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 . . .