2014 Conference

Permanent URI for this collectionhttps://hdl.handle.net/11213/8548

Presentations and materials from “Retrofit: Exploring Space, Place, and the Artifact in Special Collections,” the 55th Annual RBMS Preconference, Las Vegas, NV, June 24-27, 2014.

Browse

Now showing 1 - 19 of 19

Open Access
2014 Midwinter Meetings Schedule
(2014-01)
Open Access
2014 Annual Meetings Schedule
(2014-06)
Open Access
Unveiling the Past: Hidden Diversity in the Archives
(2014-06) Del Cohen, Shayne; Kelly, Mike; Mitchell, Paula; Joffrion, Elizabeth
Many special collections departments hold materials that directly or indirectly document Native American history and culture. In recent years, there has been a growing recognition that holding these collections places a certain responsibility upon institutions to reach out to the tribal organizations from which these materials originated, but from whom these collections have been “hidden” for years or decades. Additionally, as special collections increasingly seek to collect materials reflecting the full diversity of our cultural heritage, institutions are collaborating directly with tribal organizations to develop and share historical documentation. The speakers in this seminar would be asked to speak to the sensitive processes surrounding these collections, including acquisition, processing and access, outreach, and donor relations.
Open Access
Back to the Future: The Reinvention of the Library Catalog, Yesterday, Today, and Tomorrow
(2014-06) Miller, Eric; Sotelo, Aislinn; Schneider, Nina M.
It was just about 50 years ago when an earlier generation of catalogers came together to develop a statement of cataloging principles while at the same time facing down the inevitable obsolescence of the catalog card. Today we are seeing the adoption of a new set of rules based on a conceptual theory of bibliographic functions along with a new display of our rare materials metadata. In this seminar we will provide a brief overview of how we got to where we are today and how a new initiative for web-based bibliographic data (BIBFRAME) is currently changing the way we search and link information. How can Special Collections take advantage of these changes to provide enhanced access to rare materials?
Open Access
Publishing for Professional Growth
(2014-06) Bahde, Anne; Dibbell, Jeremy; Pigza, Jessica; Theisen, Colleen; Overholt, John
There are many reasons why a special collections professional might embark on the promising though perilous journey of publishing one’s work: for tenure or promotion, to extend outreach efforts, or to share ideas and research findings among a community of peers, to name a few. But writing and publishing, whether it takes a traditional route or makes use of online media, can present a big challenge. So how does one manage it? In this seminar, the four speakers will draw on their own experiences writing for different audiences, in different formats, and with different ambitions. They will share ideas and suggestions for getting started and staying focused (and sane) while tackling a variety of writing projects with professional development goals in mind.
Open Access
Conducting Programmatic Assessment in Special Collections
(2014-06) Bakkalbasi, Nisa; Conway, Martha O'Hara; Dupont, Christian; Kyrillidou, Martha
Bewildered by assessment? Learn from experts about practical steps you can take to conceive and carry out meaningful assessment initiatives at your institution. Hear how Columbia University conducted a large-scale study of its special collections users with the Archival Metrics Toolkit. Find out about the latest revisions to the annual ARL and ACRL statistical surveys and how they impact your library. See what RBMS has been doing in partnership with SAA to develop new collections, user, and use metrics to support local data gathering and inter-institutional comparisons. Get the latest on the development of primary source information literacy competency standards and how they can enhance instructional outreach. Come away equipped and energized to improve your library operations and services through programmatic assessment activities.
Open Access
What Do People Want and How to Get It to Them: Patron- Driven Processing Priorities
(2014-06) Hackbart-Dean, Pam; McDonald, Susan Potts; Slomba, Elizabeth
Special Collections librarians constantly consider how to prioritize access, tackle backlogs, and get patrons the materials they want with limited resources. Why not let our researchers guide our choices? This seminar explores how to develop strategies for setting patron-driven priorities based on localized recommendations and course requests. Practical instruction will illustrate how to channel researcher involvement into your collection development and processing decisions while developing rare book and manuscript collections. This session presents the most current knowledge on creating and setting priorities and developing long-range plans based on patron requests and how this approach can provide a much-needed focus for any special collections repository.
