"An archive without a catalogue is like a room without a door": inaccessible, unusable, and the cause of much frustration. Still we and our users struggle with uncatalogued archives, our hidden collections. Why don't archive services catalogue these collections? Cataloguing archives takes time, expertise, and space. The scale of hidden collections in the UK is … Continue reading Revealed! How to catalogue your hidden archives
Tag: Metadata
The ILLiad, and other stories
Making Archival and Special Collections More Accessible is a new publication whose name says it all. The good folk at OCLC Research have pulled together seven years of research and summarised it in this handy document. Some of the content will already be familiar to readers of this blog and the Handbook - but it … Continue reading The ILLiad, and other stories
Cataloguing Made Simpler: key rare book standards freely available online
Cataloguers rejoice! DCRM(B) and DCRM(S) are now freely available online. Here: Descriptive Cataloging of Rare Materials (Books) http://rbms.info/dcrm/dcrmb/index.html Descriptive Cataloging of Rare Materials (Serials) http://rbms.info/dcrm/dcrms/index.html Print copies of these standards have been tricky to get hold of in recent years. This welcome initiative from the Library of Congress will save money, time and effort for … Continue reading Cataloguing Made Simpler: key rare book standards freely available online
What’s new (and not so new) in cataloguing
Cataloguing methods and standards are in an exciting and uncertain state. RDA is coming! What does this mean? Like many librarians, I'm waiting to see what will happen. However, we shouldn't worry about the hybrid future in which RDA and AACR2 records will co-exist. It was ever thus, as this piece by Anne Welsh explains. … Continue reading What’s new (and not so new) in cataloguing
Make the Most of Your Maps
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
The Special Collections Handbook 