libraries, archives and museums - from cooperation to collaborative transformation

Research

Libraries, Archives and Museums:

From cooperation to collaborative transformation

Günter WaibelProgram Officer, OCLC Research

September 10 2009LMLAG - Not Museum Pieces? The Developing Role of Archivists and Librarians in Museums

Research Günter Waibel – Cooperation to CollaborationLMLAG - Not Museum Pieces - September 10 2009

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“We all understand that for art museums, the collection of works of art is always center ring and will always have top billing. The

art museum library is a sideshow, a sideshow that serves to bring

out the best of the main attraction.”

– Ken Soehner, Chief Librarian, Thomas J. Watson Library, Metropolitan Museum of Art

(2005)full talk: http://tinyurl.com/5gckfb


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5full talk: http://tinyurl.com/5gckfb

“To survive and to flourish […] it will be necessary for us to become

as efficient and as inventive as possible. […] True collaboration that goes beyond cooperation

towards partnership, may be able to give us the resources and

generate the pressure to force us out of our old circus rings and into

a new and more dazzling performance.”

– Ken Soehner, Chief Librarian, Thomas J. Watson Library, Metropolitan Museum of Art

(2005)


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Collaboration Continuum

additive transformative...


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Collaboration in the wild:New York Art Consortium

(NYARC)

Collaboration among LAMs under the same roof:

Library, archive, museum workshops

“The Developing Role of Archivists and Librarians in Museums”

Relevance and interconnectedness through collaboration


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Collaboration among LAMs under the same roof:Library, archive,

museum workshops

LibraryArchive

Museum


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Princeton

Smithsonian

Victoria & Albert

U of Edinburgh Yale

The Wo

rkshop

s


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current collaborations

obstacles

a vision

actionable projects

Collaboration Projects Realized

• Original: Development of a comprehensive digitization and access program for unencumbered photographic collections.

• Actual: Development of an unencumbered photographic collection in Flickr Commons and the Smithsonian Photography Initiative.

viewed 37,853

timesfavorited 802

times

slide courtesy of Pamela Smith, Smithsonian Office of the CIO

Collaboration Projects Realized

• Original: Creation of an internal single point of access to all Smithsonian collections information for staff.

• Actual: Creation of an external single point of access to all public Smithsonian digital collections.

slide courtesy of Pamela Smith, Smithsonian Office of the CIO


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“Yale Federation of Collections”“By advocating on behalf of collections, the Federation will help create a sustainable environment for collaborations that enhance access to and use of collections by users across campus and throughout the world.” (Beyond the

Silos of the LAMs)

Mooring


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Collaboration Stones for

Stepping Collaboration

Stones for Stepping

Collaboration Stones forStepping

The Collaboration Catalysts

Vision

Mandate

Incentives Change Agents

Mooring Resources

Flexibility External Catalysts

Trust


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Vision

An inspiring vision provides the context in which obstacles can be overcome

“[If you] come up with a really creative, innovative vision that is at the intersection of these institutions and will help our

mission, and you help me frame it, I’m more than ready to…carry

it forward.”


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Incentive

Incentives ensure that staff have a tangible reason to engage in the hard work of collaboration

“We have spoken long about cross-institutional collaboration. The

reality has been though…that we

are measured against each other

and then you do take naturally a

possessive attitude.”


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Collaboration in the wild:New York Art Consortium

(NYARC)Frick

BrooklynMet

MoMA


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Brooklyn Museum Library

Museum of Modern Art Library

Frick Art Reference Library

Metropolitan Museum, Watson Library


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Brooklyn Museum Library

Museum of Modern Art Library

Frick Art Reference Library

Metropolitan Museum, Watson Library


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NYARC* vis-à-vis WorldCat*not including auction catalogs

0

50,000

100,000

150,000

200,000

250,000

300,000

350,000

0

11 to

50

101 t

o 20

0

301 t

o 40

0

501 t

o 60

0

701 t

o 80

0

901 t

o 10

00

2001

to 30

00

4001

to 50

00

WC Libraries Holding Title

Nu

mb

er o

f N

YA

RC

Tit

les 39% of

NYARC titles

unique


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April 2008


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May 2009


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NYARC vis-à-vis other research libraries

vis-à-vis NYPL, Columbia and NYU

Overlap: 34 percent (~1/3)Uniqueness: 66 percent (~2/3)


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“It’s […] a perfect moment to be coming together and figuring out what we can do

together as opposed to individually”

Frick

BrooklynMet

MoMA

NYPLNYU

Columbia

NYARC + Columbia, NYPL, NYU = NYC-7


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Methodology

e voilàRatification

FeedbackCommitments

ContextVision

Final ReportFinal Group CallDraft ReportIndividual CallsSurveyStarter Group

Call


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Topics ID’d & Discussed

Privileged Access Will I let your patrons through my door? Will I lend / deliver to your patrons?

Collection Development Will I let you know what I’m buying? Will I collaborate with you so we don’t duplicate?

Outsourcing cataloging Can I outsource my cataloging to you? Can we together outsource our cataloging to a 3rd party?

Joint Licensing Can I piggy-back on your license? Can we license resources as a consortium?

Shared Public View Can we disclose our resources to the public in a single

discovery environment?


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forthcoming -

October 09


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Collaboration externally: maximize your impact, maximize your reach

Collaborate internally: Depend on others, let others depend on you


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Thank you!

Comments, questions: [email protected]

P.S.: Want more on LAM collaboration?

next Tuesday!

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