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.