Scholarship at Penn Libraries

Title

Public Services and Outreach in Rare Book, Manuscript, and Special Collections Libraries

Document Type

Journal Article

Date of this Version

June 2003

Comments

Reprinted from Library Trends, Volume 52, Issue 1, 2003, pages 87-108.
Publisher URL: http://muse.jhu.edu/journals/library_trends/

Abstract

Rare book, manuscript, and special collections libraries remain both more difficult and more forbidding to use than any other parts of most libraries. A shift from an ethos that emphasized acquisition, cataloging, and preservation has brought into new prominence issues generally grouped together under the rubric of "promotion." This essay considers some of the ways in which this addition to the ethos of special collections has the potential to change for the better the ways such libraries are perceived and used.

Date Posted: 08 January 2007

This document has been peer reviewed.