RBMS Discussion Group Topics

Collection Development Discussion Group

2006 Midwinter

  1. Collecting ephemera.
  2. Collaborative collection development: levels; advantages/disadvantages.
  3. "Where are the deals?"

2005 Annual

  1. Collecting History of Science material.
  2. Collection Development Basics: Interacting with the trade.

2005 Midwinter (first meeting)

  1. Acquisition and electronic resources. What impact ECCO, EEBO, online Evans, etc., are having on general collection development policies?
  2. Duplicates in collections: How do we handle them? Do we use them to "improve the collection", that is, to substitute better copies?
  3. Collecting history of science.
  4. Collecting and managing 3D objects in special collections libraries.

2004 Midwinter (ad hoc meeting)

  1. Collecting artists' books.
  2. Collection development policies: documentation.

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Curators & Conservators Discussion Group

2006 Midwinter
  1. Heritage Health Index and Selection and Preparations for Remote Storage of Special Collections materials.
2005 Annual
  1. Risk Management for Special Collections.

2005 Midwinter

  1. Harvard University, Weissman Preservation Center's "Quick Repair Sessions" for rare book materials.

2004 Annual - Did not meet.


2004 Midwinter

  1. Preservation of electronic records.

2003 Annual

  1. Discussion of the future charge and constituencies of the Curator and Conservators Discussion Group.

2003 Midwinter

  1. Discussion of the future charge and constituencies of the Curator and Conservators Discussion Group.

2002 Annual

  1. ?

2002 Midwinter

  1. Discussion of possible seminar topics for 2003 RBMS Preconference in Toronto: "Facsimiles, Fakes, and Forgeries."
  2. Discussion of The Digital Library Federation's standards and guidelines for libraries creating digital master reproductions.
  3. The possibility of producing an American Institute for Conservation of Historic and Artistic Works (AIC) roadshow, covering topics such as: evaluating and choosing conservation services; selecting a conservator; health and safety issues; disaster recovery programs; pest control; storage and exhibition design.

2001 Annual

  1. Online circulation practices in special collections; systems of tracking circulation; methods of attaching barcodes to artifactual materials.
  2. Care and handling of materials in the reading room.
  3. Photocopying rare materials: models of overhead scanners used; on demand copy service, staffing for scanning; charges assessed; alteration of duplicate images; preservation pitfalls of growing digital collections: this often increases, rather than decreases, demands on originals.

2001 Midwinter

  1. How to Protect Materials on the Shelf: barcoding and the merits and demerits of polyethylene sealing strips; dust-jacket protection, protective enclosures; How to treat materials held in off-site storage facilities.
  2. Digital imaging units and models for cost analysis.

2000 Annual

  1. Transfer of General Materials from the Stacks to Special Collections: space implications, balancing artifactual and content information in identifying candidates, how to process transferred items.
  2. Remote Storage: How to best barcode individual items. Three barcoding methods were identified and the pros and cons of each method were reviewed.
  3. Care and use of photographic collections. policies on photocopying and scanning photographic materials and safe handling practices.

2000 Midwinter

  1. Joint Meeting of all four RBMS discussion groups (Curators and Conservators, Manuscripts and Other Formats, MARC for Special Collections, and Public Services) to inform RBMS members of the topics covered by the discussion groups and to solicit comment on the role of the groups within the section.

1999 Annual

  1. Medium Rare. Criteria for selecting and marking "medium-rare" books, storage options, use restrictions; facsimile editions, and procedures for reviewing and reproducing library materials used in their production.
  2. Digitization and Preservation. Mass digitization projects, including procedures for scanning brittle books, criteria for the retention of cut books, preservation of digital images, commitment to refresh data and provide user interface, and the reliability of OCR for access to content.
  3. Marking Books. Discussion on whether marking books is an effective deterrent to theft; the effectiveness of marking in the recovery of stolen material, especially in combination with detailed conservation and cataloging records.

1999 Midwinter

  1. Techniques for the marking of rare materials, and the transfer & barcoding of "medium rare" books in general collections, the degree to which conservation treatments permit the retention of library materials in original format; and the tendency of many conservation programs to be driven by exhibition needs.
  2. Discussion of ALCTS Preservation and Reformatting Section (PARS) preconference proposal that focuses on the artifactual interest of "medium rare" materials at risk in general collections.

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Manuscripts and Other Formats Discussion Group

2006 Midwinter (joint meeting with Public Services)

  1. What are the public service implications of dealing with "other formats" in a manuscript setting, especially when rare books, manuscripts, archives, maps, prints and photographs, sound recordings, digital files, etc. are all served in the same reading room with the same or overlapping staffs?

