating what they refer to as 3-D Carter by compiling a collection of books to match each description. Just pick out a term from Carter, such as 'gauffered edges" found on page 113, then search a shelf at Rare Book School to find the corresponding book illustrating the term. I was delighted to locate three fine examples of "gauffered edges" on the Carter bookcase.

Gauffred or Gauffred, or Goffered Edges

Gilt (or silvered) edges decorated by the impression of heated tools, usually of the Pointille type.

This is a fine description and serves as a simple explanation of the term but the reader simply has no idea how beautiful gauffered edges can be until an example, or two or three of varying patterns, has been examined. Click here for an example: http://lu.com/odlis/odlis_e.cfm.

Viewing an image is great, but seeing examples first hand is the best way to understand terminology and broaden experience. Belanger's Carter in 3-D is an extremely helpful tool. I spent a good deal of time on Wednesday's Study Night examing as many items as I could. Carter in 3-D is a terrific resource.

And yes, it's great to be back home!

Parting is such sweet sorrow . . .

The final reception is in progress downstairs in the RBS Press Room. Terry stands behind wine bottles at the makeshift bar. Students and teachers exchange cards, nibble on fruit and cheese and say their goodbyes. Many are lined up to purchase t-shirts, mugs, books, and tote bags, all bearing the image of the RBS Lion.

The origin of the RBS logo, the Lion Rampant, is from an actual wire paper making mold from the hand press period. I've wondered where it came from and was delighted to have it identified last summer in the Introduction to Descriptive Bibliography course taught by Richard Nobel and David Gantz. This is a terrific course and I highly recommend it. (Read everything before you come, many times!)

In fact, Richard Noble is downstairs now. He's here preparing for Des. Bib., as it's referred to here. He teaches it next week. This week's courses are over but next week's are just beginning. It's a full season here at RBS.

There's still much to talk about from today's class. I'd like to spend some time on RBS's version of Carter's ABC for Book Collectiors in 3-D too. But time is short. I've got to pack and hit the road. I'm traveling this weekend so there'll be a mini-blog vacation. We'll pick up where we left off next week when I return home.

In the meantime . . . parting is such sweet sorrow . . .

Last call

Thursday night. My last evening at RBS. It's beautiful this evening. Ribbons of crimson clouds stretch across the dusky sky. It's a wonderful night to be outside.

Tonight is Bookseller Night at RBS. Most booksellers, and there are quite a few here, stay open late for RBS students. Downtown is just a mile away and I walked with a friend I met here last year. I guess you could say we're serial RBS students. Both of us are attending for the third time. We had a great time strolling downtown, poping in and out fo shops, seeing classmates everywhere we went. We stopped for dinner at Basil on the way back. I love that place. After a week loaded with carbs it's pure delight to have one of their incredible salads!

I'm taking a few books back home with me. I was pleased to find a bright first edition of Gordon Keith, by Thomas Nelson Page, in the binding designed by Margaret Armstrong. Bindings by Miss Armstrong are the strength of my personal collection. I hope to find all 345 bindings designed by her. I'll add this one to the entry I'm preparing for USC's Student Book Collector's contest next spring.

But enough about that. It's time to return to work and the day's work was exhilierating. The discussion began with donor relations. It can be a tricky business, dealing with donors. Personal collections are just that, personal. A collection is representative of a person's point of view, their own take on what' s important and that can make donor relationships challenging. It was said that the number one reason donors give their collections to institutions is to keep them together, in tact and away from the children. Yes, donors have the most to fear from their own children. After all, it's not their collection and they're more than likely to break it up and sell it. Shivers!

Security was a big issue as well. Discussion centered on several easy solutions to common problems that could enhance security in reading rooms including:

• Registration: Know who's using your collection.
• Keys: Sign in and out, know who has what key and when.
• Item requests: limit the number of items a patron can request.
• Enclosures: Remove all items from boxes to prevent theft.
• Folders: Archival materials should be dispensed one folder at a time.
• Marking: All items must bear marks of ownership.
• Inventory control: Know what you have and you'll know if it's missing.
• Detailed records: Should theft occur, detailed records will help in identification.

The afternoon session was packed with presentations, exercises and a visit to the digitization center. After viewing the digitizing facility I believe all of us came away with what has been referred to among some students as "equipment envy." A 24 foot long flatbed scanner called the Cruse scanner was designed for maps. Two fine Digibook scanners were facing retirement due to incoming upgrades. There was also a terrific digital camera set up and yes, a couple of standard table top flat bed scanners.

With all this equipment the digitizing center is able to produce 3 - 400,000 images a year. It's not all online though. There is a roadblock to their progress and it's called metadata. This is somethiing that they're still working on and conversations about this subject tended toward the revolutionary. According to our host, cataloging will take up the metadata work for scanned images but the detail level of records will be greatly reduced in an effort to get the material online. This is their prediction for the future, all records will be at a minimum level for all materials, print included. It's going to be a different world.