Open Access
Crowdsourcing: The Possibilities and Pitfalls of User Participation
(2014-06) Federman, Rebecca; Inman, Michael; Mollan, Mark C.; Prickman, Greg; Horowitz, Sarah
Many libraries have been posting collections of materials on the internet for users across the world to transcribe, tag, or describe. These crowdsourcing projects draw on resources beyond those an institution can command, open the collections to many users who might not otherwise find them, and can generate excellent publicity, but may also generate unexpected pitfalls. The speakers on this panel have all been involved in crowdsourcing projects (DIY History, What’s On the Menu, and Old Weather), and will bring their expertise to a discussion of when and why to use crowdsourcing, what to consider before starting a project, and what others can learn from both their successes and disappointments.
Open Access
III. Closing Plenary: Library/Archive as Place
(2014-06) Reilly, Jim; Gore, Emily; Mattern, Shannon; Holada, Jessica
Our closing plenary will delve into the construction and use of space, both physical and digital. Jim Reilly will address planning and implementing preservation strategies that balance effectiveness, cost, and environmental impact. Emily Gore will focus on the increasing opportunities for special collections libraries outreach via the development of new digital spaces. Shannon Mattern will share her research on the relationships between materialities of media and spaces by exploring the library/archive as a physical and metaphorical place.
Open Access
II. Marketplace
(2014-06) Musinsky, Nina; Enniss, Steve; Light, Michelle; D'Agostino, Rachel
Thursday’s plenary will examine the marketplace and its effect on the special collections ecosystem. Nina Musinsky will offer an overview of the market as a member of the rare book trade. Steve Enniss will follow with an upper-level administrator’s perspective on the marketplace. Michelle Light will consider the evolving roles and opportunities for Special Collections in the marketplace, particularly with the advent of digitization and users’ enhanced expectations.
Open Access
Papers Panel 10. Joker’s Wild
(2014-06) Schneider, Nina; Chandler, Katharine C.; Dotson, Molly E.; Young, Timothy
“Manuscripts from Print: The Pennsylvania Schwenkfelders and their Dangerous Books”: As one of the Catholic Church’s first measures of the Counter-Reformation, the Council of Trent prohibited writings by four men in particular: Luther, Calvin, Balthasar Hubmaier, and Caspar Schwenckfeld von Ossig. Schwenckfeld’s writings in his own time often circulated in manuscript for years before printing, and printers were frequently afraid to reveal their names in Schwenckfeld’s published works, especially as he became better-known and considered heretical by both Catholics and Lutherans. The Silesian Schwenkfelders, people of the book, were forced to eventually immigrate to Pennsylvania from Silesia, and they did so in six migrations—the largest in 1734. Their sea chests were filled with books: print and manuscript copies of Schwenckfeld’s writings and the writings of men in his circle. This paper will investigate the Schwenkfelders’ unusual manuscript traditions: copies of printed books; learning by copying; hymnals; postila—both the traditions in Silesia from the Reformation period and those that followed after the migration to Pennsylvania. The manuscripts discussed are in the collections of the Free Library of Philadelphia’s Rare Book Department and the Schwenkfelder Library & Heritage Center in Pennsburg, Pennsylvania.; “Retrofitting Underused Special Collections: Visual Literacy and the Yale Bookplate Collection”: Developments over the past three-plus years with the Yale Bookplate Collection make for a useful case study of “retrofitting” a historical archive to a modern-day instruction program in special collections. This paper describes how a visual literacy exercise designed for bookplate materials has become an indispensable tool for orientation and instruction sessions in the Special Collections department of the Robert B. Haas Family Arts Library. Encouraged to approach bookplates as traditional research materials as well as sources for creative inspiration, students engaged in this exercise confront the improvisational aspects of analysis and arrive at a more reflective understanding of not only the artifact but also the agents involved in its production and use. This exercise provides a space for multiple approaches to research and education in the book arts.; “Playing the Hand You’re Dealt: What can we learn from Historic Playing Cards?”: Playing cards are ubiquitous in the broad history of book arts and printing, but they are rarely covered in discussions of book history and bibliography. This may be because there are very few guidelines for cataloging playing cards. The Cary Collection at the Beinecke Library is one of the richest resources for playing card history. It was one of the first significant collections that came to Beinecke in the 1960s – over 2600 packs of cards, 460 sheets and 150 wood printing blocks – and a custom cataloging scheme was created to describe the collection – focusing on a number of aspects unique to playing cards. I propose to discuss this cataloging process and to show examples of the roles that playing cards play in illuminating social, political, bibliographic, and ludic history.
