Special Collections and Archives

EBLIPFifteen articles about a range of assessment activities in academic libraries are featured in the latest issue of Evidence Based Library and Information Practice (EBLIP vol. 8, no. 2). An editorial by Martha Kyrillidou and Damon Jaggars summarizes the themes of these papers selected from the 2010 Library Assessment Conference proceedings.

Digital Archives SpecialistARL is working with the Society of American Archivists (SAA) to offer Digital Archives Specialist (DAS) courses targeted for staff in ARL member institutions. ARL and SAA will deliver four DAS courses back-to-back in a single week, traveling across 11 different ARL host libraries over the next 18 months.

Yesterday the US National Archives and Records Administration (NARA), through its National Historical Publications and Records Commission (NHPRC), along with the University of Virginia Press launched a beta version of the Founders Online website. Founders Online provides free, searchable access to over 119,000 letters and other documents written and received by George Washington, Benjamin Franklin, John Adams (and family), Thomas Jefferson, Alexander Hamilton, and James Madison. 

This March 7, 2013, webcast presented by ARL and Ithaka S+R provides an overview of the recent report of the same name as well as community responses to the findings. Speakers include Judy Ruttenberg (ARL), Nancy Maron (Ithaka S+R), Lisa Carter (Ohio State University), Anne Kenney (Cornell University), Ann Thornton (New York Public Library), and Sarah Pickle (Ithaka S+R).

While many research libraries have begun to digitize their collections and share best practices around the steps required to create digital content, much less is known about what happens post-launch. Building on previous research by Ithaka S+R that defined key aspects of sustainable digital content, Appraising our Digital Investment: Sustainability of Digitized Special Collections in ARL Libraries offers a first look at the practices, attitudes, costs, and revenues associated with caring for digitized special collections. The report shares results from a survey conducted on the sustainability of digitized special collections at ARL member institutions.

 digitizing-special-collections-report-21feb13.pdf

Photo of Jack Kerouac manuscript, image © Thomas HawkARL and Ithaka S+R today released Appraising our Digital Investment: Sustainability of Digitized Special Collections in ARL Libraries, a report on findings from an ARL-Ithaka S+R survey of ARL libraries on the range of activities and expenses that libraries undertake to support their digitized special collections.

Poster presented at the LCDP Luminary Class, June 2012. The decisions that academic libraries and special collections make today, in a context of rapid technologicaland other change, will shape the research of historians of the future. Certain types of primary sources of special interest to historians of science and technology—including scientific texts, journal literature, archival documents of research institutions, and manuscript papers of scientists and engineers—are often stewarded by academic libraries, with particular responsibility assumed by science- and technology-focused institutions. Recent trends in collection development and management will have major implications for tomorrow's scholars. What does it mean for both current and future historians of science and technology that more and more sources are full-text searchable online, and that more and more print sources are stored off-site? Will scholars be affected by libraries licensing rather than owning digital content? Will today's born-digital counterparts to yesterday's paper publications, documents, and images be accessible? Are research libraries and special collections currently capturing and preserving the same kinds of primary sources that historians of science and technology have relied on, and are there other kinds of sources we should be preserving?

lcdp-2012-poster-baildon-michelle.pdf

Poster presented at the LCDP Luminary Class, June 2012. How have research libraries chronicled the lives of African American students on campus? What are the subject headings and finding aids for student organizations, dissertations, sororities and fraternities, or oral histories? What factors (procedure, personnel, Alumni groups) have impacted the inclusion of materials in library collections?

lcdp-2012-poster-maxey-harris-charlene.pdf

SPEC Kit 329 explores the tools, workflow, and policies special collections and archives staff use to process, manage, and provide access to born-digital materials they collect. It also looks at which staff process and manage born-digital materials and how they acquire the skills they need for these activities, and how libraries have responded to the challenges that managing born-digital materials present. It includes documentation from respondents that describe digital specialists’ job responsibilities, collection policies, gift/purchase agreements, format policies, and workflows.

This publication is available for purchase in both online and print versions. Download the spec-kit-purchase-options-2013.pdf  for complete pricing and purchase options information.

Link to the online SPEC Kit 329 on the ARL Digital Publications website.

RLI issue 279 includes:

• Digitization of Special Collections and Archives: Legal and Contractual Issues
• Model Deed of Gift
• Model Deed of Gift, including Mixed IP Rights
• Model Digitization Agreement
• Copyright Risk Management: Principles and Strategies for Large-Scale Digitization Projects in Special Collections