Dear MHAD Members: Recently I had the pleasure of attending a presentation at the E-Content Institute Conference titled Classroom of the future: The digital gallery at the ROM. The ROM is the Toronto’s Royal Ontario Museum and it is currently undergoing a renaissance. Brian Porter, Director, New Media Resources, and Tony Hushion, VP of Exhibits, Programs and New Media Sources, presented an overall description of plans for the facility expansion project and the future directions for the ROM’s digital initiative. The ROM has designed a digital classroom that allows students to “virtually” handle artifacts, some of which are too fragile even for display purposes. This innovative classroom is just one of the ROM’s digital initiatives. As I listened to the presentation I thought it was time to visit my local museum again and I thought that anyone who is coming to the SLA Conference should try to squeeze in a visit if possible. Toronto has many unique museums and three of them will be highlighted on the Museum, Arts and Humanities Division’s Clogs, Quilts and Cross-Checks Tour, Thursday June 9, from 9:00 am to 3:00 pm. Participants will be picked up by bus and taken to three museums: The Bata Shoe Museum, The Textile Museum of Canada, and the Hockey Hall of Fame. Lunch will be provided. I hope you take advantage of the programmes MAHD is offering this year and that you will drop by for Monday MAHDness at 5:30 pm to catch up with your colleagues from other cities and institutions. Wishing you a wonderful conference. Sylvia Frank Nominating Committee Report 2005 By Ann Shea, Penultimate Past-Chair The Nominating Committee of the Museums, Arts and Humanities Division would like to give notice to the membership of the annual election of officers. The election will take place at the Division’s Annual Business Meeting at the Special Libraries Association Annual Conference in Toronto on Tuesday, June 7, 2005 at 9:00 A.M. The Nominating Committee reports the following slate of officers for the 2005/2006 term: Chair-Elect: John Shea, Archives, Union Bank of California, Los Angeles, CA Secretary: Lisl Zach, SLIS, Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge, LA Treasurer: Joyce Weaver, The Mint Museums, Charlotte, NC Current elected officers will assume these posts for 2005/2006: Chair: Gerald Patout, Jr., Williams Research Center of The Historic New Orleans Collection, New Orleans, LA Past-Chair: Sylvia Frank, The Film Reference Library, Toronto, Canada 2005 NEFF Scholarship Winning Essay This year the NEFF Scholarship was awarded to Kelly Delevan, School of Information, University of Texas at Austin. Here’s her winning essay. The role of the special librarian as a keeper of a society’s culture By Kelly Delevan For over a century, special librarians
have held the privileged role of spearheading the efforts to collect and preserve artifacts that represent
and enhance a society’s culture. I believe that with that privilege comes the responsibility for librarians to
evolve in step with the very society whose culture they are charged with preserving. In the 21st century, this
undoubtedly means that librarians must adapt to a technologically driven society that finds its culture being shaped
through new forms of artistic expression, as well as remembering and cherishing the culture of the past. How
can the special librarian meet the challenge of looking forward while still looking back? For purposes of
this essay, I will limit myself to the first part and write about the role of the special librarian as a guardian
of the culture of the information age. With a mind open to the various representations of culture and a
willingness to look outside the profession and explore opportunities for collaboration, I believe we will be
poised for success.
What is culture, anyway? According
to 19th century poet Matthew Arnold, “culture is to know the best that has been said and thought in the
world.” Others have rejected the need to attach a superlative to the idea of culture and referred not to
“high culture,” but a culture for everyone. Aldous Huxley believed in a universal ownership of the ideal:
“Culture is like the sum of special knowledge that accumulates in any large united family and is the
common property of all its members.” I like Huxley’s use of the phrase “special knowledge”, because it
encompasses all that a society has to offer, from art displayed at the Museum of Modern Art to outsider
art, classical music to electronica, epic novels to zines, and everything in between. But if we accept that
culture is created in so many different ways, how can the special librarian know what to collect and
preserve in their libraries? Here is where an open mind and a
willingness to actively explore all of the ways culture is being expressed becomes an essential component
of a special library’s mission. For example, when I was a volunteer at the Austin History Center in Austin,
Texas, I came across a collection of scrapbooks made by teenagers in the 1970’s, and a large box full of
music flyers for rock and punk shows in Austin in the early 1980’s. What an excellent representation of
youth culture in 1970’s and 1980’s Austin, Texas! There is a place for ephemera in a special library, but
the special librarian needs to be aware of its existence. The evolving digital age in which we live makes it
easier for such ephemera to be found and collected. In today’s wired society, everyone has the ability to
be his or her own curator. We collect music online, share digital pictures with friends and family, and write
e-mails, all of which are preserved on our hard-drives. Anyone with a computer connected to the Internet
has the opportunity to make his or her personal collections available to the public. Many do just that;
imagine the many different voices, all leaving their mark on our culture. Consider the explosion of blogging
on the Internet in recent years. Blogs are an intriguing representation of a society’s culture, either viewed
collectively or individually. Like the scrapbooks and diaries of teenagers in the 70’s, blogs are an ideal
representation of youth culture. There are wonderful representations of culture being created every day,
but who will take the lead in preserving them? Special librarians are poised to become an integral part in
this process; they have the passion and expertise to do so. We must understand, however, that this is an
enormous undertaking that involves incorporating new technologies digital preservation and semantic indexing
into established methods such as collection development and cataloging. Deanna Marcum, Associate Librarian
of Congress, wrote in 2002 that in the future, librarianship “will require broad collaboration among scholars,
technologists, librarians, and enthusiasts.” While she was speaking largely about digital libraries, I believe her
statement rings especially true for any special librarian. The librarian working to preserve a society’s culture
will also need to look outside the profession for opportunities for collaboration. For librarians at arts and
humanities libraries who embrace the fact that representations of a culture are everywhere and being
created everyday, and then form partnerships with technologists, scholars, and the “everyday curator” to
ensure their preservation, the future certainly looks exciting. Note: Ticket prices are in Canadian dollars. Monday June 6 Board Meeting and Breakfast MAHD Book/Author Luncheon: Tilda Shalof, A Nurse’s Story Annual Business Meeting Monday MAHDness Tuesday June 7 Choosing Systems for Museums/Libraries Wednesday June 8 Incoming Board Meeting and Breakfast Toronto Public Art Program DMAH Preservation and Archive Caucus Thursday June 9 Clogs, Quilts and Cross-Checks Tour (* denotes student member) The DMAH Bulletin is
published four times a year by the Museums, Arts and Humanities Division
of the Special Libraries Association. Deadlines for submission of
advertisements and materials are as follows: The Special Libraries
Association assumes no responsibility for the statements and opinions
advanced by contributors to the association’s publications. Editorial
views do not necessarily represent the official position of the Special
Libraries Association. Acceptance of an advertisement does not imply
endorsement of the product by the Special Libraries Association. |