Open Access
Papers Panel 9. Teaching/Learning
(2014-06) Dekydtspotter, Lori; Clemens, Alison; Hardman, Emilie; Howarth, Rachel; Walker, Celia; Harbin, M. Brielle; Milewski, Kevin Patrick
“Career Development for New Professionals: Fellowships and Internships as Alternative Sites of Education”: Educational tracks for special collections librarians and archivists tend to separate the library and archives disciplines and encourage students to choose one or the other. This division stands in stark contrast to the realities of the workplace: information professionals working in special collections often must be proficient in practices from both archives and librarianship. Internships and early career professional opportunities, then, provide a real world counter to the library/archives educational divide. In her talk, Alison Clemens will discuss the utility and scope of current academic library archives fellowship programs and her tenure at the University of Houston, specifically, where she operated within a special collections departmental context to work with traditional historical materials, as well as multi-format records pertaining to the history of Houston hip hop. Alison will also discuss her experiences interning and working in an academic library, an archives, and a library and museum.; “Teach with us: managing the demand for classes through collaboration, transparency, and technology”: Engaging students with primary source materials in special collections is a function central to our missions, so it should be with excitement that we greet the rise of faculty interest in teaching with us. However, with more than 200 classes per year and promises of growth, Houghton Library staff began to wonder: can there be too much of a good thing? With the help of an Arcadia Foundation Library Innovation grant we designed and produced a Class Request Tool (CRT) to streamline, consolidate, and automate administration of special collections teaching. We propose to share our experiences of building the CRT, the impact it has (and promises to have) on our seminar program, as well as our commitment to making it freely available to the special collections community.; “Students as Producers: Connecting Strategic Archives Projects with Student Needs”: Students are frequently looking for challenging projects that will improve their job skills and add to their resumes. Library administration often has more ideas for improving access to resources than can be accomplished with limited manpower. Last year, Vanderbilt’s libraries looked closely at workflows for strategic projects to determine if there was a means for using student assistants to accomplish some of those goals. A trial run in spring 2012, hiring a senior to work with mentors to build an interactive exhibition of photographs documenting Appalachian strip mining communities, proved so successful that the program was expanded in 2013 with new students working on one or two semester finite, strategic projects within the libraries. This paper will look at the six projects completed in the first full year of Library Dean’s Fellows that run the gambit of strategic projects typically left on the “wish list.”
Open Access
Papers Panel 6. History of Science
(2014-06) Ellickson, Ellen; Supple, Shannon K.; Doskey, Adam; Cagna, Robert
“Micro-monsters: Printing and Transmitting Newly Visible Worlds”: This paper investigates the transmission of new knowledge made visible through microscopy in the combination of image and text, using as its case study Robert Hooke’s Micrographia, Or, Some physiological descriptions of minute bodies made by magnifying glasses. With observations and inquiries thereupon (London: Printed by J. Martyn and J. Allestry, 1665). The printing of Micrographia’s text and engravings were heavily mediated by the author himself, whose careful drawings of what he saw beneath his microscope were precisely engraved under his supervision. What potentials for transmission and transformation of that knowledge were made possible through the process of printing? How did visibly precise detail in the engraved rescaling of these minute bodies change how the 17th century experienced the monstrous?; ““ Names swallowed by the cold”: Reconstructing the Libraries of Arctic Explorers”: In the 1960s, the University of Illinois purchased the libraries of Arctic explorers Sir John Richardson and Paul-Louis Mercanton in quick succession at the request of a physiology professor researching Arctic explorers with medical backgrounds. The libraries were broken apart into individual items, classified by subject, and dispersed throughout the university library. This paper describes how these items were brought together again and re-processed as a special collection in the 21st century to promote the study of these explorers’ libraries through the wider lens of current bibliographical scholarship and a more inclusive view of what constitutes the history of science; topics that include the history of reading, the creation of reference libraries by Arctic explorers, and the networks of readers and writers within pre-World War IIEuropean scientific circles.; “Ephemera Hoping to Save Lives: The United States Breast Cancer Research Stamp”: This paper will offer a historical review of the United States Breast Cancer Research Stamp, ephemera issued by the US Postal Service. How has the stamp raised public awareness of breast cancer, and how has it helped to find a cure? This historical analysis will examine the causes and effects of the forces that opposed issuing the stamp and the forces that championed it. This tiny bit of paper has sold in the millions. Presenter Cagna will also look at the issue of how stamps and letter covers, in both archives and special collections, can be preserved and valued as part of the historical record.
