An enduring presence: special collections of the Barr Smith Library at the University of Adelaide.

An enduring presence: special collections of the Barr Smith Library at the University of Adelaide. This paper is a practical and personal perspective on thechallenges faced by special collections In library science, special collections (often abbreviated to Spec. Coll. or S.C.) is the name applied to a specific repository within a library which stores materials of a "special" nature. in an increasingly digitalenvironment, and the strategies employed to promote their uniqueresources to the academic and wider communities, including the value ofpromoting heritage through reconstructing collections and the place ofexpertise in the provision of a high level of service to users. Specialcollections within research institutions provide enduring value. Introduction University special collections tend to be largely insular, workingquietly away in research establishments, and those west of Melbournereceive scant attention from the library world in general. Special Collections at the Barr Smith Library is a medium sizedcollection of surprising depth and variety, encompassing five major anda number of minor collections comprising some 70,000 print items andover 100 manuscript collections. It has come about mainly throughdonation, including several large bequest collections of some quality,and purchases from teaching and research funds. There is no dedicatedbudget for the growth of Special Collections, although some bequestfunds are available for special purchases. It is one of only two closedstack collections within Library, the other being Multimedia. SpecialCollections does not manage general theses, microform In micrographics, a medium that contains microminiaturized images such as microfiche and microfilm. See micrographics. or multi-mediacollections. The Collections The Rare Book Collection of approximately 40,000 titles is largelycomprised of books and journals published before 1840 (or 1900 forAustralian works) and other rare, valuable or vulnerable items. TheCollection incorporates works (including journals, films, recordings,maps, artworks, realia and ephemera e��phem��er��a?n.A plural of ephemeron.ephemeraNoun, plitems designed to last only for a short time, such as programmes or postersNoun 1. ) which because of their age, format,rarity, significance of content or association, cost or vulnerability,require particular care in use and storage. Collection criteria includelimited editions of 300 copies or fewer, private press publications, anditems sensitive because of their indigenous, erotic or controversialcontent. Approximately 60% of the Collection is Australiana. The StrongRoom Collection houses books printed before 1700, prized items (such asthe Aurora Australis aurora australis:see aurora borealis. , the only book printed in Antarctica) and embargoedmaterial. We hold four incunabula incunabula(ĭn'kynăb`ylə), plural of incunabulum[Late Lat.,=cradle (books); i.e. , the earliest being LeonardoBruni's Epistolarum familiarium printed in Venice in 1472. Subject strengths include voyages and travel; English literature English literature,literature written in English since c.1450 by the inhabitants of the British Isles; it was during the 15th cent. that the English language acquired much of its modern form. ;Australian literature, history, politics and culture; British localhistory; the two World Wars; natural history; and Aboriginal history,culture and languages. These strengths reflect both trends in teachingand research over time and the interests of our many generous donors andbenefactors. The magnificent 1916 bequest of 16,000 volumes by SirSamuel Way Sir Samuel James Way (PC Bart) (11 April 1836 – 8 January 1916), English-Australian jurist, was a Chief Judge from 18 March 1876 until 8 January 1916 of the Supreme Court of South Australia, which is the highest ranking court in the Australian State of South Australia. (1836-1916), South Australian Chief Justice andLieutenant-Governor, forms the core of the present Rare Book Collection.His collection, one of the largest and best private libraries inAustralia of the time, included many works of rarity and significance,while the donations of Christine Macgregor (of the Barr Smith family,benefactors to the University of Adelaide Its main campus is located on the cultural boulevard of North Terrace in the city-centre alongside prominent institutions such as the Art Gallery of South Australia, the South Australian Museum and the State Library of South Australia. over many decades) and KilmenySymon greatly enhanced our private press holdings. With the introductionof postgraduate studies in art history and gastronomy gastronomyArt of selecting, preparing, serving, and enjoying fine food. Two early centres of gastronomy were China (from the 5th century BC) and Rome, the latter noted for the excess and ostentation of its banquets. , we are nowactively collecting domestic cookery and exhibition catalogues. Minor collections include a selection of