Libraries, Archives, and Museums Today - by Peter Botticelli & Martha R Mahard & Michèle V Cloonan (Paperback)

About the Book

This book explores the intersections among libraries, archives, and museums (LAMs) in such practices as digital content creation, conservation and preservation, collections cataloging, digital asset management, digital curation and stewardship, expanding user experiences, and ...

Book Synopsis

This book offers insights into changes brought about by the enormous growth of the internet. There are new ways to share cultural heritage materials through online finding aids, exhibits, and other initiatives. What has been accomplished across libraries, archives, and museums? The authors consider that question by using case studies to explore activities in 14 libraries, archives, museums, and other heritage organizations. They consider what we can learn from current collaborations within and across libraries, archives, and museums and why some collaborations are successful while others cannot be sustained. Their findings are based on observations and interviews at institutions and organizations in the United States, Australia, and the U.K.

These organizations have worked to make their collections accessible. Some have simply digitized their collections, while others have enhanced their collection management systems. Others have incorporated digital asset management systems to organize and retrieve media, and to manage digital rights and permissions. Most of these institutions and organizations have succeeded through strategic partnerships, strategic planning, and insightful leadership. However, the book also contains examples of institutions that have undergone transitions: one of the museums closed, and another closed its library. Taken together, the fourteen institutions shed light on professional practices today.

Review Quotes

"This is a useful, instructive, and well-designed research volume for its region, one that should have a place in all archival practice reference libraries as well as in classrooms dedicated to training the next generation of LAM professionals. As we move through the 21st century, collaboration will be ever more necessary to sustain cultural heritage institutions of all types. This book provides a roadmap of how to do so successfully." --Preservation, Digital Technology & Culture

"Botticelli, Cloonan, and Mahard, all of the Simmons School of Library and Information Science, examine the impact of digital technology on the convergence of libraries, archives, and museums in the 21st century. The editors have gathered 14 case studies, grouped into five sections, that show possibilities, analyze successes, and guide transitions in situations ranging from closing a site to dispersing a collection. The appendices provide questions and list interviewers; the volume concludes with a bibliography. This book can be a guide for people already working in libraries, archives, and museums, as well as those who wish to consider a role in the sharing of cultural resources. This compact volume is both current- and future-based, showing ways to share and innovate in the field. Recommended.

-- Patricia Hogan" --Booklist

"[Libraries, Archives, and Museums Today] provides readers, especially academic librarians, with a survey of the current trends of libraries, archives, museums, and other cultural heritage institutions. The book showcases these institutions and provides snapshots of how they function in constantly evolving environments. The volume also provides readers with a contemporary understanding and appreciation for what makes cultural institutions successful while also spotlighting examples of when they face transition and sometimes fail. . . . [The] book will be of value for archivists, librarians, museum curators, and staff working in university and cultural heritage contexts. The volume will also be useful for graduate students taking courses in special collections or archives at schools of information and library science. The helpful case studies provide literary glimpses into how LAMs collaborate with each other, engage users, and use technology to improve access to information." --College & Research Libraries

"A light in the darkness, Botticelli, Mahard, and Cloonan's timely collection will help everyone from aspiring students to current information professionals understand the challenges that libraries, archives, and museums have faced over the past few decades, while exploring potential solutions to our shared information problems. With their engaging prose, positive outlook, and rich research data, the authors encourage us to celebrate our commonalities, embrace our differences, and prepare for a new future of communication, collaboration, and innovation across libraries, archives, and museums." --Paul F. Marty Ph.D., Professor, School of Information, Florida State University

"Using over a dozen case studies, the authors illustrate how the interests of library, archives, and museums have converged over the last three decades, leading to new opportunities for collaboration and innovation. Libraries, Archives and Museums Today offers readers a rich array of stories about adaptation and transformation of cultural heritage institutions in the digital age." --Karen F. Gracey, Associate Professor, School of Information, Kent State University

This is a useful, instructive, and well-designed research volume for its region, one that should have a place in all archival practice reference libraries as well as in classrooms dedicated to training the next generation of LAM professionals. As we move through the 21st century, collaboration will be ever more necessary to sustain cultural heritage institutions of all types. This book provides a roadmap of how to do so successfully.

