Abstract:
This panel will examine the processes through which staff working in collection development, technical services, and public services acquire and make available unusual popular culture collections (i.e., realia, ephemera, or object-based collections). For example, the Duke presentation will focus on perspectives from technical services and collection development on the acquisition and processing of a large collection of role playing games (RPGs) and related materials. These collections can present unique challenges for numerous aspects of special collections libraries, including collection management, preservation, security, photoduplication, and unorthodox research uses. Fringe formats require collaboration among staff across departments to confront these challenges and balance various needs for donor relations, useful description, researcher use, and security.
Description:
James P. Ascher, University of Colorado Boulder (moderator); Melissa Conway, University of California, Riverside; Will Hansen and Meghan Lyon, David M. Rubenstein Rare Book & Manuscript Library, Duke University; Zach Vowell, UT Videogame Archive, Dolph Briscoe Center for American History, University of Texas at Austin
