L-50. Advanced Seminar in Special Collections Administration

Samuel A. Streit and Merrily E. Taylor

Tactics special collections librarians may use for interpreting needs and objectives to their administrations; assuring an active role for special collections in the research and curricular programs of their institutions; fund-raising, including the most effective use of friends' groups; coping with tight budgets and budget re-allocations; shaping the role of special collections in digital collections/virtual library projects; and taking part effectively in library reorganization and re-engineering projects.

This course is a practical seminar in the art and science of administering a special collections unit. It is intended for working special collections/rare book librarians with several years of professional experience, whose present responsibilities are becoming more broadly based. While the course is not focused exclusively on special collections in the academic library setting, there is a bias in that direction (both instructors have spent their entire careers in academia).

Class participation is actively encouraged, since participants learn from one another as well as from the instructors. Students are usually expected to present a case study from their own experience and to apply tactics gained in the course to a planned approach or solution.

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Course History