2005 Annual

  1. Changing archival standards and manuscript repositories– how are repositories dealing with the adoption of new or replacement standards, such as the publication of Describing Archives: A Content Standard (DACS).
  2. Future discussion topics.

2005 Midwinter - Did not meet.


2004 Annual (joint meeting with Collection Development)

  1. Collecting contemporary material and formats, including the capture of electronic records.
  2. Collecting secondary materials.
  3. Acquisition of electronic resources.

2004 Midwinter

  1. Reports on and discussion of the recent ARL conference, "Exposing Hidden Collections", held September 8-9, 2003, at the Library of Congress.
  2. Collection development: "dealing with donors"

2003 Annual

  1. Forgery and authentication.
  2. Dealing with donors. Complex potential gifts, working with development officers, and applying techniques and strategies developed by museums.
  3. Processing and cataloging strategies for dealing with large unprocessed collections in all formats.

2003 Midwinter

  1. The Acquisition Process: record keeping, tracking accessions, guidelines for appraisal of donations, meeting donor requests, acknowledging/reporting gifts.
  2. Reproduction orders and publication requests in the electronic era.

2002 Annual

  1. EAD as component of collection description projects.
  2. General issues related to digitization projects: involvement of faculty & teachers in selection & development, the strategy of creating consortia for effective funding initiatives.
  3. Authenticating documents, the risk of acquiring forgeries from private collectors, and acquisition via eBay.

2002 Midwinter

  1. Report on ARL conference "Building on Strength Conference" (Providence, RI: 2001) which focused on agenda for Special Collections and dialog between directors and SC librarians.
  2. Offsite storage for special collections materials.
  3. Collection development issues in mss repositories, archives, and special collections: working with donors, dealers; cooperation/competition btwn institutions; documentation strategies; CD policies; regional collecting; pricing and appraisal; ethical and legal issues.

2001 Annual

  1. Selection for Digital Conversion.
  2. Processing backlogs with Grad Student Interns. Developing graduate assistantships, fellowships, and internship programs as an effective means of assisting with processing mss & archival backlogs.

2001 Midwinter

  1. Online Reference Forms. Printed versions of a number of online reference forms were circulated and reviewed.
  2. Online Resources. Use of online resources (catalogs, auctions, eBay, email, electronic discussion lists) for collection development.

2000 Annual

  1. How the Internet effects the way archivists and librarians do their work: privacy & confidentiality; exhibitions & publications; processing & cataloging; reference; collection development.
  2. Collection Development: Cooperation & Competition. T Murray & Cathy Henderson led discussion on competition & cooperation between institutions in the area of collection development.

2000 Midwinter

  1. All Discussion Group Joint Meeting

1999 Midwinter

  1. Photographs: Joint meeting with ALCTS PRS Photographic and Other Recording Media Disc Group: Dealing with Photographs: management, care, and handling; digitization, copyright/intellectual property, levels of access in processing and cataloging, rights/permissions, user fees, automation, preservation: Jon Williams (Hagley Museum and Library) guest speaker

1999 Annual

  1. Panel of guest speakers on "Locating manuscripts in the Digital Age". David Sutton, University of Reading, Location Register of 20th C. English Lit Mss project. Charlotte Browne, UCLA, Online Archive of California (OAC) project. Greg Whitfield, Research Libraries Group, Archival Resource Service. Ashli Richens, Chadwyck-Healey, provided an overview of the Archives USA database.

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MARC for Special Collections Discussion Group

2009 Annual

  1. Digitization and cataloging priorities.
  2. Maintaining a physical shelf list.

2009 Midwinter

  1. WorldCat Local and the Special Collections Taskforce report.
  2. Utilizing non-special collections cataloging staff on short-term projects.

2008 Annual

  1. WorldCat Local and its impact on special collections.
  2. Describing "concealed" editions.
  3. Explaining cataloging policies to non-librarians.

2008 Midwinter (joined Manuscripts and Other Formats)

  1. Crosswalking between EAD/Dublin Core/MODS etc. and MARC.
  2. Encoded Archival Context (EAC).
  3. Federated Searching.

2007 Annual

  1. Formulation of the 752 field.
  2. Barcoding and RFIDs; automated circulation in special collections libraries.

2007 Midwinter (joined by Collection Development Discussion Group)

  1. Cataloging and security of collections.
  2. Provenance information in the MARC record

2006 Annual

  1. LC decision not to trace series and not to create new serials authority records.
  2. RLG/OCLC merger.

2006 Midwinter

  1. MARC coding of information for items transferred into Special Collections.
  2. Training of new Special Collections catalogers.
  3. Adding geographical and chronological subdivisions to form and genre headings.