There was also lots of discussion about digital repositories for managing digital images. Fedora is used here at UVA.

The afternoon was all about archives after that. Jackie Dooley at UC Irvine, who teaches a new course this year, Archives for Rare Book Librarians, discussed tools and processing. I found this conversation to be very interesting. I haven't had any experience with archives and was unclear about the means of processing a collection. Jackie did an excellent job explaining the process to non-archivists. I'm moving her class to the top of my RBS class list.

We closed the class day with an exercise. Jackie's class joined ours and we divided into groups of three. We were given three web sites and a specific item to search for at each site. The next step was to rank the sites for ease of use, define the best features in three short sentences and then draw a wireframe representing our design for the interface. Lots of fun and very helpful when considering usability studies for university sites.

Tomorrow's our final class day. Soon we'll head back to our lives, our work and our familiies. But we won't leave empty handed, we'll be taking so much back with us.

Show and Tell

Wednesday isn't just a day in the middle of the week, it means that Rare Book School will soon be coming to an end. When we leave here we'll take our workbooks and notes, our photos and memories, along with the plans we've made to integrate all we've learned into our day to day activities. It's exciting to think about returning to work bursting with new plans to implement and ideas to explore with colleagues.

We explored plenty of new ideas today. We returned to the topic of access, picking up where we left off yesterday. Photocopying was a primary issue in this discussion and several items were proffered to facilitate the process. Face-up copiers were suggested as an excellent means to copy large and delicate materials. Inclusion of copyright statements on photocopies can be accomplished by overlaying a mylar sheet with the copyright statement printed on it, embedding the information on every copy. Scanning images emerged as a trend to supply some photocopying needs such as interlibrary loan requests.

Perhaps the best conversation of the day centered around instruction and collaboration with faculty to enhance classroom pedagogy and use of special collections. Some suggestions included inviting new faculty to view special collections to promote educational opportunities, hosting an open house for students during new student orientation or the first day of registration, and including educational access information on the special collections web page.

Another topic of the day was faceted browsing. This, we were told, is the way students want to navigate a university's catalog. If you've ever used search engines like Clusty, which gathers information in clusters that allow the user to drill deeper into a subject, then you have a good idea how faceted browsing works. The page displays tag clouds of terms on the left, draws the most appropriate hits from all areas such as books, media, e-journals, and pulls up finding aids and special collections. Programs such as Primo and Aquabrowser are the bigger names while open source options are also available.

For me, the best part of the day centered on a presentation from special collections of books from some of their largest donor collections. We were allowed to view a stunning array of titles. Many of the items were associated with Thomas Jefferson including his personal copy, privately printed, of the Notes of Virginia with corrections tipped in on slips of paper written in his own hand.

Two other Jefferson items included the first journal of the first meeting of the Board of Visitors for the University of Virginia, May 5, 1817, and his hand drawn plans and calculations for the Rotunda. The Board of Visitor's journal is in Jefferson's hand. The membership included Jefferson, James Madison, James Monroe, and David Watson. Three out of four members were U.S. presidents. Not bad for a membership group. One short entry was made when the board was apprised of Jefferson's death with the notation that Madison would now assume Jefferson's leading role. The Rotunda plans, amazingly enough, were drawn on paper made by prisoners in the Bastille.

Other treasures included a proof copy of Diderot's Encyclopedia, each page marked with lines. My personal favorite was the salesman's sample of Mark Twain's Huckleberry Finn, the last pages filled with orders. This is the only surviving copy that contains the famous defaced illustration. When the defacement was found, all copies were recalled and destroyed. Somehow this one escaped and it is the sole remaining evidence of a crude joke.

We learned a good deal about ways to "show and tell" our collections today. Everything from the most recent catalog improvements for displaying information to new ways to foster educational opportunities and facilitate patron information requests. And to top it all we got to look at some great books!

Policy and practicum

Collection Development Policy was the topic for Tuesday morning's discussion. The programmatic approach begins by building on strengths within an institution's special collections. Allocation of resources to meet the library's mission and fulfill the needs of students and teachers are necessities.

Access and audience were also part of the day's discussion. Taking turns around the room we developed a lengthy list of special collection patrons. We began with students and concluded with visiting dignitaries. The registration process, an integral part of the initial contact with most special collections was viewed as a form of orientation. Providing patrons with a set of guidelines would further integrate them into the special collections environment.

Perhaps the most enjoyable part of the day involved a book exercise adapted from "Questions to Consider," The Mystery Book Exercise, Wesleyan University, http://www.wesleyan.edu/libr/schome/exhibit/Teaching/Pedagogy/three.html. Each student was given a book and a set of questions. The books were in variety of bindings, printed in several languages, and covered a timespan over several centuries.

