For immediate release:
August 2, 2010

For more information, contact:
Lee Anne George
Association of Research Libraries
202-296-2296
leeanne@arl.org

Special Collections Engagement, SPEC Kit 317, Published by ARL

Washington DC—The Association of Research Libraries (ARL) has published Special Collections Engagement, SPEC Kit 317, which examines exhibits, events, instruction, and other activities that are targeted to engage students, faculty, and other scholars/researchers with special collections for research and education. It investigates who coordinates these activities, where they are held, how they are promoted, and how they are evaluated.

By the March deadline, responses had been submitted by 79 of the 124 ARL member libraries for a response rate of 64%. A genuine commitment to outreach activities in special collections is evident throughout the responses to this survey. Over 95% of respondents are staging exhibits, holding events, and engaging students and faculty in the use of collections; most institutions are participating in all of these activities, as well as in many others not specifically addressed in the survey. At the heart of all outreach activities are the collections. Libraries are going to great lengths to promote their unique and specialized collection strengths, employing many creative outreach and engagement approaches. While the traditional methods of exhibits, events, and curricular instruction continue to be the emphasis of special collections’ outreach programs, institutions are also embracing opportunities to be active physically beyond the borders of their campuses and virtually through blogs, social networking sites, and other Web 2.0 technologies.

The involvement of staff members in outreach activities is more often determined by a subject knowledge, background, or specialty than by position titles. Outreach activities are rarely the responsibility of a single staff member. Because the responsibilities for outreach are frequently distributed among a number of staff members, it can be difficult for institutions to approach their outreach programming in a cohesive and coordinated manner.

More than two-thirds of the respondents have encountered barriers in providing effective outreach to faculty, students, and other scholars/researchers affiliated with their institutions. Of these, about half cite insufficient staffing as a major impediment, in particular the lack of dedicated outreach staff. Funding, limited hours, and space are often noted together as impediments to outreach efforts. However, despite these roadblocks, the responses to this survey indicate widespread enthusiasm for outreach activities among special collections. Many respondents emphasized a need and desire to build on their current efforts and to do more in the future.

This SPEC Kit includes documentation from respondents in the form of policies and procedures, class request procedures, descriptions of class assignments and resources, job descriptions, and exhibit and event promotional methods.

The table of contents and executive summary from this SPEC Kit are available online at http://www.arl.org/bm~doc/spec-317-web.pdf.

ORDERING INFORMATION


SPEC Kit 317, Special Collections Engagement
Adam Berenbak, Cate Putirskis, Genya O’Gara, Claire Ruswick, Danica Cullinan, Judy Allen Dodson, Emily Walters, and Kathy Brown
August 2010 • ISBN 1-59407-851-3 • 208 pp. • $45 ($35 ARL members)

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SPEC KITS EXCHANGE INFORMATION


Designed to examine current research library practices and policies and serve as resource guides for libraries as they face ever-changing management problems, each SPEC Kit contains a summary analysis, survey questions with tallies, pertinent documentation from participating libraries, and a reading list and Web site references for further information on the topic.

SUBSCRIBE TO SPEC!


2010 SPEC Kit subscription (ISSN 0160-3582): $225 ARL member/$295 nonmember, six issues per year, shipping included (additional postage may apply outside North America).

The Association of Research Libraries (ARL) is a nonprofit organization of 125 research libraries in North America. Its mission is to influence the changing environment of scholarly communication and the public policies that affect research libraries and the diverse communities they serve. ARL pursues this mission by advancing the goals of its member research libraries, providing leadership in public and information policy to the scholarly and higher education communities, fostering the exchange of ideas and expertise, facilitating the emergence of new roles for research libraries, and shaping a future environment that leverages its interests with those of allied organizations. ARL is on the Web at http://www.arl.org/.