by Hee Jung Lee on 2021-07-25T11:30:00-04:00 | 0 Comments
LIBRARY NEWSLETTER
Special Edition
Issue 4 ‖ July/August, 2021
Dear Readers,
Happy Summer!
As we continue to assess the library collection, the progress is becoming visible throughout the library. It is rewarding for the library staff to see the much-needed room on our shelves appear as a result of the hard work that is happening behind the scenes. One of the primary benefits behind this project is to maintain the quality of our books from damage caused by the overwhelming pressure from the abundance of books on our shelves. Similarly, we are also identifying fragile books that need to be treated with extra care so that they can make it through the move that is to come in the near future.
In recent weeks, the library staff began changing gears for the next phase of collection evaluation in both the Main Library and the curatorial departmental libraries. We have been researching serial titles, measuring the space, and organizing the collection to better understand the current state of the entire library collection.
It is exciting to be able to conduct a thorough review of our collection, which has been a long-awaited process that will make the collection more streamlined to support the needs of the MFA reading community.
Thank you for taking the time to read our Newsletter.
Sincerely,
Hee Jung Lee,
Head Librarian
and
Library Staff
WEEDING PROGRESS
Recently, being off-site has brought about a new set of challenges when it comes to shipping boxes of books that have been withdrawn from our libraries to book distribution partners. The picture above is of the initial 80 boxes that we sent out to our online distribution partner. Our first pick-up happened on a hot summer day right after the 4th of July weekend at the back of our historic building, since the front is facing the ever-busy Massachusetts Avenue.
Despite the fact that we do not have a physical loading dock that would have made it easier to move, palletize and load the heavy boxed books, we were still able to coordinate the physical labor and pickup. Although this was surely difficult due to the challenges that the logistics industry is facing after the Pandemic and the preceding long weekend, we were still able to deliver our books to the distributor. Our team is extremely pleased with the success of our initial shipment. In the meantime, we are still continuing to work with local colleges and universities to find the best new homes for our withdrawn books and share the expendable books.
As of July 15th, 2219 titles that were duplicate monographs--as well as 675 underused, outdated, incomplete, and digitally available serial holdings--were removed from our library. This amounts to 400 linear feet.
As the collection assessment program continues, we revisited the initial proposal and updated the details to reflect the changes in the staffing, as well as other evolving factors such as timeline and basement closure.
With the closure of the basement as of March 2nd, 45% of the collection has become inaccessible, which has required a modification to the original plans.
If interested, please press the read more button below to see the most recently updated proposal. Please direct any questions or concerns to Hee Jung Lee, Head Librarian, at hlee@mfa.org.
Our collections assessment project is so much more than a deselection and weeding project, although that is the most visible element. MFA users may have started to see worn, torn, or damaged copies of books being taken from department libraries and replaced with a copy in much better shape. Where there are multiple copies of a title, we are making sure the copy in the best condition is the one retained. Sometimes that means replacing the department copy with the one that previously was in the Main Library.
This process of replacing requires significantly more work than just keeping the book already in the department library. Staff have to locate, inspect, and retrieve all copies of the title. Once all copies are brought to a central location, a cataloguer has to process the transfer. Then the book has to be reprocessed with the correct labels and markings and finally reshelved. Although this is more work for our small staff, it is a critical step to keeping our library collection healthy, findable, and usable. While working on the deselection process we are identifying and tracking other projects and needs for the library books that we will be able to complete in the future.-J.B.-
BALANCING ACT
During the survey process of the collection evaluation, interesting discoveries of materials to preserve keep coming up. Most recently, an annotated proof of William Stevenson Smith’s History of Egyptian Sculpture and Painting was brought to the library. An authoritative source in the field, this proof copy is full of corrections and hand-written notes and demonstrates the Museum’s involvement in the Giza expedition. This title was brought to the library's attention when our staff member, Paul McAlpine, found erroneous information from the other volume's commercial binding from the shelf during the collection evaluation process. The Egyptian department then tracked down this annotated, uncataloged, stray volume.
With this discovery, the wrong information has been corrected and these volumes have been housed in a new custom-made box made by the library's Book Conservator, Marie Oedel. This newly discovered annotated volume, too, will be cataloged and reunited with the rest of our volumes, and not to mention meticulously conserved and housed.
The work done on the Smith volume included librarians, scholars, and conservators. This unique, interdisciplinary teamwork is also in alignment with the Museum-wide archiving initiative currently underway.
Furthermore, with the prospect of engaging off-site storage for the library collection, these hands-on preservation efforts will ensure that the collection will remain discoverable and appropriately treated before the move occurs.
SERVICE UPDATE
During summer months, research appointments are taken can be scheduled for Wednesday, 10-12 or 1-3.
Please contact libstaff@mfa.org to make an arrangement for research hours.
We will re-evaluate the expansion of research hours when September approaches.
We will continue to provide online service for the best of our abilities. Please use the intranet form or google form from our website to place book requests.
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