The questions:

1. Who is the author?
2. If others are associated with the book, who are they and what is their role?
3. When was the book published?
4. Where was it published?
5. Who published it?
6. Who printed it?
7. Is there any indication that it was approved or sponsored by an individual or institution?
8. Can you identify any former owners?
9. Can you find any evidence that the book was ever read?
10. If illustrated, how do the images relate to the text? What role do they play?
11. What size is the book? Is it a big book? A small book? What does size and shape tell you about the book?
12. What is the binding made from? When do you think it was bound?
13. How would you describe the book's condition?
14. What features look familiar? Different? Strange?
15. What question do you have about the book and how would you answer them?

This exercise is designed to teach us how to "read" a book. This set of questions takes us through the book, teaching us different ways to look at a book; as a physical object that holds clues to its existence, through the time frame of authorship and publication, and how readers did or did not use the book through signs of annotation and marginalia.

I thoroughly enjoyed this exercise. When the week is over and I return to WVU I plan to share this with the Curator. It would be a great exercise to incorporate into class visits. Many of these questions can be found in the Rare Book Pedagogy Module (see links) designed and used at WVU for the integration of primary source material into course work by students as well as faculty. The short format, presented by this exercise, would be particularly useful for teaching secondary students the way rare book librarians look at a book.

Never a dull moment

The RBS day is a model of fine tuned planning. A morning breakfast of carbs and caffeine greet groggy students in the RBS Press Room. We've all got 30 minutes to perk up and be ready for class at 8:30. There are two mandated breaks during the day, 10:00 and 3:00. We all troop back to the Press Room to chat and finish off the morning's left over carbs and a couple of well worn bananas. A generous hour and a half for lunch gives students the opportunity to linger over a meal, check out the many exhibits on campus, take a campus tour, shop at the best university bookstore I've ever seen, or beat the squirrels to a soft spot beneath the trees on the Lawn for a quick nap.

The class day ends at 5:00 but there's only a short time before the evening activities begin. There's something planned every night of the week. Sunday night's opening lecture delivered by Terry Belanger could be called the RBS State Address. It's a summation of the year, a peek at new course offerings, and anything else that's on Terry's mind. Monday's lecture always features a noted guest. Last night's speaker was Richard Kuhta of the Folger Shakespeare Library. Tuesday is known as Video Night. Tonight's choices were a PBS Nova production, Infinite Secrets, the story of the discovery of the Archimedes palimpsest, and Alphabet, The Story of Writing. I chose the Nova episode on Archimedes.

Wednesday night is study night. The Rare Book School suite opens to allow students to take a closer look at the reference and teaching collections. These collections are considerable and noteworthy. I've already made a short list of items I hope to see including an illustrated version of John Carter's ABC for Book Collectors, which was created here at RBS, and a book I'd just like to hold in my hands, the art nouveau masterpiece Morte d'Arthur, illustrated by Aubrey Beardsley.

Thursday night brings the much anticipated Bookseller Night. Many local booksellers keep late hours in an effort to feed the pent up desires of RBS students. After studying books all week we are ready to search for the very thing we've spend every day learning about. It must be a lot like shooting fish in a barrel for the booksellers. Many of them put out a little spread for starving students and make a night of it. It's a lot of fun.

The week closes with a final get together. It's a great time to exchange cards with folks we've exchanged ideas with all week. We know we'll see each other again. If not at the next conference, we'll meet again at Rare Book School next summer!

Issues

Monday marks the first full day of class at RBS. I began the day very pleasantly, dragging a chair from my room to sit beneath the Colonnade on The Lawn. Mug of tea in hand I picked up John Carter's classic, ABC for Book Collectiors. I'm familiar with this book. Pink slips cut from post it notes mark favorite entries, their edges curling from long use. This morning I took the opportunity to dip into Carter at random. The book opened under the letter I, and there I found definitions for Insert, Intaglio, Issue and my personal favorite, Issue-Mongers.

"The issue-monger is one of the worst pests of the collecting world, and the more dangerous because many humble and well-intentioned collectors think him a hero to whom they should be grateful."

Carter certainly had an eye for the well turned phrase. Nicolas Barker, who revised, enlarged and wrote the introduction for the 8th edition of Carter's work, is here at Rare Book School this week as an instructor.

A great deal of ground was covered today in class. Our instructor, Alice Schreyer, discussed definitions of terms such as edition, issue, and impression, among others. The well worn phrase, "what's so special about special collections?" advanced a discussion on the meaning of special collections, trends, digitization, the current environment, and the historical background of special collections. We closed class with a brief overview of bibliography, various definitions of the term bibliography and its uses, particularly in the Hand Press period (approximately 1450 -1800).

