This may be just sending the proverbial "Owls to Athens"
but just in case ...
June
========================
Primary Research Group has published
Trends in Rare Book & Documents Special Collections Management
(ISBN: 1-57440-095-9).
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manuscripts, maps, and other historical documents.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.
Some of the main findings of the report were that:
? Trends in special collections libraries management are relatively
stable in terms of acquisitions, staff, and preservation strategy but
are in a transition with newer issues such as choosing new technologies
and growing an online presence with more searchable, browsable
features.
? Consortiums and, to a lesser degree, relationships with commercial
vendors have played a large role in bringing digitization projects,
catalog availability, and general publicity to special collections
libraries that otherwise might lack the resources to work on such
projects. Similarly, many smaller libraries simply lack the resources
to develop complex applications to manage data or streamline workflows,
and are dependent on larger libraries to provide the programming
expertise and developmental leadership to offer solutions, open source
or otherwise.
? Relationships with commercial vendors to provide limited edition
materials and other items for sale seem to be on the upswing.
? Nearly all librarians we spoke to mentioned an interest in digitizing
their patron tracking system, for instance, but no vendors had provided
a way to effectively address the needs of a special collections
library. Most currently use entirely paper records, and the very few
who used any kind of digital tracking had not progressed beyond simple
Microsoft Excel sheets.
? We found that digitization generally has a dual purpose but is
currently more effective in piquing interest and drawing Web traffic
than it is in preservation. Digitization may also help with making
available collections that are normally stored offsite, but a certain
amount of technological infrastructure needs to be in place before any
of this can happen.
? Online exhibits with metadata-tagged images and text also bring in
significant additional traffic and publicity. These exhibits do not
have to be large or comprehensive of the collection itself in order to
draw in viewers and researchers, but lack of infrastructure and staff
resources often blocks libraries from doing such projects. In these
cases, consortiums can play a significant role in digitizing exhibits
when the home institution is not equipped to work on such projects
alone.
? In general, great productivity gains may be accrued if smaller, less
well financed special collections could tap into the economies of scale
and expertise of the larger, or better financed collections.
For further information view our website at
www.PrimaryResearch.com
=============================
June Samaras
KALAMOS BOOKS
(For Books about Greece)
2020 Old Station Rd
Streetsville,Ontario
Canada L5M 2V1
Tel : 905-542-1877
E-mail : kalamosbooks(a)gmail.com
(or) kalamosbks(a)aol.com
www.kalamosbooks.com