2005 Annual (joined Public Services Discussion Group)

  1. Implications for surfacing “hidden collections.”
  2. Challenges of local or in-house databases.
  3. Collaboration and communication between cataloging staff and public services.

2005 Midwinter

  1. Bibliographic citations (510 MARC fields).
  2. Cataloging of ephemeral material.
  3. Cataloging electronic periodicals for special collections.
  4. Challenges facing special collection catalogers during renovation or construction projects.

2004 Annual

  1. Authority work for special collections cataloging.
  2. Transfers from the open stacks to special collections.

2004 Midwinter

  1. MARBI &CCDA reports.
  2. Follow-up report and discussion on the ARL "Unlocking Hidden Treasures"  conference.
  3. Citing different delivery systems for 510 citations (e.g., ESTC Eureka through an institution's local interface; web interface of C-H Wing CD-ROM; VD175.
  4. Laid-in material.

2003 Annual

  1. Use of classification systems in special collection libraries.
  2. Where, if at all, in online records do libraries record price and source information.
  3. How many, when, and how do libraries go back and convert old-style topical subject headings to genre headings.
  4. Do libraries use relator terms? If so, how do they display and how are they searched for.

2003 Midwinter

  1. When to create a new bibliographic record. When do institutions make separate records for individual printings or issues of a work.
  2. Catalogers working in public service positions.
  3. Pressure to make material available online through the creation of brief or minimal level records.
  4. How do libraries identify their incunabula?

2002 Annual

  1. Cataloging issues and off-site storage of special collection material.
  2. Education and training of special collection catalogers.
  3. Special collection cataloging and the role a library's mission/purpose plays in setting policy and priorities.

2002 Midwinter

  1. Recording dedications in catalog records and tracing dedicators and dedicatees.
  2. Value added cataloging, when is enough, enough. What special or local tracings and notes are made? When do institutions make added entries for illustrators, engravers, translators, etc. Who makes these decisions?

2001 Annual

  1. Cataloging productivity and quotas.
  2. Recording binding information in MARC records.
  3. Creation of analytics.
  4. Cataloging records and thefts.

2001 Midwinter

  1. How to decide the level of cataloging for an item. (i.e. DCRB vs. AACR2).
  2. Cataloging digitized copies of rare and special collection material.
  3. New generation of library management systems.

No agendas available from before 2001 Midwinter

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Public Services Discussion Group

Midwinter 2006 (joined Manuscripts and Other Formats Discussion Group)
  1. Public services implications of dealing with other formats.

Annual 2005 (joined by MARC for Special Collections Discussion Group)

  1. Implications for surfacing “hidden collections.”
  2. Challenges of local or in-house databases.
  3. Collaboration and communication between cataloging staff and public services.

Midwinter 2005

  1. Cameras, handheld scanners, and cell phones in reading rooms.
  2. Assistive technology in special collections settings.
  3. Online reference databases.
  4. Photoduplication and scanning.

Annual 2004

  1. Handling the dramatic growth in email reference correspondence.
  2. Core competencies for special collections librarians with public services responsibilities.
  3. Short-staffing, filling the gap.
  4. Interns and volunteers.
  5. Purchasing a new integrated library system: handling special collections functions.

Midwinter 2004

  1. Special collections’ responses to the Patriot Act and related issues.
  2. Other issues with registration and circulation records.

2003 Annual

  1. How increased on-line information is affecting public service.
  2. The role of public service in exhibitions.

2003 Midwinter

  1. Off-site storage.
  2. Staffing the desk.
  3. The future of PSDG.

2002 Annual

  1. Tracking use, what works and what doesn’t.
  2. Classes and teaching.
  3. Off-site storage.

2002 Midwinter

  1. Staff Training.
  2. Digital Reproduction Services.

2001 Annual

  1. The "Feng Shui" of the Reading Room.
  2. Measuring readers’ satisfaction with our services.

2001 Midwinter

  1. Public services forms and procedures.
  2. Access policies.

2000 Annual

  1. Handling materials in the Reading Room.
  2. Collections on-line.
  3. Reprography.

2000 Midwinter

  1. Joint meeting of RBMS Discussion Groups.

1999 Annual

  1. Security guidelines.
  2. Reading Room "best practices."
  3. Licensing and copyright.
  4. Electronic reader registration & automated circulation.