[Coll_Collab] Symposium / report / use of list

[Martha L Smalley]

Dear Collections Collaborative list members,

Please save the date: On May 17th (aka Norwegian Independence Day!) 
the Collections Collaborative will be sponsoring a full day symposium 
that will serve as the kick-off event for initiative's efforts toward 
"mainstreaming collections reference." Especially in view of Yale's 
increased emphasis on primary sources in undergraduate teaching and 
the increased availability of primary sources in electronic format, 
we want to explore ways of integrating special collections and 
"regular" reference. We are envisioning four basic components for the 
symposium: a) an outside speaker to give an overview of issues: 
Kenneth Hamma of the J. Paul Getty Trust; b) a faculty panel to 
present to curators/librarians their views on issues related to 
access/use of special collections at Yale; c) presentations by 
curators/librarians about materials in their collections on a 
designated common theme; d) break-out sessions at various Yale 
collections to show physical objects/resources related to the 
theme.  We plan to invite reference staff from peer institutions as well.
More later.....    If you know of faculty members who would be good 
candidates for serving on the panel, please let me know.

The December 2006 progress report on the Collections Collaborative is 
available at http://www.yale.edu/collections_collaborative/CC2006report.doc.

Finally, I have a question about the use of this list.  Do people 
think it would be profitable for the various Yale special collections 
to post brief notices about interesting new accessions, or materials 
newly available for research use?  For example, the Divinity Library 
recently received the papers of Henry W. and Elizabeth Luce, parents 
of Henry R. Luce, who were missionaries in China in the early part of 
their lives.  Would the posting of information like this on the list 
be a worthwhile way of raising consciousness about the types of 
materials being added? If the consensus is that it is worthwhile, 
would representatives of the various collections be willing to post 
the information on an ongoing basis?

Martha

P.S.  Please remember to submit brief re-grant proposals by January 
25th: http://www.yale.edu/collections_collaborative/regrants07.html.


Martha Lund Smalley
Special Collections Librarian / Curator of the Day Missions Collection
Yale Divinity School Library
409 Prospect St.  New Haven, CT 06511
Phone 203 432-5289  Fax 203 432-3906
Martha.Smalley at yale.edu