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advice



Title: advice

Dear list members,

I am seeking advice on a number of areas which I am hoping members of the list may be able to help with. I have recently taken up my current post at Bellarmine. Previously I was a librarian at University College London, but had completed my doctoral studies on Merton, so I am fairly new to the world of archives and am approaching them with a librarian's mentality!

I have four queries at the moment:

1. The collection currently does not have a collection management policy and I am keen to write one. Do other similar archives have such policies, and if so would it be possible for members of the list to send me copies of such policies. Or maybe there are some available on the web?

2. I have been asked to produce an inventory of the collection. Personally I would prefer to combine this with a longer term project to catalogue the collection. In other archives contained within university libraries would it be standard for such materials to be catalogued onto the library system? Should an inventory be done separately?

3. All our rare/valuable materials are securely housed. We also have a reading room in which the books - all duplicate copies, nothing rare etc. - are tattled. I do wonder though about the security of framed photographs, drawings etc which are hung in the reading room and other areas of the archive accessible to the public. What are the security options for such items - what do other archives do?

4. Finally, until some fundraising is done we have very little money available to have the collection appraised professionally for specific preservation issues - de-acidification, digitization etc. My immediate concern is to improve the conditions the collection is housed in until money becomes available. Currently the main secure area and display cabinets have no equipment for monitoring temperature and humidity. We haven't got much money but I would be keen to purchase some thermo-hygrometers to begin monitoring conditions. Having looked through a number of catalogues for items within our budget I am considering purchasing a "pen hygrometer" from the "conservation resources international" catalogue at $150 for the archive room, and either three "climate meters" ($24.95) or "hygrotherms"  ($32.95) from the "light impressions" catalogue for the display cabinets. Does anyone have experience of these items? From the catalogues they seem to be the best things available within our budget at the moment.

Any advice on these issues would be gratefully received.

Many thanks,

Paul.

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Dr Paul M Pearson
Associate Director and Archivist,
Thomas Merton Center,
Bellarmine University,
2001 Newburg Road,
Louisville,
KY. 40205-0671.

Tel:  (502) 452 8177.
Fax: (502) 452 8038.