miniature editions, theHague Collection on book history and book collecting book collecting,or bibliophily, the acquiring of books that are, or are expected to become, rare and that possess permanent interest in addition to their texts. Collecting has traditionally concentrated on first editions in the field of pure literature. in memory of asignificant donor, a small Pulp Fiction Collection, the CornellCollection of French language and literature selected from the libraryof Professor John Cornell, and the recently acquired Simpson Collectiondescribed below. A separate Pacific Collection of more than 8,000 volumes is basedon the library acquired in 1972 from Professor H.E. Maude, formerBritish Colonial administrator, head of the Social Development sectionof the South Pacific Commission, and Professor of Pacific History at theAustralian National University. The Collection includes both books andjournals on the history, culture, art, fiction and language of thePacific islands of Melanesia, Micronesia and Polynesia with greatestemphasis on the central Pacific, and additional strengths in missionhistory and Pacific anthropology/ethnology journals. Particularstrengths reflect Maude's interest in beachcomber literature andhis activities as administrator in the island colonies, includingschemes for the resettlement Re`set´tle`mentn. 1. Act of settling again, or state of being settled again; as, the resettlementof lees s>.The resettlementof my discomposed soul.- Norris. of Gilbert and Ellice and BanabanIslanders, and reorganisation of government structures on PitcairnIsland Pitcairn Island,volcanic island (2005 est. pop. 45), 2.5 sq mi (6.5 sq km), South Pacific, SE of Tuamotu Archipelago. Adamstown is the capital and only settlement. in 1940. It is the only collection consciously augmented throughpurchase. The Allan Wilkie--Frediswyde Hunter-Watts Theatre Collection wasbequeathed to the Barr Smith Library in 1976 by Miss Angel Symon and ather request was named in honour of the Shakespearean actor-manager AllanWilkie and his actress wife. The Collection of some 4,000 volumes isstrong in play texts and British theatrical history and biography of thelater 19th and early to mid 20th centuries, with an emphasis onperformance and stage design. A delightful ballet component includessome outstanding illustrated and limited editions, early treatises ondance, and works of ballet critics and historians. A separate collectionof over 20,000 programmes covering theatre, ballet and, to a lesserextent, music performances from 1858 to the present is also a valuableresource for theatre historians. Many were collected by Angel and herfriends and relations in Britain, Europe and Australia between the 1920sand 1970s, and these have been substantially augmented by many otherpersonal donations. The University Collection contains publications by past and presentmembers of the University staff and of academic departments,associations and student organisations of the University of Adelaide. Itis a reflection of University academic and student life and intellectualheritage since the inauguration of the University in 1874. The Manuscripts Collection of over 300 linear metres is comprisedof the research and personal papers of academic staff and other notedindividuals, including the statistician R.A. Fisher; physicist and laterGovernor of South Australia South Australia,state (1991 pop. 1,236,623), 380,070 sq mi (984,381 sq km), S central Australia. It is bounded on the S by the Indian Ocean. Kangaroo Island and many smaller islands off the south coast are included in the state. , Sir Mark Oliphant Sir Marcus 'Mark' Laurence Elwin Oliphant AC KBE (October 8 1901 – July 14, 2000) was an Australian physicist and humanitarian who played a fundamental role in the first experimental demonstration of nuclear fusion, and later, in the development of the atomic bomb. ; former diplomat andLieutenant Governor lieutenant governorn. Abbr. Lt. Gov.1. An elected official ranking just below the governor of a state in the United States.2. The nonelective chief of government of a Canadian province. of South Australia, Sir Walter Crocker Sir Walter Russell Crocker (March 25, 1902 - November 14, 2002) was an Australian diplomat, writer and war veteran. He was born in Broken Hill, New South Wales. He served in World War II with the British Army, becoming a Lieutenant Colonel. ; and poet andpublisher Max Harris. The typescripts of anthropologist Daisy Bates Daisy Bates may refer to: Daisy Bates (Australia) (1863-1951), an Australian journalist, author, amateur anthropologist and lifelong student of Indigenous Australian culture and society onAboriginal society and culture are augmented by many other smallercollections on anthropology and linguistics. Pacific papers includethose of former administrators Harry Maude and H.G.A. Hughes, while theTheatre Collection is supported by the papers of Allan Wilkie and thepapers on Australian dance history of Keith Glennon and Alan Brissenden,and others. Special Collections also maintains the Library