The Future Meets the Past: Collaborative Resource Sharing Workflows for Special Collections Materials

OCLC and LYRASIS Present: The Future of Resource SharingA conference held at Mercer University, Macon, GA, May 17, 2013Christian Dupont, Aeon Program Director

Atlas Systems cdupont@atlas-sys.com

Christian Dupont Aeon Program Director for Atlas

Systems

Former special collections director at UVa and Syracuse

Former ACRL Rare Books and Manuscripts Section (RBMS) chair

Member RBMS task force to revise ACRL/RBMS guidelines for interlibrary loan of special collections

“If one will examine the deeds of gift, contracts, and other legal instruments whereby great collections are placed in institutions, one will be interested to observe that the collector does, all too often, regard the librarian as an enemy of books, from whom the treasures must be guarded. One would not impose the condition that ‘the books shall not be permitted to leave the building’ were it not for the fact that in the offing is the public-service expert and his unholy passion for ‘interlibrary loans’ of any kind of material.”

Randolph G. Adams, “Librarians as Enemies of Books” Library Quarterly 7 (1937): 317-31.

Point: Librarians as Enemies of Books

“I have used (as a reader) and worked (as an employee) in libraries here and abroad. I have read a bit in library history. And I have come increasingly to feel that American special collections are not only a troublesome concept in theory but also, generally speaking, worse in practice. Our theory too easily justifies a broad range of practices that, however well-intentioned they may be, prove in execution ─ even when they are not simply idiotic, as, too frequently, they are ─ to be mean-spirited, judgmental, exclusionary, hierarchical, and otiose.”Daniel Traister, “Is There a Future for Special Collections? And Should There Be? A Polemical Essay” RBM: A Journal of Rare Books, Manuscripts, and Cultural Heritage 1:1 (2000): 54-76.

Counterpoint: Librarians as Enemies of Users

Opposing and Balancing Interests

Preservation Access

Trust Risk

What are the risks?Where are the risks?

Items not returned• not sent• lost in transitItems returned damaged• poorly packaged• mishandled in transitItems mishandled during use• not kept in secure areas• photocopied/scanned

(requester) (shipper)

(requester) (shipper)

(requester) (requester)

Key Resources

OCLC Research/RLG Programs: “Sharing Special Collections”

ACRL/RBMS Guidelines for Interlibrary and Exhibition Loan of Special Collections Materials

• 1967 OCLC founded

• 1974 RLG founded

• 1976 U.S. Copyright Act; Section 108

• 1978: IFLA ILL guidelines; Missouri network begins intercampus lending of archival materials

• 1987: “Additional Guidelines” to RLG Shared Resources Manual (“SHARES”)

• 2002: “Sharing the Wealth” forum

• 2009: Sharing Special Collections Advisory Group

• 2009: “Treasures on Trucks and Other Taboos” webinar

See: http://www.oclc.org/research/activities/sharing/default.htm

OCLC/RLG “Sharing Special Collections”

Susan Snyder, Bancroft Library, University of California, Berkeley

• From June 2001 through June 2002, The Bancroft Library at the University of California at Berkeley participated in a pilot project to test the feasibility of interlibrary loan of special collections material among the nine UC campuses.

• Of the 469 patron-initiated requests for Bancroft Library loans processed during the pilot, 330 were denied, 21 were filled as microfilm loans, 98 were filled as photocopies, and 20 items were sent to the borrowing institution.

• Of the 20, one was damaged in transit. Most denials fell into two groups — too dear to lend or too common to lend. In the end, it was felt that the program as it had been developed was not able to "guarantee the security and safe handling of Special Collection material during loans.”

See: http://worldcat.org/arcviewer/1/OCC/2007/09/28/0000073852/viewer/file489.html

2002 RLG Forum: “Sharing the Wealth”

Tom Hickerson, Cornell University

• Interlibrary Loan of Rare Books, 1993-2001

• Average of seventy books loaned per year.

• Presently, we receive 700+ loan requests per year for rare books. Approximately 15% are filled.

• Presently, we receive 600+ requests for photocopies from rare books. Approximately 80% are filled.

• Approximately 35% of loans are to RLG member institutions

• Interlibrary Loan of Archives and Manuscripts (examples)

• Loan of scrapbooks containing architectural drawings for use at the University of California, Santa Barbara.

• Loan of 20 cu ft of the William Miller Papers for use at the Jones Memorial Library, a public library in Lynchburg, Virginia.

See: http://worldcat.org/arcviewer/1/OCC/2007/09/28/0000073852/viewer/file489.html

2002 RLG Forum: “Sharing the Wealth”

ACRL/RBMS Guidelines for Interlibrary and Exhibition Loan of Special Collections Materials

• 1979: ALA-SAA Joint Statement on Access to Original Research Materials

• 1987-88: RBMS Preconference, Rare Book and Manuscripts Librarianship (RBML) issue

• 1994: ACRL/RBMS “Guidelines for the Inter-library Loan of Rare and Unique Materials”

• 2004: Guidelines revision

• 2009-11: Guidelines revision; integration with exhibition loan guidelines (2005); ACRL approval (2012)

See: http://www.ala.org/acrl/standards/specialcollections

ACRL/RBMS Guidelines for Interlibrary and Exhibition Loan of Special Collections MaterialsReferences and Resources

• “Licensed to ILL: Partnering with InterLibrary Loan to Fulfill Special Collections Requests” ─ Julia Gardner, University of Chicago

http://www.rbms.info/conferences/preconfdocs/2011/SeminarBGardner.pdf

• “Unthinkable Horror or Emerging Best Practice? Exploring Access to Special Collection Materials through Interlibrary Loan” ─ William Gee, Gypsye Legge, East Carolina University

http://www.ncl.ecu.edu/index.php/NCL/article/view/349

• “Lifting the Curtain: Interlibrary Loan and Special Collections” ─ 2013 RBMS Preconference discussion group facilitated by Sandra Stelts (Penn State University), Michael Inman (New York Public Library), and Megan Mulder and Anna Dulin Milholland (Wake Forest University)

http://www.preconference.rbms.info/schedule.html#tuesday

Typical ILL workflow

* With unmediated borrowing (e.g., Rapid), user requests are routed automatically to the potential lender.

User

WorldCat

User’s ILL Account

ILL Borrowing*

ILL Lending

User

Select Lender*

Ship/Scan

ILL Borrowing*

ILL with special collections

User

WorldCat

User’s ILL Account

ILL Borrowing*

ILL Lending

User

Select Lender*

Special Collections

ILL BorrowingShip/Scan/Refuse

Special Collections

• Special collections location information and local notes are not generally available through WorldCat Local Holdings Record

• Special collections rarely work with ILL to add lending policies and deflection rules to OCLC Policies Directory

• Libraries lack efficient systems for communicating special collections handling instructions

Typical ILL workflow problems

Change in thinking (preservation/access)

Change in culture (trust/risk)

Change in practice (policies/workflows)

Embracing ILL for special collections requires change

Thank you!

Christian DupontAeon Program DirectorAtlas Systems

cdupont@atlas-sys.com

http://independent.academia.edu/ChristianDupont/Conference-Presentations

http://www.slideshare.net/christiandupont/