In February our colleagues in Technical Services and Cataloging added 500 items to the Center for Restoration Studies, Rare Books, and Taylor Hymnals collections.  Some are new to us; in other cases these new additions gave us a second copy.  Several items are boxes of unbound periodical issues that were previously uncataloged.  Some are tracts and others are A/V in various formats (mostly cassette tape and a few VHS). Further, the work performed on some reflects original cataloging, which is a tremendous contribution to knowledge about information resources from and about the Stone-Campbell Movement.

The Library in Daisy Hall, with a Jesse Sewell reading a book at a table and shelves of books around him.

Our goal is a comprehensive research-level collection of print materials by, for, and about the Stone-Campbell Restoration Movement.  But beyond assembly and preservation, a collection should be discoverable by those who need the information.  Collecting and preserving is only part of our task; those objects must be described and made available.  Thanks to the close and careful work of our colleagues upstairs, who describe our holdings, these materials are now discoverable. By discoverable I mean a patron can utilize our online catalog (such as by searching by author, or title, or subject) to find these materials.

500 new items…cataloged, shelved, and ready for research: Continue reading →