English (United Kingdom)

https://curated-unify.zendy.io/wp-json/zendy-region/v1/featured_content/oa?rat=en

https://curated-unify.zendy.io/wp-json/zendy-region/v1/highlighted_journal/

Global: Zendy Plus annual

Presents the access of premium content as premium feature

Premium Content

Presents the keyphrase highlighting as premium feature

Keyphrase Highlighting

Presents the summarisation as premium feature

Summarisation

Insights

Presents the pdf analysis as premium feature

PDF Analysis

Presents the zaia usage as premium feature

ZAIA

Global: Zendy Plus monthly

Global: Zendy Tools annual

Global: Zendy Tools monthly

Global: Zendy Free Plan

IF WE accept the fact that rare books involve us in the problems and expense of special preparation, special custody, and special use, can the small college library afford them? From the point of view of the administrator I would like to ask and perhaps answer certain inescapable questions involved in the possession of rare books. We hold for our library the following as a goal: Al l books and periodicals, documents, serials or other materials shall be of such nature that their presence can be justified by their useful relation to our curriculum and our cultural purpose. Likewise all of our equipment, and all of our technical processes must be efficiently directed toward the interpretation and distribution of our resources to our patrons, either students or faculty, so that we may be a true service institution. We may miss our goal but we strive for it. Should we then have rare books and give the careful and expensive custody due them? What rarities have a place in the small college library plan? How are we to obtain them? We are being told today that the accumulative stage of library development is over and that we have entered on a phase of refining and sifting, with an emphasis on functioning materials and their distribution, and not mere numerical growth. This may be quite true of many institutions, but most of the small college libraries I know in this area, have not yet reached the stage where they may become more useful by growing smaller. We can, however, profit by determining policies of growth here in the far west, developing wisely so that we need not later throw out books and other materials which have been expensive to acquire, process, and house, and which will also be expensive to discard. I know of only one librarian who is articulate on the question of cost accounting a discard program. He is convinced that it is cheaper to keep a book than to "uncatalog" it. The libraries not now blessed or burdened with rare book accumulations, or perhaps with only a start on a small scale toward treasure rooms, should develop definite conceptions of the ultimate desirable content of their collections of rarities. If we have a Shaw list of rare books for the college library, I have not heard of it. I have seen many rare book collections and treasure rooms in various libraries. Were a survey to be made I am sure that there would prove to be almost no similarity or correlation among them. This is a typical small college library here in the west: It has 30 to 50,000 volumes; a staff of 1 to 3 trained librarians, perhaps 1 clerical assistant

Can the Small College Library Afford Rare Books?