The discussion on the history of special collections was most interesting. Alice described the background and emerging ideas on special collections with a decade by decade approach that I've condensed and listed here:

• In the 19th C. historical societies were the first institutions to collect primary source materials that suited their particular focus or mission.
• During the 1890's - Depression, industrialists, robber barons, and other elites formed private collections as a matter of status. These collections often went on to become the foundation of private libraries that served as monuments to the collector, but also made the vast amounts of old world material available for research.
• The decades of the 1920's - 1930's saw the growth of a recognition that books in the open stacks were now valuable and demanded special care. The selected books were separated and secured under very limited access.
• The 1950's saw the rise of the idea that rare book collections should extend beyond storage and maintenance. The decade also saw the formation of friend's groups, preservation ideas and other needs that helped to formalize structure during the post-war decade.
• The mid 1970's brought the idea of profession into prominence. This concept of a new profession would involve acquiring skills to service the collections.
• Late '70's and 80's saw the rise of service and access. The MLIS degree became an important aspect of the profession.
• Today's emphasis is not on special collections as a trophy item but on their use in terms of outreach and public service.

At the end of the class day the entire enrollment for the current session of Rare Book School reconvened for a lecture given by Richard Kuhta, the Eric Weinmann Librarian at the Folger Shakespeare Library. His lecture, "The Future of Research and Rare Book Libraries (and What It Will Take for Them to Have a Future)" focused on the issues facing special collections in today's library environment. Kuhta did not shy away from problems that beset special collections from physical plant woes to funding inadequacies, but he also delivered a message of support for recruiting and developing the next generation of rare book librarians and archivists, new funding opportunities and collection development.

Kunta's lecture was personal and deeply moving as he related some of his most recent tragedies and triumphs. The lecture served as a realistic portrait of special collections today; perfectly reflecting the issues discussed in class and those we will approach during the week.

The RBS week begins

As I write this, night descends upon the UVA campus. The sky is still illuminated, backlit by the sun's fading light. The clouds are a deep, evening shade of blue, the sky a paler one. A pick up game of touch football continues at the base of Jefferson's Rotunda. The humidity is low and it will be a good night for sleeping. I'm staying on The Lawn this week. The lack of air conditioning in my shuttered room will not bother me tonight.

I look forward to attending Rare Book School all year. This is my third year and I hope to attend for years to come. When I arrived at Alderman Library for the opening reception this evening I was greeted by familiar faces from past years. I was delighted to renew old aquaintances and meet others for the first time. It's going to be a great week!

Tonight I had dinner with two catalogers from large institutions. My education for the week began with my dinner companions. As I had the opportunity to chat with catalogers I asked them to share their experiences regarding hidden collections as well as any thoughts they might have about the preliminary record format.

Both catalogers stressed that hidden collections at their institutions are problematic. One cataloger said she had just completed cataloging a collection of medical theses from the 16th - 19th centuries that was purchased in the 1960's. Our companion was in support of the preliminary record format. While the drawback may be that the preliminary record is not as full, one of the crucial benefits of this format was the security factor. That is a facet I had not considered. It is certainly a compelling argument for preliminary records.

Last week I had a discussion with an administrator on the subject of hidden collections who refered to the preliminary record format as a kind of "triage." I found this to be a good way of looking at the issue. These conversations have greatly enlightened me. As I mentioned earlier, my institution does not have big issues with hidden collections so my experience in this area is limited.

But that's why I'm here at RBS, to learn, to see, to grow, and most importantly, to connect with people in all fields and learn from their experiences. That's what makes RBS so proiceless. That's why I keep coming back.

This year marks the 25th anniversary of Rare Book School. During Terry Belanger's address following dinner he announced his retirement as RBS Director in July, 2009. The search for his replacement is underway. It will be difficult for many to picture RBS under the direction of someone other than Terry Belanger, but thanks to the stewardship under his capable hands, RBS will go forward with confidence.

The RBMS Pre-Conference will be in Charlottesville next year and RBS is in full planning mode in order to make the most of this event. As Terry said tonight, the pre-conference held its first meeting here in Charlottesville in 1958. Sounds like a good time to return to Rare Book School!

ARL Addendum and Recommendations

The concept of "hidden collections" as I see it, is basically another term for due process. Donors deliver books and archival material, booksellers deliver purchases. In turn, librarians fill carts and boxes with this uncataloged bounty.

The problem with "hidden collections" is that they're a lot like a pirate's treasure chest. Scholars, like treasure hunters, know the books, pamphlets, papers, and manuscripts exist, they may even know where they're stashed, but they can't get to them until they've been unearthed from the box they came in, examined, catalogued, and shelved appropriately. It can be frustrating for scholars, for cataloguers, librarians and just about anybody else who'd like a peek at the goods.

I don't have much experience when it comes to dealing with hidden collections. At my institution, there isn't much of a backlog. And from what I've read that makes us one of the lucky ones. Other institutions have longer waiting lists.

