Special Collections Subcommittee Minutes

Memo

Date: October 30, 1996

To: Ann Okerson

From: Chris Weideman

Re: First meeting of the CDC Special Collections Subcommittee

In attendance: Toby Appel, Bridget Burke, Christine de Vallet, Elisabeth Fairman, Diane Kaplan, George Miles, Fred Musto, Martha Smalley, Richard Warren, Chris Weideman, Richard Williams

Each representative reviewed their holdings of materials, the types of collecting in which they are engaged, and the elements of their gift agreements, when they use one. Although we are diverse in our collecting, we noted areas of overlap. We then discussed issues we want to explore at future meetings. They are:

We have issues related to collection development that we want to pursue, but we also have issues related to collection management and public services in which we share common interests and concerns. Do we want to cover all types of issues and if so which AUL(s) would we report to? If we do want to expand beyond collection development, do we need to enlarge the committee to include representatives from other units, such as the Peabody Museum?

When we take in collections we often end up with duplicates or materials which are outside of our collecting scope. The unwanted materials might be of interest to other units within the library system, but we don't know how to determine to whom to offer them. Who, for example, should books be given to when a special collections unit doesn't want to keep them but doesn't know which selector might want them? We would like to develop a uniform policy for those materials we know won't be of interest to another library unit but might have monetary value. Can we sell them and use the proceeds for the general care and preservation of our holdings? Manuscripts and Archives has recently developed such a policy for stamps - can it be used, in principle, by other units for other kinds of separations?

We will discuss how and when to ask donors for money to support the care and preservation of materials. Each committee member is going to come up with examples of "success stories," within their own unit, of donors who have provided such money. We will then see if we can use the information in a brochure or on an information sheet that can be given to prospective donors as a form of encouragement.

Special collections staff often need to travel to do collection development work; in the past library funds have been an important source of support for such travel. In light of possible cutbacks, we want to make sure that library administration is informed of our needs in this area.

We are particularly interested in the type of storage that will be available in the new offsite shelving facility. Will it allow for special collections needs for non-uniform storage of outsize materials, flat materials, and materials which cannot be placed in boxes? It might be that the offsite facility will only store materials of uniform sizes, and that the space made available in Sterling and elsewhere from the materials moved offsite will be available for the non-uniform materials. Chris Weideman will ask Max Marmor for an update on what has been considered.

In addition, we will share information on how each of us stores three-dimensional objects, and we will discuss what is useful to know about using commercial storage (especially for units that won't use the offsite facility).

This committee is a means by which staff in the various special collections can better communicate with each other; there might be others such as setting up a separate list, like the selectors list, by which we can communicate on a more regular basis. Such a list would be useful, for example, when we have separations from a collection and want to determine if other special collections want them.

We need to investigate how to disseminate information on uncataloged backlogs so that units can determine whether what they're collecting will complement holdings in other units, and/or so that units don't collect duplicate items, especially books.

The University development office sometimes accepts materials without first contacting the special collections unit where the

materials will be kept. All of us have experienced this and we hope you will remind the development office that we need to be consulted. We do understand that there may be times when politics dictate that something be taken, even if we don't want it. If those materials require special care or resources we don't have, we will ask for your help.

We need to know how to negotiate with donors what "fair use" is when we acquire collections of photographs, or prints/posters. If we don't do so, then it is almost impossible to know whether we can grant permission to publish from those collections.

We need to know how to respond to researchers who want to publish materials from our collections in digitized form.

We want to know what plans, if any, units have for scanning their holdings. We can learn much from these undertakings and possibly discover opportunities for jointly funded projects.

We have decided to meet monthly rather than quarterly, at least for the time being.

Our next meeting will be in November or early December and we will address items 1-5. Please let me know if you have any questions. If you have thoughts about the items listed, especially 1 or 2, we would be very interested in them.

cc: Max Marmor

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