Merrily Taylor (Brown University)

Summary

Merrily Taylor, Chair of the ARL Research Collections Committee, led the discussion, which was based on the "action agenda" for special collections that emerged from the June 2001 symposium held at Brown University. She provided background on the development of the agenda document and highlighted those items in which the participants, and the members of the Research Collections Committee and Access Committee expressed the most interest.

There was broad consensus around seven areas in which ARL could serve as a leader or as a catalyst. These included:

1. continue the survey of special collections and integrate the regular data gathering into the Statistics program;

2. promote special collections as an integral part of the mission of the research library;

3. promote collective action on special collections issues, working with other relevant organizations;

4. coordinate planning for collecting 19th and 20th century materials and those in new formats;

5. identify "hidden collections" and make access to them a priority;

6. play a role in coordinating information-sharing regarding digitization projects; and

7. determine core competencies for future special collections librarians and help develop new models to train them.

There was active discussion among the approximately 30 participants, and support for the action agenda.

Overview

Last June, over 120 ARL directors and heads of special collections met and explored the unique potential and challenges of special collections in an increasingly electronic environment. Plan to attend this session to learn about the outcomes of Building on Strength: Developing an ARL Agenda for Special Collections, a symposium held at Brown University. The recent ARL publication, Special Collections in ARL Libraries, the results of a 1999 survey, provided background. The symposium featured presentations by David Stam, Sarah Thomas, William Crowe, Robert Byrd, Paul Mosher, and Shirley Baker, as well as break-out sessions for more focused discussion of the issues. Merrily Taylor and Joe Hewitt concluded the symposium with the development of a set of recommendations that form the basis of an ARL action agenda, which will be the focus of this small group discussion.

Recommendations for an agenda cover such topics as:

• the promotion of special collections as an indispensable part of the research library mission,

• the importance of collective action and cooperative programs that address special collections, and

• the need for intellectual access to backlogs of special collections as well as for finding aids to all collections.

This is just a sampling of the many topics that are featured in the proposed ARL Action Agenda for Special Collections.

At this session, members will learn about the results of the Research Collections Committee discussion to identify agenda topics and actions that should be given priority attention. Members will be asked to comment on and contribute to this emerging ARL Agenda for Special Collections.

The draft agenda is on the ARL website http://www.arl.org/special/action.html. Papers or slides from the Symposium are also available on the web http://www.arl.org/special/sched.html.

Proposed discussion questions:

1. For your library, what are the 1 or 2 most important agenda items for Special Collections that ARL could pursue?

2. What is the best way to move forward on these priority agenda items?

3. How should ARL action in this arena be funded?