What is termed hidden collections are a fact of life. This is due process in action, even if it seems periously close to inaction. The recommendation of the Task Force is for testing and use of a "preliminary record" format in order to make collections visible to scholars and the public. An alternative idea is to develop grant proposals to assist in this aim.

At the moment I'm rooting for the alternative idea. Although initial applications were not granted, there is still hope for future funding. Rather than the creation of a preliminary record format which will lead to an item going through the system twice to be properly cataloged, funding for catalogers whose sole purpose is to bring hidden collections to light seems like a viable alternative.

Lastly, recommendations are in the works for a working group concerned with special collections issues. Recommendations include planning for the collection of 19th and 20th century materials and developing strategies for collecting born-digital as well as other new media material. The goal is to provide leadership for collecting activities which include collection analysis, identification gaps and other areas. I've had the opportunity to fill these roles at times at our institution. Realizing a need, planning and coordinating efforts to fill the need and organizing materials is an important function within special collections.

Other recommendations include educational opportunities within special collections. This is another area where I have had the opportunity to participte. I had the good fortune to work with an English professor who had received a grant to develop a rare book pedagogy unit, http://clc.as.wvu.edu:8080/clc/projects/Rare%20Book%20Pedagogy%20Unit/. The module was designed as a means to integrate primary source material into course work for both faculty, who may have never included special collections materials in class and for students, who may have never been exposed to special collections.

The task force recomendations close with more thoughts on "new ways of measuring collections" and education and training.

There is much food for thought in this final status report. The resulting committees will have their hands full negotiating these difficult and challenging issues. But that's why we're librarians, right? We love to identify issues, solve problems and share our materials with others!

Gather ye data while ye may

As I continue to re-order the seven points of the ARL Task Force Final Status Report list, my version would group point 4, information sharing on digitization efforts, as a subset of point 6, data gathering on special collections operations. Digitization is indeed worthy of its own separate category, but I think it has a place in the larger concept of operations information gathering.

I have found the task force discussion on improving the means to measure the "depth and quality of unique and rare collections" of interest. This is certainly an intriguing concept. The nature of special collections is their uniqueness. Creating a "profile" that would categorize unique collections will certainly be a delicate procedure. I will enjoy learning more about this process.

Questions remain in my mind regarding the "ongoing statistical program designed to track status and progress of special collections in ARL libraries." What is the status of a collection? What exactly is "progress" in terms of a special collection and how is it determined?

The report then turns to the uniqueness of collections and a means to capture value. The term "value" can be defined in many ways. Certainly it can be financial value, such as an appraisal represents. Value can also be associated with meaning. What does a collection say about an idea, an individual, society? These will be interesting concepts to explore.

Digitization of primary source materials will continue to be a hot topic for years to come. As we all know, this particular form of outreach is a spectacularly successful way to introduce the public, on a worldwide platform, to important collections. This subject has been explored extensively for the past ten years resulting in recognized rules for standards and best practices. Digitization of special collections is a subject I have explored at length, developing a powerpoint poster on best use practices as well as an annotated bibliography. Given the information already available on this subject, I too, along with the task force, place this issue lower on the priority ladder.

The issues discussed in the final status report will become part of future agendas, standing committee operations, activities and discussions. Some of the latter, I'm sure, will take place in class next week.

Points to Ponder

We're picking up where we left off a couple of days ago with the ARL Task Force Final Status Report. To review our progress, I've re-ordered the seven point action plan provided by the Task Force a bit to suit the way I see the priorities. See the post on July 12th for a list of the seven point action plan in ARL order.

For the moment I'm skipping over the discussion on hidden collections. I'll pick up on that point when the Task Force's recommendations are discussed later this week. Hidden collections figure prominently in the recommendations section.

Since I'm re-organizing the final report to suit my own ends, I'll go straight to number 5 on the list: "Co-ordinate planning for collecting 19th and 20th century materials and those in new formats. "

I am all over this one! 19th and early 20th century publishers' bindings are my passion. I've had the good fortune to initiate and develop a special collection of publishers' bindings for my institution. I actively search the general library collection for examples to be transferred to the rare book room. It is absolutely astounding what can be found in wonderful condition, library markings aside, on the open stacks! To date over forty bindings designed by Margaret Armstrong have been located. Many other binding designers, both known and unknown, take their place on the rare book room shelves beside her work.

The opportunities for scholarship abound when these bindings are collected and examined. When a collection is assembled bindings can be identified as design similarities become apparent, the rise and fall of art movements can be studied, cloth patterns examined, titling styles studied, and all manner of other joyous activities made available.

