Yale University Library Collection Development Council

Special Collections Subcommittee Memo

October 14, 1996

Memo

To: CDC Special Collections Subcommittee

From: Chris Weideman

I would like to suggest we schedule our first meeting for 9 am on Tuesday or Wednesday, October 22 or October 23. I believe we will need 90 minutes for the first meeting. The location will be Arts of the Book in Sterling. Please let me know if you cannot make one or both of the dates. I would like to try and have everyone in attendance for the first meeting, if possible. We can then work through whether there is a preferred meeting time. I believe that after the first meeting, our subsequent meetings can be shorter. Right now, I am assuming we will meet once every quarter. If members want to meet more frequently we can do so.

The idea for this subcommittee originated when Ann Okerson suggested reorganizing CDC to make it more effective. I have been a member of CDC since my arrival at Yale in October, 1993.

I have found their discussions to be interesting and illuminating, but because of their orientation towards books and electronic resources, they have had very little to do with collection development issues faced by special collections. In Manuscripts and Archives we have very definite issues with which we deal when building our collections and I have long wondered whether these are the same issues faced by other special collections in the library system. I suggested to Ann and CDC, therefore, that a subcommittee be set up comprised of representatives from the various special collections to meet and determine whether there are issues they share in common and how they are dealt with. The committee would also serve as a communications vehicle to keep Ann informed of our problems, concerns, and needs as they relate to collection development. CDC agreed and asked me to serve as chair and I am happy to do so. After each meeting, I will write a report to Ann on our discussions. Ann will not be attending our meetings on a regular basis, but will instead rely on us to inform her of meetings when we need her presence.

As you know from my message to you this summer, I am defining Special Collections as unique or rare non-book materials, including manuscripts, archives, and audio-visuals. I would also include three dimensional objects, although paintings are a whole category unto themselves and are outside the range of this committee. The CDC itself is the main vehicle within the library system for dealing with collection development issues related to books, hence we will concentrate on non-book issues. This does not mean that we have to exclude books entirely from our discussions. If the issues related to collecting rare books, for example, are very different from what gets discussed at CDC and you want to devote some time to discussing them, we will do so.

At our first meeting, I think we need to establish an understanding of what each of us collects in the way of non-book materials and how we do so. I would ask all of you to come to the meeting prepared to spend five minutes answering the following questions for your unit:

What is your collecting mission or philosophy?
Are you primarily engaged in proactive or reactive collecting, or some combination of both?
How do you collect - through purchase, donation, or both?
Do you have a gift agreement and what are the major elements of it? (If you can bring along 12 copies of your agreement, I am sure everyone would be interested in seeing them.)

Once we have a common understanding of what we collect, we can move on to a discussion of the major issues each of us face in building our collections. In Manuscripts and Archives, for example, before we can bring in a collection that fits within our collecting policy, at the very least we have to make sure we have space for it (not just shelf space, sometimes we need flat storage), and that we have staff available to do appraisal, arrangement, and description of the materials. I'm sure others of you deal with the same issues of resource availability.

Do we all have a problem or problems in common (such as not enough flat storage, or lack of environmentally protected storage for sensitive a-v materials) that impact our collecting ability such that we need to propose a solution and discuss it with Ann?
Do you find that sometimes persons outside your unit commit to accepting a collection on your behalf without an understanding of the concerns you might have about the collection?
When you accept a donation of materials, do you ever approach the donor for a financial contribution to support the care and preservation of the materials?

These are just several examples of what the subcommittee might discuss. I believe such discussions will serve a valuable function, and we can all learn from the approaches taken in another unit.

If, after reading the above and/or attending the first meeting, you do not believe this subcommittee will be of benefit to you, you may withdraw. This is the first time such a committee has been put together and it might not be helpful or relevant enough for some of you to warrant the investment of time to attend the meetings. This is entirely up to you.

Attached is a membership list of the subcommittee. If you have any questions, don't hesitate to call me at 432-1740. Please let me know about meeting dates as soon as possible (responding by e-mail is fine).

Members of the CDC Special Collections Subcommittee, 1996-1997

Toby Appel Historical Medical

Bridget Burke Arts of the Book

Ken Crilly Music Library

Christine de Vallet Art and Architecture, Drama

Elisabeth Fairman British Art Center

Diane Kaplan Manuscripts and Archives

Ulla Kasten Babylonian Collection

George Miles Beinecke, CDC

Fred Musto Map Library

Martha Smalley Divinity Library

Richard Warren Historical Sound

Chris Weideman Manuscripts and Archives, CDC

First meeting October 30, 1996

Return to Minutes/Agendas

Send comments to ann.okerson@yale.edu