Open Access
Papers Panel 5. Space/Function
(2014-06) Dunlay, Emily; Brand, Cassie; Moon, Danelle; Nykanen, Melissa; Roosa, Mark
“Labyrinth Libraries: The Care and Storage of Fictional Books”: My paper discusses several novels portraying labyrinth libraries, including The Name of the Rose, The Shadow of the Wind, The City of Dreaming Books, and Automated Alice. By making the library a labyrinth, the authors eschew standard library organization to create a space in which books are protected from users and inaccessible without the aid of a librarian. These fictional works allows us to explore the contradiction of access versus preservation and the role of the librarian in balancing the two. Labyrinths are inherently difficult to navigate, making it so the characters must learn or create a navigational system in order to access the books. Labyrinth libraries also depict the ways in which space affects the user experience, library organization, and navigation of the library. Each author carefully constructs a labyrinth to fit the needs of the library he creates. The physical aspects of the library influence the organizational system, which in turn influences the navigation of the library.; “Impacts of CSU Libraries of the Future Taskforce”: Library space, collection care, and the libraries of the future will have a significant impact on rare book collecting, preservation, and access of print collections. The California State University system is a good example of new pressures to eliminate traditional circulating collections through massive weeding projects to increase library space for student commons, writings centers, and technology centers. In this presentation, I will present the difficulties that all special collection libraries will face specifically in the CSU system in the light of the CSU Libraries of the Future (LOFT) Taskforce and address how massive weeding and demand for new space will impact special collection staff workload, collection care practices, print collection development, and space allocation in special collection departments across the system.; “Retrofitting the Special Collections Space: Using Values, Trends, and Needs to Inform Physical Design”: Currently a small reading room that also serves as the director’s office, a classroom, event space, display space, and even an occasional warm-up room for musicians, the Special Collections department at Pepperdine is planning a renovation and is dreaming big. But as a small department with a modest budget, how do we re-envision and prioritize our space? In order to make the most of this opportunity, we are thinking about our values and considering time-honored tradition as well as current and future trends and needs. Inspired by this year’s theme, some of the questions we will address in this presentation include: What were the values and priorities that defined the way special collections space was designed and used in the 1960s? Have these values changed? How should our current priorities, technological trends, and user needs be reflected in our new spaces?
Open Access
Papers Panel 4. Space/Renovation
(2014-06) Maryanski, Maureen; Logue, Sara; Petersen, Rebecca; Patkus, Ronald
“This Old House: Reimagining Public Space in Special Collections.”: In the summer of 2014, the Manuscript, Archives, and Rare Book Library of Emory University will begin a full renovation of its public spaces. Built in the 1960s, the current public side of MARBL occupies the 10th floor of the Robert W. Woodruff Library stacks tower at the center of the main campus in Atlanta, GA. What made sense when the floor was constructed has proven to be prohibitive to our goal of offering premier collections in a welcoming, technologically advanced, and secure environment. We attempt to balance public events, exhibitions, a robust instruction program, and scholarly research in a space that was not meant to accommodate so many endeavors. This paper will explore how public spaces in special collections have changed in the past 50 years and how public space may have taken a backseat to improving storage and processing spaces. As well, it will look at the advancements that have led to these changes, and how special collections libraries are being planned for the future.; “Delicate balance at Z. Smith Reynolds Library”: Wake Forest’s Z. Smith Reynolds Library was planned and built (along with the rest of the campus) to provide space for a rapidly growing student body in the 1950s. Designed with many great closed libraries in mind, the space quickly became out of vogue and needed reworking. Today, almost 60 years later, Special Collections & Archives struggles with space and architectural limitations when considering the future of the collection. This presentation will discuss the plans to modernize a 1950s space while reappraising collections and considering our needs for the future. There is a delicate balance between honoring beloved Special Collections & Archives Reading Room (or as the students call it, Hogwarts) and making plans for a 21st century archives. This presentation will highlight challenges and successes when considering our old space, our new space, and how we should fill it.; “Old Space, New Space: Retrofitting the Vassar College Archives & Special Collection Library”: Between the early 1960s and 2013, the Archives & Special Collections Library at Vassar College occupied three different locations; yet with only slight variation the footprint for each of these was the same. In recent years, new priorities have emerged in the profession and at Vassar: an interest in teaching and programming; a desire to provide more robust reference services; a need for appropriate shelving and better security. Staff envisioned a new space to address these priorities, but in the wake of the recent economic downturn, a new building or addition was not possible. What to do? During the last two years library staff planned and executed a renovation plan to re-design the space. Though occupying a footprint similar to the one used in the early 1960s, Special Collections now is better able to carry out its present goals.