Archives,while records concerning University teaching and administration are heldby the University of Adelaide Archives, with some overlap in bothcollections. Management and environmental issues The Special Collections Reading Room is open Monday to Fridayafternoons, the limited opening hours opening hoursopen npl → heures fpl d'ouvertureopening hoursopen npl → ?ffnungszeiten plbeing a trade-off for thehalf-time position of the Special Collections Librarian. A full-timelibrary assistant and additional assistance for two afternoons per weekmake up the full staff complement. Staffing is very limited, tasks arenever ending, and demands on our time are many. The Collections areaccessible by University staff, students and community members onproduction of their Library card, and to non-registered users withidentification and supply of their name and address. We do not have a dedicated conservation budget and, unlike theSouth Australian public cultural institutions, find that the services ofthe central conservation agency ArtLab are too expensive for us to useon a routine basis. Many of our books need treatment, but most areuseable. As a research institution our focus is more on making ourcollections accessible than pursuing a conservation imperative.Basically we aim to do no harm, and maintain the collection in itscurrent physical state by boxing, bagging, encapsulating, tying andwrapping with archival materials. The Collections are housed in a secureand clean environment maintained at around 20-21[degrees]C with lowhumidity. Non-flash digital photographs are encouraged and photocopyingis permissible unless we judge the item to be at risk. White gloves arenot generally used as I believe they hamper sensitive handling. We haverudimentary hand-washing facilities available and counsel users onappropriate handling of vulnerable materials. Electronic access The Library has a strong and proactive technical services teamwhich has embraced the advantages of electronic access through onlinecataloguing. Online bibliographic records are available for all SpecialCollections items (except for our collections of palm leaf manuscripts,Scottish vellum vellum:see parchment. deeds and English indentures), with the many minimallevel records being upgraded through ongoing retrospective cataloguing.Collections of ephemeral items such as theatre programmes, posters andillustrations are given collection level records and listings when timepermits. Manuscript collections have a collection level catalogue entrylinked, where possible, to an online finding list. All manuscriptentries have been uploaded to the soon to be phased out Register ofAustralian Archives and Manuscripts (RAAM RAAM Race Across AmericaRAAM Register of Australian Archives and ManuscriptsRAAM Remote Anti-Armor MineRAAM Reducing the Availability of Alcohol to Minors (Ocean City, MD): www.nla.gov.au/raam/). Special Collections maintains its own descriptive webpages, andhtml manuscript finding aids can also be accessed through theManuscripts Collections webpage. I decided against adopting thecomprehensive Heritage Document Management System (HDMS HDMS hexamethyldisilazane (hydrophobic substance)HDMS Her Danish Majesty's ShipHDMS High Density Modem SystemHDMS Honorable Discharge, Medical SurveyHDMS Health Data Management SolutionsHDMS Hipath Domain Management System ) favoured bymany archives for the simple reason that I did not have the resources toconvert all of our listings or the time to devote to learning a newsystem when our existing pages achieve very high level results fromGoogle searches. We do have a considerable backlog of unlisted manuscriptcollections, and many earlier listings had been judged unsatisfactoryfor Web access. Marie-Louise Ayres and Emma Jolley's (2008) paper'Silk purse or sow's ear' which described the NationalLibrary's move away from full arrangement and description ofmanuscript collections to maximising access through MARC cataloguerecords and 'quick and dirty' box listings prompted me to alsochange direction. My aim is to provide some sort of online listing forall manuscripts by scanning old listings and providing broad levelentries for new collections. I am also relinquishing some control andaccepting offers from volunteers and interested Library staff todescribe collections. Digitisation Digitisation of selected material from the Collections has been anatural extension of the Library's move to provide increasedelectronic access to resources. Only ten years ago when SpecialCollections embarked on an in-house pilot digitisation project ofFederation pamphlets, there were no recommended national standards forform or size of images, no allocated server space and no confidence thatimages could be viewed across all platforms. Six years later standardswere becoming established and the question was no longer whether or whySpecial Collections should digitise but which items should be givenpriority, and a great deal of time was devoted to writing policy andcompiling and revising lists of items to be digitised, with preferencegiven