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Out of the Eddies and into the Mainstream: Making Special Collections Less Special and More Accessible

Home / Project Briefing Pages / CNI Spring 2011 Project Briefings / Out of the Eddies and into the Mainstream: Making Special Collections Less Special and More Accessible

April 1, 2011

Merrilee Proffitt
Senior Program Officer
OCLC Research

Ricky Erway
Senior Program Officer
OCLC Research

This presentation extracts the essence of several related efforts done under the auspices of OCLC Research to help libraries increase access to their special collections, particularly focusing on uniquely held, unpublished materials.

• “Shifting Gears” (2007) argued for scaling up the digitization of special collections by encouraging behavior that would lead to more radically accessible collections, with a particular focus on adopting a “do it” attitude towards digitization.
• Digitization of special collections is frequently inhibited by concerns about Internet Protocol (IP) or privacy rights. The 2010 “Well-Intentioned Practices” (WIP) document establishes a community of practice for digitization of unpublished materials based in risk analysis and, where appropriate, the adoption of fair use.
• The 2007 “Good Terms” report offers guidance for ensuring broad access to collections in cases where third party, private sector partners have helped to facilitate digitization that the institution could not otherwise afford, and this guidance has since been echoed in a set of 2010 guidelines from ARL.
• “Rapid Capture” looks at the moment of actual digitization of non-book formats and highlights approaches that attempt to digitize collections at scale.
• There are other ways to make collections more accessible. “Capture and Release” (2010) argues for allowing, if not encouraging, cameras in reading rooms. “Scan and Deliver” investigates policy issues related to patron-initiated digitization of materials in special collections.

In an era of increased institutional and user interest in special collections, coupled with flatlined or decreasing budgets, finding ways to shift expectations and streamline processes is the best way to do more with less.

http://www.oclc.org/research/publications/library/2007/2007-02.pdf
http://www.oclc.org/research/publications/library/2010/2010-11.pdf
http://www.oclc.org/research/activities/rights/practice.pdf
http://www.trln.org/IPRights.pdf
http://dlib.org/dlib/november07/kaufman/11kaufman.html
http://www.arl.org/bm~doc/principles_large_scale_digitization.pdf
http://www.oclc.org/research/publications/library/2010/2010-05.pdf

Presentation

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Filed Under: CNI Spring 2011 Project Briefings, Information Access & Retrieval, Privacy, Special Collections
Tagged With: CNI2011spring, Project Briefings & Plenary Sessions

Last updated:  Friday, December 4th, 2015

 

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