Open Access
Papers Panel 3. Bibliography
(2014-06) Ott, Elizabeth; Barrett, Marcia; Buck, Valerie; Epstein, Emily; Miller, Cheryl; Milevski, Robert J.
“Alphabet soup no more! Revision of Standard Citation Forms”: Standard Citation Forms has always been and remains a valuable resource for the rare book community, even more so with the 2014 revision (the third edition). The new title, Standard Citation Forms for Rare Materials Cataloging, reflects the expanded scope to include all types of rare materials, not exclusively printed materials. Moreover, responding to the principles of the new cataloging standard Resource Description & Access (RDA), this revision of Standard Citation Forms, provides clearer, fuller forms of bibliographic citations that will enable all users, not just specialists, to identify and locate the cited resource without confusion and ambiguity. In this session, the editors will introduce users, both those who are familiar with the earlier editions and those who are unfamiliar with this important resource, to the new platform (WordPress) and will provide an overview of the new working principles that inform the way new citations are constructed and the set of rules that result in entries notable for intelligibility, consistency, and simplicity (if not brevity).; “Modified schedule of the Dewey Decimal Classification system for Native American”: This paper will discuss the modified schedule of the Dewey Decimal Classification system for Native American materials as used by the Braun Research Library, Southwest Museum, Los Angeles, California. The Southwest Museum, Los Angeles, California, is dedicated to the collection, preservation, and interpretation of the material cultures of the prehistoric and historic Americas. It was founded in 1907 by the writer and ethnologist Charles F. Lummis. As the library of the Southwest Museum, the Braun Research Library is a major center of information concerning the Indians of the Western Hemisphere. In 1942, Julia M. Schmitz proposed a modified schedule for the classification of Native American materials. The schedule was based on the DDC number 970.1: “North American native races, Indians of North America” under the heading “General History of the United States.” This schedule has been revised in 1962, 1986, and 2006.; “Hidden Book History, Unknown and Untapped: Signed Bookbindings in Rare Book Collections”: Historically, some rare book libraries have noted gold-stamped and other highly decorated bookbindings in their collections as well as the work of famous binders. However, the vast majority of signed bindings—that is, bindings in which the binders have left a mark identifying themselves—remain hidden and unknown, an untapped resource with the potential to be discovered and to bring researchers of many stripes into the reading rooms of these libraries. This paper will review the range of signed bindings from the 11th century to the present, discuss how libraries may proactively discover and record these bindings in their rare book and other collections, and provide examples of how researchers can use signed bindings to uncover hidden book history.
