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!
Showing posts with label ARL Task Force. Show all posts
Showing posts with label ARL Task Force. Show all posts
Sunday, July 20, 2008
Friday, July 18, 2008
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!
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!
Saturday, July 12, 2008
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:
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 . . .
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:
- Promote Special Collections as fundamental to the mission of the research library.
- 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.
- Define core competencies among special collections librarians and create training opportunities.
- Gather data on special collections operations.
- Coordinate planning for collecting 19th and 20th century materials and those in new formats.
- Coordinate information sharing about digitization efforts.
- 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).
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 . . .
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