to preservation and items needed for teaching. We now have a flatbook-edged scanner in Special Collections and access to overheadscanners for larger or vulnerable items, and digitising is a routinetask. Scanned texts and low-level images are added to the SpecialCollections community pages of the Library's Adelaide Research& Scholarship Digital Repository based on the free but not so userfriendly D-Space software, which allocates a permanent handle to itemsfor easier linking. A particularly successful project has been the R.A. Fisher DigitalArchive initially launched in 2000 and expanded in October 2004. R.A.Fisher's extraordinary contributions to statistical theory,evolutionary biology Evolutionary biology is a sub-field of biology concerned with the origin and descent of species, as well as their change, multiplication, and diversity over time. and genetics have had far-reaching consequences inmany branches of human thought and endeavour. The Digital Archiveincludes selections from his extensive unpublished correspondence andwritings as well as substantial material from Fisher's publishedtexts. Although most of his working life was spent in the UnitedKingdom, Fisher spent his last three years in Adelaide in closeassociation with his former student, research assistant, colleague andfriend, J.H. Bennett, then Professor of Genetics at the University ofAdelaide. Fisher's family generously lodged his papers with us andgranted the University copyright in his writings. Funding for the R.A.Fisher Digital Archive was made available from the sales of hisCollected Papers, posthumously edited by Bennett. The launch of theArchive featured as the top news story on the American StatisticalAssociation webpage and achieved University record totals of over 1million hits on the website. Fisher's papers have continued toattract worldwide research enquiries. Another successful project using collaborative Library resourceswas the digitisation of the University of Adelaide student newspaper OnDit On` dit´n. 1. They say, or it is said. , the second oldest Australian student newspaper and a heavily usedresource. The Library's Digital Resources Management Centre (DRMC DRMC Davis Regional Medical Center (Statesville, North Carolina)DRMC Defense Resources Management CourseDRMC Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen ),which controls the digital text materials required for teaching, scannedand formatted issues of On Dit during periods of low demand. The scannedvolumes were added to the Digital Repository by Systems and SpecialCollections staff. Now, faced with the future dominance of Google Books and otherextensive online collections, digitisation policy has largely beenreduced to preservation and the digitisation of unique texts or thosedemanded by our users. Recently we scanned our copy of H.A.E.Meyer's Vocabulary of the language spoken by the Aborigines aborigines:see Australian aborigines. of thesouthern and eastern portions of the settled districts of SouthAustralia (Adelaide, 1843) to support a project to reintroduce locallanguage and grammar to an indigenous community. Sir MarkOliphant's early memorandum on synchrotron synchrotron:see particle accelerator. synchrotronCyclic particle accelerator in which the particle is confined to its orbit by a magnetic field. The strength of the magnetic field increases as the particle's momentum increases. development was added inresponse to several enquiries and, following repeated requests, we havescanned most of the Daisy Bates photographs and will be adding them tothe Repository in the near future. In 1897 the small Barossa Valley Barossa Valley(bərô`sə), region of South Australia, S Australia. A major area of wine production 40 mi (64 km) NE of Adelaide, the valley was named by Colonel William Light for the British victory over the French in the Battle of printery Print´er`yn. 1. A place where cloth is printed; print works; also, a printing office. of G. Auricht publishedthe Testamenta marra, a translation of the New Testament by J.G. Reutherand C. Strehlow into the local indigenous Dieri language, the firsttranslation into an Australian Aboriginal language. Our formerChancellor and major donor, Sir Samuel Way, took a liking to this rustictext and promptly despatched copies to libraries throughout the world.In February 2008 this rare regional text was digitised by Google Booksfrom an original held by Harvard University Harvard University,mainly at Cambridge, Mass., including Harvard College, the oldest American college.Harvard CollegeHarvard College, originally for men, was founded in 1636 with a grant from the General Court of the Massachusetts Bay Colony. . How can we compete with thejuggernaut of Google Books? We cannot, but we can give the text contextand history, and we will in the near future add the title page fromWay's copy to our digital library along with his annotations andinserted newspaper clippings, and tell the story of the book. Of course the downside to enhanced online access to our Collectionsis the associated increase in queries