Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Archival Research In The Time Of Coronavirus, Kelly K. Hudson, Heather Gilbert

South Carolina Libraries

Two Special Collections directors explore the challenges and strategies of delivering archival services during a global pandemic at their respective academic repositories: Special Collections at the College of Charleston and the Harry Ransom Center at the University of Texas.

Book Review: Creating The South Caroliniana Library, Ron Stafford

South Carolina Libraries

No abstract provided.

Distilling A Collection: Creating A Distilling, Fermenting, And Brewing Special Collection At The James E. Walker Library, Alan Boehm, Susan J. Martin, Rachel Kirk

The Southeastern Librarian

This essay recounts the steps we took to launch the new Distilling, Fermenting, and Brewing Collection in our Special Collections department. It began with the routine task of weeding our general collection but quickly led to other activities which included a broader collection analysis; consideration of campus, local and state resources; consultation with development and fundraising staff; and research in the anti-quarian trade. Knowing what we had and what we could acquire in the book market, surmising the po-tential for private and industry support, and understanding the multiple scholarly possibilities embed-ded in our collection, we embarked on building a resource …

Aim High: Pushing Collaboration And Outreach Limits For The 50th Anniversary Of Apollo 11, Molly Stothert-Maurer, Julie Swarstad Johnson

Journal of Contemporary Archival Studies

Exhibits in archives and special collections function as an important outreach tool for these specialized, sometimes formidable repositories. Exhibits increase public knowledge of available collections, promote engagement with those collections, reach new audiences, and provide opportunities to build bridges across campus units. This case study looks at a rotating exhibition titled Moon at the University of Arizona Libraries Special Collections created to commemorate the fiftieth anniversary of the Apollo 11 Moon landing on July 20, 2019. This article covers exhibit design, programming and events that accompanied the exhibit, and coordinated efforts across the University of Arizona campus to celebrate this …

A Quiet Celebration Of Whitman’S 200th Birthday: A Collaborative Opportunity To Discover, Grow, And Share A Collection, Blythe E. Roveland-Brenton, Bern Mulligan

Collaborative Librarianship

Over the past several years, special collections libraries and archives have been more proactive in engaging in educational outreach and promoting forward-facing programs. Additionally, subject and special collections librarians have sought ways to expand their collaboration to maximize their reach and impact. The occasion of the 200th anniversary of Walt Whitman’s birth was the perfect opportunity for two librarians at Binghamton University to collaborate, promote a jewel from the Libraries’ holdings, build a stronger collection, and interact with local audiences through an exhibit and events.

Perspectives And Practices: Archival Processing Metrics Survey Findings, Cyndi Shein, Sarah R. Jones, Tammi Kim, Karla Irwin

Journal of Contemporary Archival Studies

Professional literature and case studies demonstrate that processing metrics are valuable in advocating for resources, informing priorities, supporting grant proposals, and predicting costs for collection storage and care. This article analyzes responses to an archival processing metrics survey that gathered perspectives and practices from archivists working in a variety of repository types. The findings describe how archivists collect processing metrics in different ways, what data points they view as essential, and how they use certain data points to serve specific purposes. The findings indicate that although most respondents acknowledge the value of processing metrics, the majority of them still do …

Balancing The Art And Science Of Archival Processing Metrics And Assessment, Cyndi Shein, Sarah R. Jones, Tammi Kim, Karla Irwin

Journal of Western Archives

At the University of Nevada, Las Vegas (UNLV) University Libraries, archival processing metrics are used to support value propositions, project proposals, project management, and strategic planning. When making data-driven decisions, UNLV Special Collections Technical Services staff strive to balance the art and science of archival processing metrics—to critically assess their data and look beyond the numbers for additional information that brings meaning to the metrics. In this research paper, the authors review processing metrics across the profession and place their own archival processing field data within the context of more than three decades of professional practice. They report and explore …

Review Of Advocacy And Awareness For Archivists, Erin Hurley

Journal of Western Archives

Review of Kathleen Roe's book Advocacy and Awareness for Archivists.