As an example I'll post this link to Mark Schumacher's website devoted to the designs of Amy Sacker. http://library.uncg.edu/depts/ref/staff/mark/documents/FortunesoftheFellow.htm.
Familiarity with styles utilized by designers can lead to some wonderful collaborations. When I discovered this binding I had a hunch it was a Sacker and contacted Mark. He was able to provide clues that pinpointed Sacker as the designer of this unsigned binding. Ah, the thrill of the chase! Working with a colleague was not only a great deal of fun, but also rewarding. Together were we able to determine the binding designer and add scholarship in this area.

Randy Silverman's "Connoisseurship of Nineteenth and Early Twentieth Century Publishers' Bookbindings," is one of the best papers I've read on the subject. The article can be found on the Project Muse web site. Sue Allen's course at RBS on publishers' bindings is one of the most popular. Apply early! Allen's book, Victorian Bookbindings: A Pictorial Survey (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1972, 1976. Rev. ed) is another excellent resource.

The introduction of cloth as a binding material is, to me, every bit as revolutionary as Gutenburg's press. Observing the development of cloth bindings throughout the 19th century conveys the rapid technological advancements in the book industry. These advancements, in conjunction with the rise and fall of art movements throughout this time period, culminate in the dramatic designs of the 1890's and early 20th century.

To paraphrase Randy Silverman, much was lost before librarians realized the value of 19th century books. 20th century books are often treated with the same disdain as those of the earlier century. Tastes change. What was valued fifty years ago is very different than what we find important today. Not only is it time to pursue books of the 19th century but we must aggressively pursue those of the 20th before items that were once common become scarce. Just as it is difficult to uncover information on binding designers of the 19th century it will become challenging to uncover information on individuals of the 20th century if we do not take heed and act now.

This is true for books in new formats as well. However, the term "new formats" is not defined in the report and there are several possible definitions. I hope to learn more about this during class next week.

More on Education and Training

One last look at education and training seems in order before resuming comments on the ARL Final Status Report.

The instructor of the upcoming Introduction to Special Collections Librarianship course at Rare Book School next week, Alice Schreyer, is a member of the task force and the author of Education and Training for Careers in Special Collections: A White Paper Prepared for the Association of Research Libraries Special Collections Task Force, Nov. 2004. (a pdf version can be found on the ARL website: http://www.arl.org/collect/spcoll/SCTEED.pdf).

The goal of the paper is to convey the current employment situation and consider areas of education and training for special collections librarians in the rapidly changing world we work in today. After reading both papers, Rippley's and Schreyer's, the importance of a basic set of core competencies is evident, with the caveat that these core competencies may vary within the skill set of an individual and the needs of the hiring institution. This idea of flexibility, both on an individual and institution basis, is important and greatly needed. Special collections are part of the unique identity of an institution. Pairing librarians with a specific skill set that matches an institutional need is the ideal we'd all like to strive toward. The goal of each one of us as we search for a position is to find that place that not only suits our needs but our skills. A perfect match.

Recruitment is another topic addressed in this white paper. Mid-career librarians and career-changers are considered ideal candidates for special collections recruitment with consideration extended for life skills and work experience. As a career-changer myself, the skills I developed throughout my former career as a bricks and mortar/internet bookseller, appraiser, and collector have proven to be a firm foundation for pursuing a library science degree. These skills have also proven beneficial to my day to day activities in the rare book room.

Qualifications discussed for special collections librarians begin with the masters degree. Graduate study is considered a way to insure competencies with research methodologies and scholarship. Again, language skills are part of the package. A description of general competencies and those that would be considered uniquely suited to particular collections are also discussed.

New to me is a term used to describe a candidate's personality, the "pizzazz factor." For many of us this may be an unexpected requirement for a librarians' skill set but as development and relationships with donors become more important, that "pizzazz factor" becomes increasingly important as well. After all, little of Traister's day, back in 1986, was actually spent in the office.

The balance of the paper addresses educational opportunities, such as those offered at Rare Book School. Training options such as internships, specialized courses and programs are also included.

An emphasis is placed on developing a "shared culture" between rare book librarians and archivists. This is certainly an area that needs to be developed. Some of us may well wish to furthur our training at RBS by taking a new course offered for the first time this year, Introduction to Archives for Rare Book Librarians. I'll be adding this one to my RBS wish list.

That's it for this post. We'll return to our task in the next one.

A little digression on the subject of jobs.

Although not part of the course reading list, I happened to stumble across Susan Stenkel Rippley's paper The Education and Hiring of Special Collections Librarians: Observations from a Recent Recruit, (http://www.ala.org/ala/acrl/acrlpubs/rbm/backissuesvol6no2/stekel06.pdf) which I read with great relish. The paper is chock full of important information regarding the core competencies for special collections librarians (where we left off last night in our review of the ARL Task Force Final Status Report) and the current outlook on the job situation.

