Maps often occupy a paradoxical position in special collections. On the one hand, they are star items. People love maps, responding with delight to their personal ("there's my house!"), historic or visual interest. However, maps are often underexploited. They can be difficult to store, catalogue and make available in helpful ways. In particular, enquirers tend … Continue reading Make the Most of Your Maps
Hidden Collections in the UK
One of the greatest problems facing Special Collections services is the legacy of historic collecting policies - or, rather, lack of them: hidden collections. Uncatalogued, sometimes wanted, sometimes not, taking up space and resources and causing all kinds of problems. As I quote in the Handbook, such collections really are our dirty little (big?) secret. … Continue reading Hidden Collections in the UK
Emergency Toolkit
An essential new book from the Handbook's publishers, Facet Publishing, on a subject which is the very heart of special collections librarianship: Emergency planning and response for libraries, archives and museums, by Emma Dadson. To quote my comments on the Facet website, this book is ... "A realistic and practical primer on all aspects of … Continue reading Emergency Toolkit
Delivering Value for Money: Internal Marketing Matters
I just discovered (thanks to an academic colleague) a very useful dissertation available online. Elizabeth Morgan's dissertation (UCL, 2010), Delivering Value for Money: why and how institutional archives should market themselves to their internal publics, explains why internal marketing/advocacy is absolutely essential. She includes lots of great realistic examples of what can be done, drawn … Continue reading Delivering Value for Money: Internal Marketing Matters
British Armorial Bindings: Heraldry Online
Delighted to see the British Armorial Bindings database online, thanks to the Bibliographical Society of London and the University of Toronto. Building on the work of the late John Morris, continued by Philip Oldfield, the database aims to offer a "comprehensive catalogue of all the coats of arms, crests, and other heraldic devices that have … Continue reading British Armorial Bindings: Heraldry Online
52 Fantastic Bindings – what next?
Special Collections at the University of St Andrews have been running a weekly series: 52 Weeks of Fantastic Bindings, highlighting the gorgeous bindings of their rare books and manuscripts. I mentioned this great series before, but, now that the 52 Weeks are over, I think it's time to mention it again! The series is worth … Continue reading 52 Fantastic Bindings – what next?
Special, Safe and Secure
An impressive new work published by the Association of College & Research Libraries offers comprehensive coverage of all aspects of security for special collections: Guide to security considerations and practices for rare book, manuscript and special collection libraries, compiled and edited by Everett Wilkie (ACRL, 2011). The book offers definitive expert guidance on this vital … Continue reading Special, Safe and Secure
Alone in the Reading Room
Archivists and librarians in UK special collections often work solo. Managing reader access in this situation is challenging. Helen Weller, archivist at Westminster College, asked the archives-nra discussion list members for tips on how to cope, and shared them via a guest blog on the LIS New Professional's Toolkit site: Lone archivists and reading … Continue reading Alone in the Reading Room
23 Things …
There are many amazing web tools out there which make working life easier (lovely Zotero for instance). However, it can be hard to find time to explore them and see whether they are worth using. Which brings me to 23 Things for Professional Development ... back by popular demand on 7 May 2012. 23 Things … Continue reading 23 Things …
Exhibiting the Written Word
A new report, Exhibiting the Written Word, makes the excellent point that "there has been little reflection on the challenges of displaying the written word and how such displays differ from the display of art and museum artefacts". The report outlines the challenges e.g. book formats were not (usually) created to be shown in glass … Continue reading Exhibiting the Written Word
The Special Collections Handbook 