SPEC Kit 317: Special Collections Engagement (August 2010)

Berenbak, Adam; Putirskis, Cate; O'Gara, Genya; Ruswick, Claire; Cullinan, Danica; Dodson, Judy Allen; Walters, Emily; Brown, Kathy

doi:10.29242/spec.317

Cited by 5 publications

(5 citation statements)

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“…Special collections generally collect data on the number of instructional sessions presented to visiting classes and the numbers of local students who use the reading room. Nevertheless, as the ARL SPEC Kit survey on "Special Collections Engagement" cited above has shown, repositories have struggled to assess the impact of special collections on learning outcomes (Berenbak et al, 2010).…”

Section: Taking Flightmentioning

confidence: 99%

“What’s So Special about Special Collections?” Or, Assessing the Value Special Collections Bring to Academic Libraries

Dupont¹,

Yakel²

2013

EBLIP

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2013 DuPont and Yakel. This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative CommonsAttribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike License 2.5 Canada (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/2.5/ca/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly attributed, not used for commercial purposes, and, if transformed, the resulting work is redistributed under the same or similar license to this one. AbstractObjective -The objective of this study was to examine and call attention to the current deficiency in standardized performance measures and usage metrics suited to assessing the value and impact of special collections and archives and their contributions to the mission of academic research libraries and to suggest possible approaches to overcoming the deficiency.Methods -The authors reviewed attempts over the past dozen years by the Association of Research Libraries (ARL) and the Association of College and Research Libraries (ACRL) to highlight the unique types of value that special collections and archival resources contribute to academic research libraries. They also examined the results of a large survey of special collections and archives conducted by OCLC Research in 2010. In addition, they investigated efforts by the Society of American Archivists (SAA) dating back to the 1940s to define standardized metrics for gathering and comparing data about archival operations. Finding that the library and archival communities have thus far failed to develop and adopt common metrics and methods for gathering data about the Evidence Based Library and Information Practice 2013, 8.2 10 activities of special collections and archives, the authors explored the potential benefits of borrowing concepts for developing user-centered value propositions and metrics from the business community.Results -This study found that there has been a lack of consensus and precision concerning the definition of "special collections" and the value propositions they offer, and that most attempts have been limited in their usefulness because they were collections-centric. The study likewise reaffirmed a lack of consensus regarding how to define and measure basic operations performed by special collections and archives, such as circulating materials to users in supervised reading rooms. The review of concepts and metrics for assessing value in the business community, however, suggested new approaches to defining metrics that may be more successful.Conclusion -The authors recommend shifting from collection-centric to user-centric approaches and identifying appropriately precise metrics that can be consistently and widely applied to facilitate cross-institutional comparisons. Adopting a user-centric perspective, they argue, will provide a broader picture of how scholars interact with special collections at different points in the research process, both inside and outside of supervised reading rooms, as well as how undergraduate students change their thinking a...

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Section: Taking Flightmentioning

confidence: 99%

“What’s So Special about Special Collections?” Or, Assessing the Value Special Collections Bring to Academic Libraries

Dupont¹,

Yakel²

2013

EBLIP

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“…The UWI Mona Library does not have the ideal dedicated exhibition staff and in the past had a dedicated exhibition coordinator (Lewis, 2002). Currently, the staffing of exhibitions fits more into the findings of Berenbak et al (2010): exhibition teams/committees are formed based on the exigencies of the exhibition; there is no set exhibition coordinator, but the loan and reference section in the Main Library has the primary responsibility for the curation of exhibitions and exhibition work is carried out along with other unrelated tasks.…”

Section: Planningmentioning

confidence: 99%

Keeping up with best practices: Library exhibitions at a university library in a small island developing state

Jones-Edman

Lewis

Worrell-Johnson

2019

Alexandria: The Journal of National and International Library a

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Libraries over the years have developed best practices for planning, organising, promoting and evaluating exhibitions. Many are based on practices in museums. These best practices have been written into policies and shared with libraries worldwide. However, just as there has been an acknowledgement that some museum practices must be modified to suit the needs of libraries, the same applies to exhibition best practices across countries and libraries with different budgets. Small island developing states are particularly challenged by, among other things, limited resources, high cost of transportation and energy and vulnerability to natural disasters, which can have a direct or indirect impact on libraries and their ability to carry out functions like curating exhibitions. The University of the West Indies (UWI), Mona Library, located on the island of Jamaica and founded in 1948, has a long tradition of curating exhibitions. Planning and executing physical exhibitions at The UWI are guided by Library-adapted policies and guides, recently formalised in an exhibition policy. A review of some of the exhibitions curated by The UWI Mona show that the physical exhibits are, for the most part, executed in keeping with international best practices, but the Library has had to make adjustments primarily because of financial challenges. These financial challenges affect the availability of resources for exhibits, exhibition space, dedicated exhibition staff, how special collections items are used and the magnitude of exhibitions mounted. Exhibition reports, annual reports, photographs and visitor comments books reveal that the Library attempts to follow best practices with regards to planning, designing, executing and evaluating physical exhibitions. On the other hand, the Library is in the early stages of converting its physical exhibitions to digital formats but may have to establish more formal guidelines to ensure that online exhibitions are planned, designed and evaluated in keeping with international best practices to be successful. Successful exhibitions not only satisfy Library organisers and ‘edutain’ users but also build a good reputation for the Library and lead to further collaboration with faculty and benefit students, administrators and sometimes the general public. These practices at The UWI that are guided by policies can serve as an example to other institutions with small budgets on how to successfully plan and deliver physical exhibitions and build relationships with faculty and the wider community. The Library would need to ensure that formal guidelines and practices are followed for online exhibitions to be as effective and successful.

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“…3 Special collections librarians and archivists who work closely with the collections in their charge have the particular privilege of spotting the educational power and potential within materials. Through active outreach and instructional programs, librarians and archivists broadcast this potential to faculty and to students, trying to make connections between unique collections and their appropriate audiences.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The History Labs: Integrating Primary Source Literacy Skills into a History Survey Course

Bahde

2013

Journal of Archival Organization

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In this case study, a special collections librarian and a history instructor partner to develop a series of cumulative exercises teaching primary source literacy skills for a small history survey course. This sequence of lab sessions is implemented to improve student performance in the history survey and to test this pedagogical approach. Assessment tools such as rubrics, observation, and reflective journals revealed a clear improvement in students' aptitude for a wide range of skills. The author discusses options for adapting the exercises to larger class environments and digital primary sources, as well as the transferability of primary source literacy skills to other academic settings.

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SPEC Kit 317: Special Collections Engagement (August 2010)

Abstract: Books and Journal Articles ..

Cited by 5 publications

References 0 publications

“What’s So Special about Special Collections?” Or, Assessing the Value Special Collections Bring to Academic Libraries

“What’s So Special about Special Collections?” Or, Assessing the Value Special Collections Bring to Academic Libraries

Keeping up with best practices: Library exhibitions at a university library in a small island developing state

The History Labs: Integrating Primary Source Literacy Skills into a History Survey Course

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