Rippley's article deliniates core competencies in two venues, both traditional competencies such as knowledge of descriptive bibliography, reference work with primary sources, preservation, and subject knowledge. I think we can all agree that these skills should certainly be considered required core competencies for any individual wishing to work in special collections.

But Rippley's article extended beyond these traditional views of the skills needed by special collections librarians and addressed competencies of a contemporary nature including such hot topics as a knowledge of copyright and intellectual property issues as well as an understanding of image permissions, and the ability to discuss these issues with lawyers for the protection of collections.

A proficiency in multiple languages could be said to linger on the side of traditional competencies but Rippley ups the ante on this one by saying special collections librarians not only need to have a familiarity with European languages but others as well that may be represented in the collection, as evidenced by a librarian working with documents from the Korean and Viet Nam wars.

Ouch! How do we special collection wannabes do it all? How do we develop the traditional research skills, master a variety of languages, and move beyond to incorporate copyright and property issues? That's where the training of special collections librarians come in and that is the next item on Rippley's agenda.

On this subject the paper relates, as we all know, that most education for special collections is available in the "continuing education mode." UVA's Rare Book School provides an invaluable service to that end. This class will be my third course at RBS. I began with a course in the area I wanted to specialize in, publisher's bindings and the 19th century in general, then moved on to tackle one of the core competency areas with what I refer to as "bibliography bootcap," otherwise known as Introduction to Descriptive Bibliography. The course next week will assist me in the larger arena of my chosen field, Introduction to Special Collections Librarianship. But again, I digress. The point I'm trying to get to and that Rippley conveys so much better than I am, is that more is needed. More courses need to be offered more often in library programs. Simple. More rare book schools have sprung up to help fill this need, but library schools need to address this issue with a strong curriculum in this area.

As we near the end of the article Rippley turns her attention to the dearth of positions and the requirements often given for those few positions available. Yes, my dears, it's a jungle out there. Years of experience, at least three to five, are the minimum requirements. Hopefully my years as a rare book room volunteer will stand me in good stead when I am ready to face the market. If your intent is to work in archives, so much the better. There are more positions in archives than for rare book librarians.

And so it goes. Return tomorrow for more points to ponder from the ARL report.

The Task at hand . . .

The ARL Special Collections Task Force Final Status Report, 2006.

The preparatory reading continues with the ARL Special Collections Task Force Final Status Report. I've chosen this report as the next item on my reading agenda for Rare Book School. While this material did not prove as quoteable as Traister's article, it nevertheless dealt with some meaty subject matter. This is going to take some time to comment on and we may be spending a couple of evenings together on this one.

Issued in 2006, the Task Force Final Status Report boils down to a seven point plan followed by an addendum focusing on two major issues and a whole host of recommendations. These seven points were listed in a prioritized order that reflect the views of the Task Force. All seven points are important and worthy of consideration. Frankly I'd rearrange some of them, but I'm truly on the other side of the fence at this point. Not even out of grad school and already I'm trying to re-organize the determinations of better heads than mine!

The Seven Points are:

1. Promote Special Collections as fundamental to the mission of the research library.


2. Enhance access to collections and backlogs, surface "hidden collections." Advocate for and administer funding for projects, and collaborate with RBMS to develop and endorse guidelines for what constitutes adequate access.


3. Define core competencies among special collections librarians and create training opportunities.


4. Gather data on special collections operations.


5. Coordinate planning for collecting 19th and 20th century materials and those in new formats.


6. Coordinate information sharing about digitization efforts.


7. Incorporate some of these issues into agendas of RBMS, SAA, and other ARL standing committees (especially the Collections & Access Issues Committee but also possibly Preservation, Scholarly Communication, Statistics & Measurement, Intellectual Property, and Diversity).

Let's take a look at these seven points one by one. The initial point, promoting special collections as fundamental to the mission of the research library, is indeed a good place to start. An institute's special collections are unique and serve to promote and enhance institutional identity. Special Collections set us apart from each other, giving us a drawing card to lure scholars to our unique resources. This is a good thing. Special Collections also serve to further the institutional mission by providing access and research opportunities for the surrounding community. This too, is a good thing.

Point #2 focuses on "hidden collections," those back room carts overloaded with recent donations, bookseller purchases, priceless manuscripts and paper artifacts that no one knows exists except the special collections staff because none of it has been cataloged. I realize this is a big problem. This treasure hoard can't be used, can't be shelved, can't be restored, can't be digitized, or any number of other things until they've been cataloged. As a means to compensate for this mass of unrecorded material the Task Force launched a survey that resulted in the development of a "preliminary record" format using the MARC 21 format. Grants would be needed in order to find the funds to proceed with the "preliminary records format" procedure. I may well be showing how new I am to all this but could the time and money spent on preliminary records not better be spent on hiring an extra cataloger or two whose main priority would be to catalog an institution's hidden collections? Let's do this once and have done with it.

