Access ServicesUnlock Your Special Collections

Unlock the Vault

It’s the 21st century: knowledge should no longer be kept

locked away for a select few.

Withholding knowledge is a power play, and its one that

should not be inflicted upon the masses of students,

academics, and inquisitive patrons any longer. What is

your service philosophy?

Service Philosophy

The service philosophies found in academic, public, and school libraries vary greatly from those found in specialized subject or research libraries.

Though the subject might be specific, it doesn’t mean that your potential audience isn’t large. Think big, deliver big.

As librarians, information managers, and collections specialists, we should be willing to go the extra mile. We should be willing, able, and happy to help anyone, and only impose limits as it regards the security of a collection.

Going the extra mile…

Diverse collections call for diverse methods of accessibility. If your institution

is interested in providing more access, how do you make that happen? If they

aren’t, ask why.

What’s feasible? What isn’t? How could you structure potential projects?

How do we mobilize and disseminate this knowledge? How do we open up our

special collections while maintaining their physical integrity? Digitization?

Longer library hours? Addition of specialized staff? Identify what is possible.

Rare Books & Manuscripts

Collections of rare books and manuscripts seldom circulate. So how

does anyone know what you have?

Wonderful online collections of rare book covers are one solution. You

can use a regular copier/scanner, it takes very little staff time, and

there are free web publishing platforms with which to advertise these

rare gems. Added bonus? No copyright issues: book covers are in the

public domain.

Be Creative

Don’t have enough staff? Get students and interns. Train the next generation.

Don’t have the scanners? Apply for grants & fundraise.

Don’t have institutional buy-in? Make it an “experimental” side project to

advertise special collections. See how popular it becomes, then bring the

success to the fore.

Access services is the #1 goal of a library: any library. So, why not make your

services extraordinary?

Thank You!

For more insight, contact collections specialist Mēgan Oliver at

ms.meganoliver@gmail.com or www.linkedin.com/in/msmeganoliver

Ms. Oliver has her Masters in Library Science from the University of South

Florida. She has previously studied and worked with Native American

artifacts, Colonial archaeology, archival ephemera, and rare books in the

southeastern United States.

Her work in access services has been focused on providing greater access

to special collections through digitization. She has also worked with global

interlibrary loan requests, in-person and remote reference, e-books and

web publishing, and bibliographic instruction.