Dear Colleagues,
I didn't realize that my announcement of the Newark Museum Library's new schedule would provoke such a spirited discussion. However, let me add the following comments:
The primary purpose of the library and archives of the Newark Museum (and I am sure that this is true of most other museum libraries) is to serve the staff of the museum, especially its curators, registrars, exhibit designers, and educators; administrators, to a lesser degree, also use the library. These professionals use the library to find the necessary information for them to do their jobs: to research collections, to plan exhibitions and programs, and to further their own professional development.
These professionals cannot truly do their jobs without information; however, information may be found in a variety of places: books, periodicals, archival sources, audio-visual materials, electronic resources, etc...; and these resources may be located in libraries, on-line, or elsewhere. The need for information is not going to disappear, whether museums retain their libraries or not; however, how one finds and accesses that information may indeed change.
I do not believe that one size fits all. Each museum must figure out its own best way to provide its staff with the information that it needs to do its job. Perhaps maintaining a library is it; perhaps establishing a relationship with another larger library is it; perhaps there are other ways that I can't even imagine.
The problem that museum libraries are facing are multiple: a society that thinks that everything is free (especially information), that maintaining museums and libraries do not have any costs, and if they do, that they should be able to sustain themselves through profit-making revenue sources. Furthermore, some in society don't even believe that museums and libraries have any value whatsoever. Most in society do not fully understand what it takes to put together collections, exhibitions, or programs.
I wish you all the best of luck at the conference in Pasadena. I will not be able to attend; funds for professional conferences and business travel were the first ones to be cut; and now that I am reduced to part time (after all, the library's new hours are the librarian's new hours), I cannot afford to go on my own dime (which is about all that I am making these days!). On the positive side, however, I am pleased to report that I have been promoted to Librarian/Archivist since our archivist, Jeffrey Moy, was laid off on Thursday.
Sincerely yours,
William A. Peniston, Ph.D.
Librarian
The Newark Museum
49 Washington Street
Newark, NJ 07102
Telephone: 973-596-6625
Fax: 973-642-0459
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Library's on-line catalog: http://catalog.npl.org/search~
Archives' on-line finding aids: http://www.newarkmuseum.org/archive/index.asp
Collections' on-line catalog: http://www.newarkmuseum.org/CollectionsCatalog.html
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