from remote researchers who expectrapid response to often complex and time-consuming enquiries. How do wecope with this? I attempt to reply immediately acknowledging the requestand then tackle queries assigning a loose priority order to first, ourown students and staff, then interstate and overseas universityresearchers, then other research projects, and if possible refer familyhistorians to the State Library. Requests for more than a few pages ofcopies are channelled through our Document Delivery/Inter-Library Loansystem which has procedures for charging for services. Where possible weuse Document Delivery staff to make scans (which we keep to add to theDigital Repository), although often the fragile nature of the materialprohibits this. Raising awareness I have been in this position for five years, and have been tryingto raise the profile of the Special Collections through any meansavailable. We regularly mount exhibitions on particular themes(bookbinding, lithography, botanical illustration Botanical illustration is the term for the scientific depiction of plants, for the purpose of identification. The work may be be appealing, but is primarily intended to assist in the identification of the plant described. , war literature,garden history, etc.) and displays associated with open days,conferences and seminars. This is my favourite part of the job: verytime consuming but rewarding when I can translate knowledge gained fromRare Book Summer Schools and personal research into physical embodimentswhich also bring pleasure to others. I always plan of course to mountthese as virtual exhibitions but have only so far managed to uploadGarden History. I give behind-the-scenes tours to any group that asks. I never turndown requests to write articles or give talks, and provide material forUniversity and local news publications. We don't charge for scansor permissions to reproduce material in academic or researchpublications but always ask for acknowledgement. To promote student useof resources I host seminars and workshops for specific courses rangingfrom Return to Study courses on 1970s campus protest movements topostgraduate Art History sessions on Burmese palm leaf and lacqueredmanuscripts. Although not limited to Special Collections, The Friends of theUniversity of Adelaide Library provide valuable promotion through theirseries of Discovery talks where researchers talk about their work basedon Library resources. Last year the Friends financed the printing ofgift cards featuring images from one of our copies of George FrenchAngas' South Australia illustrated (London, 1847). In 2008 theLibrary also launched the Bill Cowan For the former British tennis player, see Bill Cowan (tennis).William V. Cowan, often nicknamed Bill Cowan (born August 1943 in Sacramento, California), is a retired USMC Lieutenant Colonel, co-founder and CEO of the WVC3 Group[1] Barr Smith Library Fellowship whichprovides financial assistance towards study for postgraduate degrees byresearch using the collections of the Barr Smith Library. Networking is important, and I have attempted to foster convivial con��viv��i��al?adj.1. Fond of feasting, drinking, and good company; sociable. See Synonyms at social.2. Merry; festive: a convivial atmosphere at the reunion. relations with other heritage collections both intra- and interstate,lending Special Collections material for displays in the AdelaideBotanic Garden a garden devoted to the culture of plants collected for the purpose of illustrating the science of botany.See also: Botanic , Art Gallery of SA, Adelaide Festival Centre The Adelaide Festival Centre is Adelaide's first multi-purpose art centre. The Festival Centre is located approximately 50 metres north of the corner of North Terrace and King William Street, lying near the banks of the River Torrens and adjacent to Elder Park. , SA MaritimeMuseum A maritime museum (sometimes nautical museum) is a museum specializing in the display of objects relating to ships and travel on seas and lakes. A naval museum focuses on navies and military use of the sea. and the National Library of Australia. Particularly rewarding in terms of both raising awareness of theCollections and personal satisfaction is collaboration with artistic andresearch projects. Some years ago I was approached by Mark Salmon (2007)of the Waugal community to assist the Nyungar people of southwestWestern Australia Western Australia,state (1991 pop. 1,409,965), 975,920 sq mi (2,527,633 sq km), Australia, comprising the entire western part of the continent. It is bounded on the N, W, and S by the Indian Ocean. Perth is the capital. recover their traditional legends which had beenrecorded by Daisy Bates. These rediscovered legends have foundexpression in artistic interpretations, a short film, and a limitededition print series. Last year, in support of the ARC Linkage Project'Reconstructing the Baldwin Spencer For the anthropoligist, see W. Baldwin SpencerWinston Baldwin Spencer (born October 8, 1948) is the prime minister of Antigua and Barbuda. and Francis