ACRL College & Research Libraries News

College & Research Libraries News

MANUSCRIPTS LIBRARIANS

A group of librarians interested in the administration of manuscript collections will hold an organizational meeting on Tuesday, June 27, at 8:30 p.m. in San Francisco during the annual conference of ALA. They will discuss the desirability of petitioning ACRL for subsection status within its Subject Specialists Section. Persons with interest in this subject may learn more by corresponding with Mrs. Arline Custer, Head, Manuscripts Section, Library of Congress, or Richard C. Berner, Curator of Manuscripts, Library, University of Washington, Seattle.

UNIVERSITY OF LETHBRIDGE Lethbridge, Alberta, Canada

The newly-established University of Lethbridge requires qualified librarians in ACQUISITIONS, CATALOGUING, SERIALS and REFERENCE Divisions of the University of Lethbridge.

Salary commensurate with experience and qualifications. Numerous fringe benefits available.

Send applications, curriculum vitae, confidential letters from three referees, and copies of academic records to

Dr. R. J. Leskiw

Acting President

The University of Lethbridge Lethbridge, Alberta, CANADA

In his correspondence, Mr. Berner stated that “administrators of manuscript collections stand professionally in two fields, as librarians and/or archivists. Yet they are of little influence in either.

“Perhaps you share a view with me and others that administrators of manuscript collections need an organizational medium that will do at least two things:

1. Establish a forum through which we can exchange ideas, develop a consensus on theory and practice, and address other common problems;
2. Establish a dialogue between us and library administrators, since it is within the administrative context of librarians that most of us work.”

The following are some problems regarding manuscript collections that need attention now.

1. Discussion and agreement on methods of arranging and describing manuscripts. Both the L.C. code for “cataloging” manuscripts and the new Anglo-American code would seem premature. If we had existed as a group, we might have affected their promulgation. We should, now, at least direct attention to them.

2. The National Historical Publications Commission microfilming project has posed problems concerning manuscripts on microfilm that no one group is addressing. No group is more keenly aware of these special problems than are manuscript administrators.

3. Cooperative collecting programs for important historical materials that few repositories can either store or process, e.g., business records, particularly of large firms or of an industry. This will entail cooperation of both librarians and archivists; manuscript administrators are a suitable liaison because they stand with a foot in each profession.

4. Formal training needs to be included in library school curricula to acquaint librarians, in general, with manuscript work, and to impart theory and techniques to aspirant curators. ■■