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Hi all!

I would like to see how other small museums handle their reference library materials.  For example, are all reference books accessioned as the same as museum collection objects/archives or are they maintained on a separate reference library list?  Our small museum has simply maintained a list of books in our small reference library since before I began working here but I am wanting to determine if this is the best method for us or not.  Thank you very much for your time!

Best, Steph Jarvis

Hi all!

I would like to see how other small museums handle their reference library materials.  For example, are all reference books accessioned as the same as museum collection objects/archives or are they maintained on a separate reference library list?  Our small museum has simply maintained a list of books in our small reference library since before I began working here but I am wanting to determine if this is the best method for us or not.  Thank you very much for your time!

Best, Steph Jarvis

Hi all!

I would like to see how other small museums handle their reference library materials.  For example, are all reference books accessioned as the same as museum collection objects/archives or are they maintained on a separate reference library list?  Our small museum has simply maintained a list of books in our small reference library since before I began working here but I am wanting to determine if this is the best method for us or not.  Thank you very much for your time!

Best, Steph Jarvis

------------------------------
Stephanie Jarvis
Director
Texas Cotton Gin Museum
Burton TX
------------------------------

Hi all!

I would like to see how other small museums handle their reference library materials.  For example, are all reference books accessioned as the same as museum collection objects/archives or are they maintained on a separate reference library list?  Our small museum has simply maintained a list of books in our small reference library since before I began working here but I am wanting to determine if this is the best method for us or not.  Thank you very much for your time!

Best, Steph Jarvis

Hi, Steph: 

Since y'all are small, I would use LibraryThing to track any literary reference materials you have. You can scan or enter the ISBN, and it will use multiple databases from institutions like the Library of Congress to corporate entities like Amazon to find metadata to "catalog" the book for you. That way you don't have to do any copy or original cataloging yourself. You can download the app on your phone and use your camera to scan the books, too. You can also download a spreadsheet version of your library and get metrics for how much you have and what subjects they cover for reporting purposes, which might help during performance review time.

It's free and easy to use for personal libraries or small institutional libraries. I have a rather large library with a 6-8,000 book backlog, so I've been using it to create an inventory of what is in the backlog since it's quick to upload items, and I can remove duplicates while I do that. So even though I have OCLC WorldCat for my cataloged items, I use LibraryThing for the backlog inventory project. Hope that helps. 

~ Melissa 

------------------------------
Melissa Gonzales MLS
Head of Libraries and Archives
Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco
San Francisco CA

Original Message:
Sent: 08-15-2024 07:45 PM
From: Stephanie Jarvis
Subject: small museum question - reference library books

Hi all!

I would like to see how other small museums handle their reference library materials.  For example, are all reference books accessioned as the same as museum collection objects/archives or are they maintained on a separate reference library list?  Our small museum has simply maintained a list of books in our small reference library since before I began working here but I am wanting to determine if this is the best method for us or not.  Thank you very much for your time!

Best, Steph Jarvis

------------------------------
Stephanie Jarvis
Director
Texas Cotton Gin Museum
Burton TX
------------------------------

Hi Melissa and all,

What classification system do you use? Dewey Decimal or Library of Congress? I was happy to stumble upon this thread as it is a goal of mine to formally establish a library and cataloging system for my museum's reference materials. I estimate that we have somewhere around 2,000 catalogs and books that are all art and museum related. I feel like Dewey Decimal might not be specific enough to keep track of all of these.

Also, does anyone have any suggestions how to catalog books that are more "historic" or "archival" vs. books that are strictly for research? We have a number of texts that are quite old and fragile but wouldn't qualify to be accessioned into the permanent collection.

Thanks, Samantha

------------------------------
Samantha Meyer

Curatorial Assistant Manager

Taubman Museum of Art

Roanoke VA

Original Message:
Sent: 08-20-2024 04:45 PM
From: Melissa Gonzales
Subject: small museum question - reference library books

Hi, Steph: 

Since y'all are small, I would use LibraryThing to track any literary reference materials you have. You can scan or enter the ISBN, and it will use multiple databases from institutions like the Library of Congress to corporate entities like Amazon to find metadata to "catalog" the book for you. That way you don't have to do any copy or original cataloging yourself. You can download the app on your phone and use your camera to scan the books, too. You can also download a spreadsheet version of your library and get metrics for how much you have and what subjects they cover for reporting purposes, which might help during performance review time.

It's free and easy to use for personal libraries or small institutional libraries. I have a rather large library with a 6-8,000 book backlog, so I've been using it to create an inventory of what is in the backlog since it's quick to upload items, and I can remove duplicates while I do that. So even though I have OCLC WorldCat for my cataloged items, I use LibraryThing for the backlog inventory project. Hope that helps. 

~ Melissa 

------------------------------
Melissa Gonzales MLS
Head of Libraries and Archives
Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco
San Francisco CA

Original Message:
Sent: 08-15-2024 07:45 PM
From: Stephanie Jarvis
Subject: small museum question - reference library books

Hi all!

I would like to see how other small museums handle their reference library materials.  For example, are all reference books accessioned as the same as museum collection objects/archives or are they maintained on a separate reference library list?  Our small museum has simply maintained a list of books in our small reference library since before I began working here but I am wanting to determine if this is the best method for us or not.  Thank you very much for your time!

Best, Steph Jarvis

------------------------------
Stephanie Jarvis
Director
Texas Cotton Gin Museum
Burton TX
------------------------------

Hi all!

I would like to see how other small museums handle their reference library materials.  For example, are all reference books accessioned as the same as museum collection objects/archives or are they maintained on a separate reference library list?  Our small museum has simply maintained a list of books in our small reference library since before I began working here but I am wanting to determine if this is the best method for us or not.  Thank you very much for your time!

Best, Steph Jarvis

Hi all!

I would like to see how other small museums handle their reference library materials.  For example, are all reference books accessioned as the same as museum collection objects/archives or are they maintained on a separate reference library list?  Our small museum has simply maintained a list of books in our small reference library since before I began working here but I am wanting to determine if this is the best method for us or not.  Thank you very much for your time!

Best, Steph Jarvis