GillenCollection', we digitised the manuscript notebooks of FrancisGillen which had formed the basis of Spencer and Gillen's NativeTribes of Central Australia Central Australia:see Northern Territory, Australia. (London, 1899). The Australian NationalUniversity, the SA Museum, and Museum Victoria will reconstruct thematerial record of photographs, film, sound, field notes and artefactsscattered in world collections as an inter-relational digital archive toreveal the richness of Aboriginal society at the turn of the twentiethcentury My predecessor, Susan Woodburn, devoted much of her time to thePacific Collection and the related manuscript collection of Harry Maude,writing a comprehensive guide (Woodburn, 1995) and later writing abiography of Maude (Woodburn, 2003). While the Pacific Collection stillattracts regular enquiries and associated donations, most recentresearch interest has been associated with the Theatre Collection, inparticular through 'The Ballets Russes Ballets Russes:see Diaghilev, Sergei Pavlovich. Ballets RussesBallet company founded in Paris in 1909 by Sergey Diaghilev. Considered the source of modern ballet, the company employed the most outstanding creative talent of the period. Project'. This fouryear (2006-2009) ARC-funded research partnership between the Universityof Adelaide, The Australian Ballet and the National Library of Australiapresented a series of ballets, exhibitions, and publications thatcelebrated the spirit of Diaghilev. Associated research investigated theDiaghilev vision and the profound impact of the Ballets Russes onAustralia. The irony is that the chief investigators were not aware of theexistence of the Theatre Collection when the project was conceived. Theballet component of the Theatre Collection and dance related manuscriptcollections of Keith Glennon and Alan Brissenden on 'Dance inAustralia' have now been assessed to be of national significance. A very special and enjoyable component of my job is working withthe Theatre Project Volunteers Group. Our knowledgeable and energeticvolunteers date, sort and file theatre programmes and input event andresource information to the AusStage Index of Australian PerformingArts, an online research database on live performance in Australia. TheAusStage database also acts as an index to our theatre ephemeracollections, linking event information to digitised programmes andresources such as reviews in On Dit, and bringing together theatre itemshoused in separate and often disparate collections, such the 1918-1919Liverpool German Concentration Camp theatre and music programmes foundwithin the German Settlers in South Australia papers. SpecialCollections is the largest contributor of resources information toAusStage. Unique resources So much of our attention is directed towards filling demands foronline access and resources that at times we forget why we are'special'. With all scholars having access to the sameresources on the Web, I find there is increasing demand for the uniqueand the obscure; that vital piece of information not available onlinewhich will give a paper or a research project an edge. We cannotpossibly hope to digitise every scrap of paper scrap of paperpre-WWI Belgian neutrality; German disregard precipitated British involvement. [Am. Hist.: Jameson, 450]See : Controversy in our manuscriptcollections, but we can put more effort into establishing context andhighlighting unique aspects of personal archives. Digitised texts arenow commonplace, but the copy specific information--the binding,provenance, annotations and information related to past use ofindividual volumes--will become more important. We had already been adding copy information to catalogue records,and I have also invested time in the training of metadata (cataloguing)staff in rare book and 'special' cataloguing. DavidPearson's course 'Looking beyond texts: using copy-specificevidence' at the 2009 Dunedin Rare Book Summer School was bothinspiring and thought-provoking. It became apparent that, in a Googleworld, copy-specific information locked up in online library catalogueswas not accessible to researchers. We will be experimenting this yearwith simple online databases of provenance and copy-specific data,including scanning our photocopied file of bookplates found in theCollections. We will also be more diligent in the future on retainingrather than suppressing heritage information. Reconstructing collections In past years, for staff convenience, many donated collections hadbeen absorbed into the generic Rare Books Collection. Taking advantageof the ease of online collection control, I have been retaining somerecent acquisitions as separate collections and slowly reconstructingothers to retain historical context and make our community more aware ofits heritage, and to encourage future donations. A small collection of books ranging in date from the 16th to theearly 20th century and recently purchased at auction has been retainedas the Simpson Collection. Many have association with the family ofPearsson Simpson, a Curate