Open Access
Papers Panel 2. Preservation
(2014-06) Barrett, Colleen; Cunningham-Kruppa, Ellen; Crocoll, Ikumi; Nutt, Timothy G.; Oldham, Krista
“Paul N. Banks Becomes a Book Conservator, 1956-64”: In the late 1950s and early 1960s, the new Council on Library Resources, the Association of Research Libraries, and the American Library Association began to support and apply theoretical, scientific, and practical “systems” approaches to the pressing preservation issues of the day. As important as these undertakings were, and for the historical credit they have received in promoting preservation of the nation’s research collections, they tell only one side of the larger story of the growth of preservation thought, research, and practice in the United States. To depict the nature of the field in its naissance, this paper examines the young book conservation field through the life and work of Paul Banks from 1956 until 1964, the period preceding his tenure at the Newberry Library as the first named book conservator in the United States assigned the responsibility to manage the preservation of a research collection.; “A Journey through the Preservation of the Alfred Rodman Hussey Papers”: The Alfred Rodman Hussey Papers are considered one of the more important Japanese collections at the University of Michigan’s Asia Library, largely because of the story they tell of the creation of the new constitution and re-construction of the government and its policies by the US in post-World War II Japan. From the careful microfilming done by the Library of Congress to current propositions for digitization by the University of Michigan Asia Library, the Alfred Rodman Hussey Papers have gone through a long journey of preservation techniques since their creation in the 40s through 60s. This paper will discuss assessing these valuable papers as part of a preservation needs assessment of the Asia Library and the creation of the collection finding aid illustrating the collaborative efforts between departments and libraries necessary to put such a project into practice.; “Preserving Voices: Digitizing the Mid-Century Folk Collection of Mary Celestia Parler”: Mary Celestia Parler, wife of famed folklorist Vance Randolph, preserved the unique heritage of the Ozark Mountain residents through the collection of folk songs, sayings, legends, and remedies during the 1950s through the 1970s, utilizing her students at the University of Arkansas as interviewers and collectors. The collection contains over 4,700 field recordings of songs and tales gathered from around the Arkansas Ozarks, as well as nearly 1,000 class reports documenting customs and stories, such as tales of Jesse James, Belle Starr, and other outlaws hiding out in mountain caves. The Special Collections at the University of Arkansas has begun a project to digitize these important cultural items. The original reel-to-reel audio tapes had begun to deteriorate, and the information on the unique Ozark culture was in danger of being lost. This session will discuss Parler’s collection and efforts to preserve the voices captured on tape and paper.
Open Access
Papers Panel 1. Digital Humanities Plus
(2014-06) Theisen, Colleen; Bahde, Anne; Fraas, Mitch; Meyers, Melanie; O'Dell, Allison Jai
“Digital Humanities and the History of Science: Retrofitting Old Collections for New Purpose”: History of science collections offer unique possibilities for data visualization, data mining, and social involvement. This paper will discuss an Oregon State University Libraries project involving the records of the Emergency Committee of Atomic Scientists (ECAS), a group founded by Einstein in 1946 to educate the public on the dangers of nuclear war and the peaceful uses of atomic science. This project creates an integrated tool that combines the digital humanities capabilities of multiple discovery platforms, enabling crowdsourced transcription, visual exploration of the digitized correspondence, and manipulation of collection metadata to reveal geographic concentrations, demographic patterns, donation trends, and more. These facets allow fresh insight into microhistorical questions about the successes and failures of the ECAS, but also enable exploration of larger questions about how Americans grappled with the new atomic reality.; “New Tools to Document Old Thefts: Mapping the Offenbach Archival Depot”: It is not widely known that along with cultural treasures books were also plundered by the Nazis during WWII; entire libraries were confiscated and housed in the Offenbach Archival Depot. In 1946, the MFAA , or Monuments, Fine Arts, and Archives division dispatched one of the “Monuments Men”, Colonel Pomrenze, to sort through the stores of looted books stored at Offenbach. Using the Offenbach scrapbooks, scrapbooks containing thousands of book plates and stamps Mitch Fraas and Melanie Meyers have created digital maps of the libraries and regions looted. they will discuss their work in bringing this chapter of print history to light, touching on the history of “The Monuments Men”, the plight of libraries in the aftermath of WWII, and how using geo-mapping allows us to present a new, visually engaging take on 60 year old thefts.; “Studying the Book Arts in the 21st Century: Using Linked Data to Enhance Knowledge and Context”: Appreciation of a given visual or narrative artwork is strengthened by knowledge of its creator’s themes, subjects, and techniques, their working relationships, access to resources, and social, geographic, and educational background. For works within the handmade book genres, this contextual information is available in and/or can often be inferred from library catalog databases, but is typically dispersed among data elements and records. This paper will present the findings of a recent project to harvest metadata concerning the University of Miami Libraries Artists’ Book Collection, expose relationships between creators, works, and spaces, and semi- automatically enhance the library’s data with information from WorldCat Identities, VIAF, and other Web resources. This same workflow could be replicated to reveal or connect knowledge about any book genre, and the paper will discuss the benefits of twenty-first-century data sharing techniques for the study of bibliography and the book arts.
Open Access
Header Image from the 2014 RBMS Preconference
(2014-06)

Browse

Recent Submissions