Review Of Digital Preservation In Libraries: Preparing For A Sustainable Future, Lara Michels

Journal of Western Archives

Review of Digital Preservation in Libraries: Preparing for a Sustainable Future, edited by Jeremy Myntti and Jessalyn Zoom.

History In The Making: Outreach And Collaboration Between Special Collections And Makerspaces, Erin Passehl-Stoddart, Ashlyn Velte, Kristin J. Henrich, Annie M. Gaines Mlis

Collaborative Librarianship

Makerspaces present unique possibilities for creative partnerships within libraries, including the opportunity for interdisciplinary use of emerging technologies with archival objects and primary sources. One example of this type of interdisciplinary collaboration is the fabrication of cultural heritage replicas via 3D scanning and printing of historical university objects in academic libraries. Two departments in the University of Idaho Library, Special Collections and Archives (SPEC) and the Making, Innovating, and Learning Laboratory (MILL), partnered on such a project as a way to broaden maker competencies across library departments, leverage interdisciplinary connections between emerging technologies and historic archives, and create innovative outreach …

Learn By Doing: Cal Poly Pomona's Efforts To Modernize Archival Practices And Increase Student Life Records In Special Collections And Archives Through Collaborative Partnerships, Katie Richardson, Alexis Adkins, Elizabeth Gomez

Collaborative Librarianship

"Learn by Doing" focuses on the steps Cal Poly Pomona Special Collections and Archives staff have taken to modernize and align unit practices with other special collections and archival repositories in the field and their effort to increase the documentation of student life in their university archives. The article outlines steps taken, lessons learned, partnerships established along the way, and suggestions for those wishing to engage in a similar endeavor.

Reflections On Digitization, Outreach, And The Value Of Ephemera In Special Collections: A Case Study, Gregory K. Seppi

Journal of Western Archives

This case study describes the process L. Tom Perry Special Collections used to create and promote a digital collection of ephemera on Internet Archive. It follows the process from selection to uploading, discusses how decisions related to digitization were made, and how the collection was promoted following digitization. This paper establishes the value of digitizing ephemera related to topics known to be of interest to patrons and demonstrates one approach to special collections outreach. Data gathered during the creation of this case study demonstrates that even small efforts to promote digital collections can significantly improve usage of niche ephemera collections …

Georgia Library Association - Coastal Georgia Library Collaborative, Vivian F. Bynoe, Kristi L. Smith

Georgia Library Quarterly

No abstract provided.

A Shared Space: The Collaborative Alliance Between The College Of Charleston Special Collections And The South Carolina Historical Society Archives, Mary Jo Fairchild, Molly Inabinett, Joshua Minor

Provenance, Journal of the Society of Georgia Archivists

In December 2014, the South Carolina Historical Society relocated nearly 5,000 linear feet of manuscript material and more than 3,000 rare books and monographs to a shared space within the Special Collections department at the College of Charleston’s Addlestone Library. Exploration of the antecedents and evolution of this partnership between a private non-profit manuscript archive and a public academic repository can demonstrate lessons learned from the process of condensing archival spaces and personnel to create a deeply rich repository for research and inquiry. In the absence of a formula or analytical framework for the envisioned collaboration, stakeholders at each institution …

Altmetrics And Archives, Elizabeth Joan Kelly

Journal of Contemporary Archival Studies

Altmetrics are an alternative to traditional measurement of the impact of published resources. While altmetrics are primarily used by researchers and institutions to measure the impact of scholarly publications online, they can also be used by archives to measure the impact of their diverse online holdings, including digitized and born-digital collections, digital exhibits, repository websites, and online finding aids. Furthermore, altmetrics may fill a need for user engagement assessments for cultural heritage organizations. This article introduces the concept of altmetrics for archives and discusses barriers to adoption, best practices for collection, and potential further areas of study.