CURATE, eccl. law. One who represents the incumbent of a church, person, or20 vicar, and takes care of the church, and performs divine service in his stead. from Cumberland in the late 18th century.Several of the works are heavily annotated; the Book of Common Prayer(Dublin, 1700) containing birth, death and marriage details from 1681 to1837, with others used as aide-memoires by EM Marbury, a 19th centurypastor. An earlier collection came to the Library in 1916 with the SamuelWay bequest. In 1895 Way purchased the Larkin Collection, assembled inthe 1880s by E.A. Petherick for Matthias Larkin, a Melbourne auctioneer,real estate agent and financial dealer who in March 1892 was sentencedto six years imprisonment ImprisonmentSee also Isolation.Alcatraz Islandformer federal maximum security penitentiary, near San Francisco; “escapeproof.” [Am. Hist.: Flexner, 218]Altmark, theGerman prison ship in World War II. [Br. Hist. for embezzling nearly 100,000 [poundssterling] from the South Melbourne This is a disambiguation page. South Melbourne may refer to South Melbourne - a suburb of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. South Melbourne FC - is an Australian soccer club based in the above suburb. Permanent Building Society (Cannon,1976). Way paid 500 [pounds sterling] to 600 [pounds sterling] for thecollection of some 600 volumes including many valuable works of voyagesand discovery and Australiana, finely bound in sets relating to relating torelate prep → concernantrelating torelate prep → bez��glich +gen, mit Bezug auf +accthedifferent sections of the catalogue. For many years the significance ofthe Way bindings was unknown, the books being scattered throughout theRare Books Collection. Petherick assembled only three collections in hislifetime, his own which formed the basis of the National Library'sAustraliana collection, the Yorke Gate Library now held by the RoyalGeographical Society The Royal Geographical Society is a British learned society founded in 1830 with the name Geographical Society of London for the advancement of geographical science, under the patronage of King William IV. of SA, and our own Larkin Collection. I hope tosoon bring this unique collection back together in honour of twosignificant Australian book collectors. To celebrate our heritage, we have for the past year beenreconstructing the '1877 Collection', the foundation Librarycollection as listed in the 1877 University Calendar. Only 200 [poundssterling] per year was available for the purchase of Library books, andtitles were selected with great care and dedication by the fourfoundation professors. Surprisingly few of these early works have beenlost, despite a lack of supervision in the early days of the Library,and many retain the distinctive sheepskin binding with the Universityseal stamped on the front cover. This collection will be displayed in apublic area of the Library, possibly adjacent to our new computerfriendly but book deficient Student Lounge, along with interpretivesignage and descriptive webpage. Challenges and satisfactions I love what I do. I learn something new just about every day. Iinteract with researchers who are engaged with and passionate abouttheir work. I am blessed "I Am Blessed" was the second single released from Power of a Woman. The single was released just after the girl group just had scored their third #1 hit in Japan with "Who Are You". with reliable and dedicated staff and withcollections inherited from innovative and conscientious custodians.Ideas for projects to exploit and promote the collections under our careare plentiful, but we are hampered by limited staffing which can justabout cope with research enquiries and the day-to-day processing ofmaterial, with little hope of describing the backlog of manuscriptcollections. Library colleagues and management are supportive butstaffing demands are high elsewhere in the Library, in particular foruser education and the reprocessing of material to send to off-sitestorage. It is also quite difficult to quantify what we do in relationto the rest of the Library. One loan statistic can represent anythingfrom a minute involved in retrieving a book to an hour or a day trackingdown the precise reference or image required by a user. We aim to provide high-level assistance to both local and externalresearchers, the trade-off being a great deal of personal satisfactionand acknowledgement in publications. I also endeavour to continuallyimprove my knowledge of the Collections in my charge to be able tobetter assist users--an unpopular notion in some public libraries whichseem all too ready to relinquish staff with specialist knowledge andskills. I make no apology for talking about 'my collections'or 'my researchers'--ownership comes with the territory. Icare about the books and manuscripts under my care, just as I care aboutstudents and researchers that ask for my help. I have to keep faith thatmy expertise and knowledge of the collections under my care are valuableassets. Google is great, I use it all the time, but it is not able tomake