[Libraries, Archives, and Museums Today] provides readers, especially academic librarians, with a survey of the current trends of libraries, archives, museums, and other cultural heritage institutions. The book showcases these institutions and provides snapshots of how they function in constantly evolving environments. The volume also provides readers with a contemporary understanding and appreciation for what makes cultural institutions successful while also spotlighting examples of when they face transition and sometimes fail. . . . [The] book will be of value for archivists, librarians, museum curators, and staff working in university and cultural heritage contexts. The volume will also be useful for graduate students taking courses in special collections or archives at schools of information and library science. The helpful case studies provide literary glimpses into how LAMs collaborate with each other, engage users, and use technology to improve access to information.

A light in the darkness, Botticelli, Mahard, and Cloonan's timely collection will help everyone from aspiring students to current information professionals understand the challenges that libraries, archives, and museums have faced over the past few decades, while exploring potential solutions to our shared information problems. With their engaging prose, positive outlook, and rich research data, the authors encourage us to celebrate our commonalities, embrace our differences, and prepare for a new future of communication, collaboration, and innovation across libraries, archives, and museums.

Botticelli, Cloonan, and Mahard, all of the Simmons School of Library and Information Science, examine the impact of digital technology on the convergence of libraries, archives, and museums in the 21st century. The editors have gathered 14 case studies, grouped into five sections, that show possibilities, analyze successes, and guide transitions in situations ranging from closing a site to dispersing a collection. The appendices provide questions and list interviewers; the volume concludes with a bibliography. This book can be a guide for people already working in libraries, archives, and museums, as well as those who wish to consider a role in the sharing of cultural resources. This compact volume is both current- and future-based, showing ways to share and innovate in the field. Recommended.

-- Patricia Hogan

Using over a dozen case studies, the authors illustrate how the interests of library, archives, and museums have converged over the last three decades, leading to new opportunities for collaboration and innovation. Libraries, Archives and Museums Today offers readers a rich array of stories about adaptation and transformation of cultural heritage institutions in the digital age.

About the Author

Peter Botticelli is Assistant Professor at Simmons College School of Library and Information Science where he is program director for the Digital Stewardship Certificate. His current research interests are focused on digital preservation and the curation of digital exhibitions. Botticelli has A.M. and Ph.D. degrees in History from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, and an M.S.I. degree with a concentration in Archives and Records Management from the University of Michigan School of Information. His most recent position was at the University of Arizona School of Information Resources and Library Science, where he directed the School's Digital Information Management (DigIn) graduate certificate program. Previously, he has held research positions at Cornell University Library, the University of Michigan, and Harvard Business School.

Michèle V. Cloonan is Dean Emerita and Professor in the School of Library and Information Science at Simmons College. In 2012 she became editor-in-chief of Preservation, Digital Technology & Culture. She holds degrees from Bennington College, the University of Chicago, and the University of Illinois, from which she earned her Ph.D. She has published widely in preservation and the book trades. Her most recent book is Preserving Our Heritage: Perspectives from Antiquity to the Digital Age (2015). Her honors and awards include the 2010 Paul Banks and Carolyn Harris Preservation Award, from the Association for Library Collections & Technical Services, American Library Association. With Martha Mahard and Peter Botticelli she coordinates the Cultural Heritage Informatics concentration at Simmons.

Martha R. Mahard is a Professor of Practice at Simmons College School of Library and Information Science where she teaches courses in management of photographic archives, art documentation, cultural heritage informatics, and digital preservation. She holds a Doctor of Arts in Library Administration from Simmons and degrees from Barnard College and Tufts University. Before joining the Simmons faculty, she worked in the Harvard University Library system for many years. She is the co-author, with Ross Harvey, of the Preservation Management Handbook: A 21st Century Guide for Libraries, Archives, and Museums (2014).