Recommendations for handling Rare Books, Special Collections, and University Archives materials, November 2002

Description and needs
WRC material moving project

• Materials selection
• Materials tracking
• Physical preparation
• Moving materials
• Request/circulation of materials

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1. Description and needs of stored material

   "Special collections libraries derive their unique identity from their collections, and the primary duties of these libraries are the safeguarding and development of and the provision of access to these essential elements of our cultural fabric. The libraries' responsibility to their collections is paramount.'" [Standards for Ethical Conduct for Rare Books, Manuscript, and Special Collections Librarians with Guidelines for Institutional Practice in Support of the Standards. Association of College & Research Libraries, 1994.]

   Woodson Research Center includes approximately 32,000 rare books dating back to 1400s; 400 manuscript collections (3300 cubic feet), and university archives (1800 cubic feet). Last two groups of the special collections include paper items, photographs, films, audio and video recordings, artifacts, and digital records. These collections include rare and unique items and because of their unique characteristics their storage involves the special environmental needs: heating, cooling, humidification, and dehumidification needs to be ideally maintained a constant 50ºF temperature with 30% relative humidity. Because of these environmental needs and space required to house them, the LSC as planned to be the high-efficiency shelving facility, will be a superb location to place these materials. For security and varied type of storage reasons, the same as in Fondren, the special collections area needs to be separated from the storage of other library items.

   The above collections are presently stored at the Woodson Research Center (WRC) of Fondren Library (6000 sq. ft. facility including reading room, offices, stack and vault area), with the addition of the basement Annex (1200 sq. ft) of Fondren Library; at an off-site commercial storage facility (app. 500 cu. ft. of material); and at the Rice stadium temporary storage (app. 400 cu. ft. of material).

   The main goal of storing some of these special collections at the LSC will be to free some of the space of the WRC at Fondren and bring back parts of the collections that are stored in two off-site locations. The WRC collection development policy includes future aggressive addition of large manuscript collections and further university archives development. In the next few years the university archives records will be among the fastest growing areas of our collections and increased use by WRC of the LSC should be then considered in its building plans.

2. WRC material moving project

   Before beginning WRC project to move the special materials to LSC shelving off-site facility, the assumptions need to be delineated upon which the move will be based, and the following issues related to facility specifications need to be taken under consideration: material selection; tracking; physical preparation and moving of materials; operational needs for successfully retrieving items from and returning them to the facility; and minimizing use of the facility. WRC Director and staff will prepare a detailed plan for the special collections moving project as the building of the LSC progresses.

   Materials selection:
   Considering that Rice special collections are unique types of material we recommend the following parts of the collections be moved to LSC:

   1. Rare books that are newer (mostly printed after 1900) and less used editions, individually selected by WRC staff
   2. Only entire collections of manuscripts; specifically the collections that have restrictions on their use and those, where the originals are available on microforms; preferably collections consisting mostly of paper; master copies of the visual and audio collections.

   Materials tracking:
   

   1. Rare books should be bar coded individually as other Fondren books. Designated by WRC staff, rare books will be placed in envelopes and envelopes will be bar coded appropriately. All should be stored by its size at LSC in the special collection section.
   2. Selected by WRC staff, manuscript and archival collection boxes will be bar coded and shelved at LSC by size with no regards to parent collection.
   3. WRC should maintain a database of items and collections stored at the LSC.

   Physical preparation:
   

   1. Before the materials can be sent to LSC they must be prepared, intellectually and physically. The intellectual preparation involves developing a system that will uniquely identify each container designated for the facility (bar coding).
   2. Books will be barcoded, and the online catalog and WRC tracking databases should be used to record collection location.
   3. WRC location database master record for manuscript and archival collections should be developed containing fields for collection title, group number, accession date, series, part, and linear footage, as well as information about restrictions. The container type and bar code should provide the unique identification for each item.

   Moving materials:
   

   1. Transfer of WRC material will be coordinated to accomodate the schedules and needs of WRC, Fondren Library, off-site vendors, and the LSC.
   2. A commercial vendor can be used for moving special collections as needed.

   Request/circulation of materials
   

   1. Special collections materials will not be available for use on the premises of the LSC. All requests for retrieval of special collections materials will be placed by WRC staff, and materials will be delivered solely to the WRC.
   2. WRC staff will contribute to development of guidelines for LSC staff to observe in handling of special collections materials.
   3. Special materials need to be transferred in appropriately designed containers.
   4. WRC will consider the delivery schedule that LSC establishes and will inform researchers about the request/return policy.

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