The Association of Research Libraries (ARL) Working Group on Special Collections, formed in 2007, has released a discussion report that identifies key issues in the management and exposure of special collections material in the 21st century. The report is freely available on the ARL website at http://www.arl.org/bm~doc/scwg-report.pdf.
The report uses a broad definition of 'special collections,' which encompasses distinctive material in all media and attendant library services. The group's main focus was on 19th and 20th century materials, including emerging digital materials and media, but most of the report applies with equal force to collecting and caring for materials from previous centuries. While the report focuses on special collections in North American research libraries, it is observed to have potential application more broadly.
Working group members represent a range of constituencies, including directors of research libraries, heads of special collections departments, and other professional leaders with particular concern for traditional and digital special collections. To engage further constituencies, the chair of the working group, Alice Prochaska, University Librarian, Yale University, presented preliminary findings and recommendations in June 2008 at the annual conference of the Rare Books and Manuscripts Section (RBMS) of the Association of College and Research Libraries. She subsequently circulated a draft of the report to representatives of both RBMS and the Society of American Archivists. This report reflects extensive comments received from those bodies.
The report includes overviews of and recommendations in three areas - collecting carefully, with regard to costs, and ethical and legal concerns; ensuring discovery and access; and the challenge of born-digital collections. It highlights the need for research library leadership to support actions that will increase the visibility and use of special collections and promote both existing and developing best practices in the stewardship of special collections.
The working group also invites discussion among the professionals mandated to handle rare, unique or unusual material, about the extraordinary challenges they face as collectors and stewards of special collections in libraries and archives in the 21st century. This report provides a framework within which important discussions of policy may take place.
ARL will host a related forum on special collections in the 21st century, immediately following the fall ARL Membership Meeting in Washington DC, October 15-16, 2009. In addition to addressing emerging issues for traditional special collections, the forum will explore new kinds of born-digital resources that increasingly comprise the unique content collected by research libraries. The forum agenda and registration information will be released on the ARL website this summer.
