Many of you have asked whether we could provide a summary of the news and discussions surrounding the Art Libraries Acquisitions Summit held last October here at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. With grateful thanks to my colleague Erika Hauser, who recorded the session, I can provide the following bulleted highlights from the event. Please feel free to contact the presenters or me if you have any questions about projects discussed at the event.
I hope this prompts others to conduct similar regional acquisitions summits. We can all learn from the innovative work done by our colleagues at other institutions.
Thanks,
Ross Day
Collection Development Librarian
The Thomas J. Watson Library
The Metropolitan Museum of Art
1000 Fifth Avenue
New York NY 10028-0198 U.S.A.
Tel. 1-212-650-2949 = Fax 1-212-570-3847
Art Libraries Acquisitions Summit at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, Oct. 18, 2013
Ross Day, Collection Development Librarian, Thomas J. Watson Library, Metropolitan Museum of Art
* Welcome and overview of Met's activities, including:
* Selectors posting to Facebook
* Now working with six shelf-ready vendors, most recently with Erasmus
* Set up an approval plan with Kubon & Sagner for Russian and Eastern-European language titles
* Investigating demand-driven acquisition
* Contemporary catalog project: ongoing successful project to solicit contemporary galleries for exhibition catalogs; we add approximately 1,500 catalogs a year from around the world
Jared Ash, Assistant Museum Librarian, Thomas J. Watson Library, Metropolitan Museum of Art
* Introduction of Anna Markushina, Head of the international book exchange of the Hermitage Library, and participant in the Hermitage Museum's annual exchange program with the Met; she is eager to establish connections here and interested in potential exchange programs; contact info: [log in to unmask]<mailto:[log in to unmask]>
* There is a renewed focus on special collections purchases in Watson Library; Jared is responsible for collection development and cataloging of special collections, Russian and East European languages; conducting an assessment of rare and unique material in Watson's collection
Paula Gabbard, Fine Arts Librarian, Avery Architectural and Fine Arts Library, Columbia University
* Update on 2CUL partnership between Columbia and Cornell
o First phase included cooperative collection development initiative in Global Studies with Rob Davis, Slavic Language Librarian; by building on strengths of each library and reducing duplication, more could be spent on new acquisitions; now pilot is expanding to Latin American
o Second phase: focusing on efficiencies in technical services, cataloging and acquisitions; combining two separate ILS
o Creation of pre-order form (POOF): http://poof.library.cornell.edu/
* Selectors can enter oclc#/ISBN into the form and it will automatically populate with info from WorldCat; selectors can choose location, price, fund, and vendor; form will detect duplicates (even on-order titles); information entered in the form is sent to Cornell and then a file is sent nightly to Columbia ordering staff
Chris Sala, Architecture Librarian, Avery Architectural and Fine Arts Library, Columbia University
* As part of Mellon-funded project to archive websites, making non-commercial websites part of regular collection-building ("from project to routine")
* Sites added are evaluated for subject relevance, research value (websites capture topics, debates not normally found in print resources); websites are added to the online catalog
* Focusing on "historic preservation," a strength of Avery's collection; websites related to the High Line; selected Frank Lloyd websites
o Example: http://clio.columbia.edu/catalog/8536755
Christina Peter, Head, Acquisitions, Frick Art Reference Library
* Set up a demand-driven acquisitions (DDA) program with EBL; have loaded 50,000 records into online catalog, Arcade, covering subject areas: fine arts, museums, history, architecture, library science; users must be registered with the Frick Art Reference Library to have access to the titles
* Allow for short-term loans (10% of list price) and purchases; were able to decide the short-term-loan period and the number of loans allowed before triggering a purchase; vendors push loans
* Challenges: scope of the catalog is now wider; no way to pick and choose titles added on a granular level; records from EBL have no subject headings or controlled names; financial implications of short-term loans, which do not count toward purchase price
* So far have spent about $250 on 21 titles and 46 loans in seven weeks
Heather Topcik, Chief Librarian, Bard Graduate Center
* Working with ebrary for DDA; "hacking the system" by selecting individual titles from the large pools of titles grouped in general collections; time-consuming process, but allows for pre-selection of appropriate titles; BGC only allowing for purchases, not short-term loans
* Using DDA as a way to build collection to meet the needs of expanded curriculum (anthropology, sociology, etc.) in light of space issues as well; allowing for print and online duplication; ebooks are a way to increase access to materials outside the library, after hours
Sandra Brooke, Librarian, Marquand Library of Art and Archaeology, Princeton University
* Announcement of IFLA satellite conference in Paris at INHA, Aug. 12-14, 2014: "Art Libraries meet the challenges of e-publishing: new formats, new players, new solutions"
* Project at Princeton to circulate iPads; iPads are loaded with a selection of books and apps
* Worked with Badlands Press to reach a deal to acquire and provide access to their ebooks; Princeton gets the epub files to archive; have also approached other small ebook publishers, with little response so far
* Pilot project among Ivy League art libraries to develop a shared approach to collecting global contemporary art titles; involving area studies selectors for help; some institutions are going deeper in certain areas; agreement to document and share expertise, information about vendors, etc.; architecture libraries are looking into cooperative website collection development
Rebecca Friedman, Assistant Librarian, Marquand Library of Art and Archaeology, Princeton University
* DSpace is used as digital repository to store PDF publications (monographs, journal issues); selectors can submit online requests for cataloging of these digital publications and indicate whether to provide public access to the material or limit access to Princeton network
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