Item number 3 on the list is where my path truly diverges from that of the Task Force: Define core competencies among special collections librarians and create training opportunities. Certainly a set of core competencies is needed but I might rewrite this one to reflect a greater need. My priority, were I making this list, would be the avid pursuit of job creation for entry level and second tier special collections librarians. The availability of jobs, pure and simple, would solve a good deal of the problems on this list. If there were jobs, library schools would develop courses and programs to meet the need, demand for these courses and programs would be on the rise, rare book school programs would need to increase class size and then there would be a need to develop a set of core competencies across the board.

Alas, I have gone on too long. Adieu for now sweet reader. We shall pick up points to ponder on the next blog.

Stay tuned . . .

"Rare books, we know, are the sexy part of the library world."

This quote by Daniel Traister from his 1986 article "The Rare Book Librarian's Day" (Rare Books & Manuscripts Librarianship 1, no. 2 (1986): 93-106) pretty much sums up the way I feel about rare books. Sexy? Sure they are. Feel the heft and the texture of the pages, marvel at the patina of aged vellum, the softness of old leather, be dazzled by the superabundance of gold stampings, the play of book cloth patterns and . . . well, you get the idea . . . sexy!

Just like most any other class, the courses at Rare Book School have an advanced reading list and Traister's article is on the list for this year's class. Students are expected to have read the suggested material prior to attending. The first course I attended in 2006 had an advanced reading list of ten full length books. It took me a couple of months to plow through them, take notes, and generally immerse myself in the subject. After that course I knew I could handle graduate school.

The reading list for Introduction to Special Collections Librarianship is quite a bit lighter and includes a variety of material such as the ARL Special Collections Task Force Minutes, with a particular focus on the Special Collections Task Force Final Status Report, 2006. Also included are the ever popular and classic dictionary of terms by John Carter, ABC for Book Collectors. A terrific web resource for the novice and a refresher for the addict, Your Old Books, (ALA, 1994) which serves as a fine introduction to anyone curious about, you guessed it, their old books.

But this afternoon I spent the time with Traister in his rare book world and it was an afternoon well spent. I would highly encourage everyone to read this humorous, self deprecating, and realistic view of "a day in the life" of a rare book librarian. It may not be what you think.

I've been fortunate enough to have a few years of experience volunteering/working in a rare book room and from what I have seen Traister's comments are spot on. You may have every intention of spending your day evaluating a recent donation, guiding a student through the collections or perhaps, dream of dreams, researching a fascinating volume you'd like to get to know (and therefore educate yourself, serve scholars, and become more familar with an item in the collection) but the day seldom unravels that way. I have learned that a rare book librarian must be flexible and ready to adapt plans at a moments notice. Really, it just makes a day more exciting.

Some great takeaway points from the article:

• Attendance at special events, visit's with donors, etc., is work.


• Be ready to be charming and erudite to people you've just met and may never see again on subjects that may or may not interest you.


• Your building supervisor is your friend - who else will let you park in a no parking zone when trying to haul donations in the rain?


• Involve your colleagues. It's fun to share, everybody gets a piece of the action, everybody deserves a voice.


• Co-operate with other institutions. It never hurts and everyone feels good about it.


• Clean up after yourself. The books still have go back on the shelf, the chairs straightened and the room put back in order, even after a long day of special guests, class room visits, and drop in scholars.

In short, even in this fast paced and technologically challenging library world we live in today, every word of Traister's article still rings true after 22 years . . . and the books are sexy.

The journey begins

The road to Special Collections Librarianship has indeed been long and winding, but each step takes me on to my desired goal.

I began this journey as a book seller who wanted to know more about the rare books that came my way. I attended the Antiquarian Booksellers Seminar in Colorado Springs, Colorado in 2003. This was a terrific seminar and I learned a great deal. During the course of the week one instructor suggested acquiring some hands on experience by volunteering at a local library. This struck me as a superior idea. I have the good fortune to live near a major university whose library owns a fine group of special collections including a spectacular rare book room and rare book collection.

I began my volunteer activities in November, 2004. My initial task in the rare book room was to describe and research a recently donated collection spanning the 15th - 20th centuries. I loved delving into these volumes, turning the ancient pages, discovering the authors, the events in their lifes that inspired the book I held in my hands and the life the book itself had over the years and centuries since its publication. This was remarkable! This was what I wanted to do!

My next course of action was to take a class at the University of Virginia's Rare Book School. I loved this as well and I began to consider graduate school for a degree in library science. I enrolled in USC's distance program in Fall 2007 to continue my journey.

This blog will serve as a diary of the next leg of my journey as I attend Rare Book School for the third time. The course is called Introduction to Special Collections Librarianship and will be taught by Alice Schreyer, Director of the Special Collections Research Center at the University of Chicago.

Come along with me as I continue the journey.