The Marlin Fitzwater Papers

Kansas State University Libraries

A legendary alumnus donates his personal collection to the Richard L.D. and Marjorie J. Morse Department of Special Collections

Merging Special Collections With Gis Technology To Enhance The User Experience, Gina L. Nichols

School of Information Student Research Journal

This analysis evaluates how PhillyHistory.org merged their unique special collection materials with geospatial-based progressive technology to challenge and educate the global community. A new generation of technologically savvy researchers has emerged that expect a more enhanced user experience than earlier generations. To meet these needs, collection managers are collaborating with community and local institutions to increase online access to materials; mixing best metadata practices with custom elements to create map mashups; and merging progressive GIS technology and geospatial based applications with their collections to enhance the user experience. The PhillyHistory.org website was analyzed to explore how they used various geospatial …

Miniature Books At Maxwell Library, Marcia Dinneen

Bridgewater Review

No abstract provided.

Attitudes About And The Affects Of The Use Of Student Assistants In Special Collections And Archives., Carol Waggoner-Angleton

Provenance, Journal of the Society of Georgia Archivists

The continuing backlog in collections processing could be reduced through the application of More Product Less Process (MPLP) or other approaches, but the effort is still hampered by a lack of personnel to assign to processing. This discussion addresses whether it is possible to consider student assistants a viable labor source in special collections and archives to mitigate this personnel gap. A retrospective literature review determined historical attitudes toward the use of student assistants in academic libraries and the tasks that students were capable of performing. Study participants practicing in Special Collections and Archives in academic libraries in Georgia were …

An Interview With University Archivist Orson Kingsley, Ellen Scheible

Bridgewater Review

It has been about one year since Bridgewater State hired Orson Kingsley to become the head of the university’s archives, a large and growing treasure trove of information about our institutional history and the people who have passed through our doors. In September 2012, Bridgewater Review Associate Editor Ellen Scheible visited Mr. Kingsley in his Maxwell Library office and asked him to reflect on the role of the university archivist and his experiences at Bridgewater State.

Discovery Tools And Local Metadata Requirements In Academic Libraries, Mary S. Wood

School of Information Student Research Journal

As the second decade of the twenty-first century commences, academic librarians who work to promote collection access must not only contend with a vast array of content available in a wide range of formats, but they must also ensure that new technologies developed to accommodate user search behaviors yield satisfactory outcomes. Next generation discovery tools are designed to streamline the search process and facilitate better search results by incorporating metadata from proprietary and local collections, then by providing relevancy-ranked results. This paper investigates the implications of discovery tool use for accessing materials housed in institutional repositories and special collections, in …

Exposing Ourselves: A Case Study In Collection Management Software Implementation, Suellyn Lathrop, Sue Lynn Mcdaniel, Nancy Richey

The Southeastern Librarian

In the 21st century, libraries are well aware of the problem of hidden collections and so must seek by computer technology to make these “virtually” hidden collections available to our clients in a single, easy-to-use database. The Kentucky Library & Museum (KYLM), which opened in 1939, houses the special collections department of Western Kentucky University Libraries, and holds materials collected from 1919 to the present. Special collection libraries and archives such as the KYLM are known for their diversity of materials including manuscripts, ephemera, institutional records, maps, images, objects, audio and video recordings. These collections are of great research value …

Sports Holdings In The Southeastern Conference University Libraries: Football As A Case Study, William F. Meehan Iii, Margaret A. Swanson, Catherine O. Yates, Emily N. Decker

The Southeastern Librarian

Of the twelve National Collegiate Athletic Association’s (NCAA) Division I Football Bowl Subdivision conferences, the Southeastern Conference (SEC) has attained prominence. But how do the SEC’s university libraries fare when evaluated for their football holdings? While university libraries develop their collections mainly to support research and teaching functions, according to accepted collection development practice, the extent to which sports of local importance are represented in their collections is a subject given little attention in the professional literature.