the connections that I can between collection items and user needs.We also aim to make life as easy as possible for researchers. Weencourage non-flash digital photographs (so much safer for the item inhand than transporting it to be separately photographed or scanned) andwill open the Reading Room for interstate and overseas researchers oranyone who finds our limited opening hours difficult. Much of my time is also involved in negotiating and communicatingwith donors, including the bureaucratic demands of the Cultural GiftsProgram. Physical space for any expansion of Special Collections islimited, although we continue to accept quite a high level of donatedtexts and manuscript collections as academics retire and Universitydepartments are reorganised or relocated. I am increasingly reluctant torefuse collections or indeed to cull cullthe act of culling. Called also cast. material which historians andresearchers may find of value in the future. I have on several occasionshad researchers chasing items which have been discarded in the past.With an increasing emphasis on items as artefacts rather than text orimage, I also think it is impossible to predict how users will employthe Collections in the future. Artists are now regular users of SpecialCollections looking for items such as old photographs--not for theimages but for the surrounds--to incorporate into new works. The future So why will the Barr Smith Library continue to support SpecialCollections despite the high maintenance costs of physical housing,access and processing compared to electronic resources? The Library iscurrently physically reshaping itself in line with the changing demandsof the student population for more laptop facilities and collaborativelearning areas. A third of the main collection is being sent to theoff-site Joint Library Store (mainly print journals replaced byelectronic subscriptions) and book stacks are being lowered andre-spaced to create a more open environment. The Barr Smith used topride itself on its 19th century research collection. We are nowre-evaluating the basic concept of a research library and the form itwill need to take in the future. It is however recognised that SpecialCollections will ultimately become the only unique feature of the BarrSmith Library. More staffing and funds will hopefully be directedtowards Special Collections as reprocessing of books for Store and newprocessing of print materials decreases. The Collections already impart distinction and prestige to theLibrary, and act as a showcase for important visitors and a focus fordonation appeals. I don't believe that maximum value results fromlocking up a limited number of 'treasures' behind glass walls.It does publicise items from collections but also imparts a 'lookbut don't touch' mentality which perhaps is becoming embeddedin the increasing treatment of books as museum objects rather thanresearch tools. The value for me in maintaining Special Collections inan electronic era is to give users a sense of the real article--toencourage students to experience pamphlets distributed during the FrenchRevolution, complete with wine stains, and to visualise the immediacy ofdebate that must have occurred in the wine bars and coffee houses; tofeel and smell a leaf of vellum and understand the limitations ofhand-written and early printed texts; to understand that before themid-19th century the print world was black and white and not colour; andto recognise that knowledge can have enduring presence and value. Manuscript received April 2009 This is a refereed article References All websites were accessed in April 2009 AusStage Index of Australian Performing Artshttp://www.ausstage.edu.au Ayres, M-L and Jolley, E 2008, 'Silk purse or sow's ear?Good enough collection control at the National Library ofAustralia'. NLA Staff paper (unpublished) Cannon, M 1976, The land boomers. West Melbourne, Vic, ThomasNelson Salmon, M 2007, 'Celebrating the legends', AustralianHeritage, Winter 2007, p.12-14 University of Adelaide Library. Adelaide Research & ScholarshipDigital Repository: http:// digital.library.adelaide.edu.au/dspace/ University of Adelaide Library. Special Collections:http://www.adelaide.edu.au/library/special/ University of Adelaide Library. Special Collections. R.A. FisherDigital Archive: http://digital.library.adelaide.edu.au/coll/special//fisher Woodburn, S 1995, Journeys through Pacific history: a guide to thePacific Islands library and the papers of H.E. and H.C. Maude. Adelaide,University of Adelaide. Also available athttp://hdl.handle.net/2440/16167 Woodburn, S 2003, Where are our hearts still lie: a life of Harryand Honor Maude in the Pacific Islands. Belair, SA, Crawford HousePublishing Australia Cheryl Hoskin was appointed Special Collections Librarian at theBarr Smith Library of the University of Adelaide in 2004. A graduate ofthe University of Adelaide, Cheryl has worked in a number of researchand library positions specialising in rare book description and Englishliterature. Her email address is: cheryl.hoskin@adelaide.edu.au