In order to help close the gap, this study evaluates the football holdings of the 12 SEC university library systems using the checklist …

Adjusting Cutter Numbers For Composers At The University Of Southern Mississippi Libraries, Miao Jin, Erin Boyd

The Southeastern Librarian

In music cataloging, two primary methods are used for assigning Cutter numbers for composers. Some libraries maintain a list of composer Cutter numbers and then assign the same number to a composer in all music classes, i.e., Yale University’s Composer Cutter List at www.library.yale.edu/cataloging/music/cutter. Other libraries, including the Library of Congress, do not assign fixed Cutter numbers to individual composers, and are only consistent within single music classifications (Smiraglia 2008). There are advantages and disadvantages to the use of fixed Cutter numbers. Catalogers tend to memorize the numbers for major composers. This saves time as catalogers do not have to …

I Wonder Who's Using Us Now: Hurricane Katrina's Influence On Use Of Special Collections At The University Of New Orleans Library, Florence M. Jumonville

The Southeastern Librarian

On the afternoon of Friday, August 26, 2005, a student approached the reference desk at the University of New Orleans (UNO) library’s Louisiana and Special Collections Reading Room and returned the book from the UNO Faculty Authors Collection that he had been perusing. It was a routine transaction, and department personnel had no inkling that this one would be the last that their department would make for more than four months. Weatherwatchers, however, already were aware of the threat posed by Hurricane Katrina, which was then churning in the Gulf of Mexico. Television broadcasts that evening brought alarming forecasts which …

Back To The Stone Age: How Clemson’S Architecture Library Built A Builders’ Sample Collection, Gypsey Teague, Kathryn Wesley

The Southeastern Librarian

Libraries are no longer bound by print and paper. In this digital age, where Library 2.0 is a buzzword among the academic librarians, online resources are increasingly becoming the norm. How, then, do librarians serve students of construction, landscape architecture, and architecture, and provide them with hands-on examples of materials they will encounter once they graduate, when most databases represent these products only in the form of online images? This was one of the problems faced by the Gunnin Architecture Library at Clemson University when a new Master’s program in Landscape Architecture was initiated two years ago.

University Of South Carolina, Contentdm, And The Ege Leaves, Sara Swain

The Southeastern Librarian

Discusses how the University of South Carolina digitized the Oto F. Ege Leaves Special Collection to make the collection more widely available.

New Voices: Digital Description And Access: The Hugo L. Black Collection At The University Of Alabama School Of Law Library, Julie Griffith Kees

The Southeastern Librarian

The following paper was presented at the 2002 SELA/South Carolina Library Association Joint Conference in Charleston, South Carolina, as part of the “New Voices” program, sponsored by the University and College Libraries Section (UCLS) of SELA. The Southeastern Librarian is pleased to reprint the paper in its entirety.

The Hugo L. Black Collection consists of an extensive book collection, various exhibits, personal correspondence, tapes and transcripts of interviews, descriptions of court decisions, office materials, biographical and bibliographical information, photographs, student papers, lecture notes, and personal memorabilia. Hugo LaFayette Black served two terms as a United States Senator, was an Associate …

Low Tech And High Tech: The Spectrum Of Special Collections Use In A Technological Institute, Anne A. Salter, Marilyn Williamson

The Southeastern Librarian

The gradual expansion of the Georgia Institute of Technology ‘s Library and Special Collection has resulted in a unique and outstanding science and technological research facility. The process was expanded by a number of individuals who dedicated their professional years to improving the holdings. Unique among these treasures is the first edition of Newton’s Principia. Collecting, preserving, and utilizing the new technologies to expand access to this outstanding collection has proved challenging. The primary materials, carefully collected over the years, are being protected and made available through traditional means; while at the same time technological advances are being utilized to …