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Native American Collection Processing Moves Forward in LTS

David Banush

The Cornell Native American Collection (NAC), formerly held by the Huntington Free Library in the Bronx, was transferred to CUL’s custody in June 2004.  This rich collection comprises more than 40,000 volumes and over 200 cubic feet of archival materials dealing with the history, languages, and cultures of the indigenous peoples of the Americas.  Since its arrival in Ithaca that summer, Library Technical Services (LTS) staff have been chipping away at the processing of the print materials in the collection.  In September 2004 most of the items designated for the circulating collection were shipped to Mann Library, where technical services staff began the task of cataloging the unique items for CUL.  Items duplicated in the collection were marked with a code in the Voyager database, and the books themselves were then sent to the Annex, where they are being stored until further action is taken on them.  As of January 2006, the vast majority of the circulating monographs have been processed and sent to the stacks.

The Native American Collection also comprises a significant number of serial titles, many of which are unique to CUL.  During the spring and summer of 2005, LTS staff identified unique newspapers issued by various tribes across the country for processing and cataloging.  These items are now accessible to researchers via the Voyager catalog.  Staff also began working on searching other serial titles, filling in gaps in CUL’s existing holdings or adding all the issues when titles were new to our collections.  Although a key staff member’s departure in early September 2005 has delayed further work with the serials, LTS hopes to resume processing of serial titles later this year.

A recent grant for the preservation of materials in the Native American Collection from the Saving America’s Treasures program, administered by the National Endowment for the Humanities, has brought the processing of the rare and “medium-rare” titles to the forefront.  Under the grant, full conservation treatment will be given to over 600 volumes, while an additional 500 items are set to receive more-minor repairs; some archival materials will be rehoused in more-appropriate containers.  The Library is also planning to digitize a portion of the collection.  All these steps require that the materials, many drawn from the rare and medium-rare titles, be cataloged first.  The project will be the first undertaking for the newly integrated special collections processing unit in LTS.  Three experienced catalogers are now undergoing training to process special collections items.  They, along with staff who have long cataloged such items, have begun cataloging the rare items slated for conservation and digitization.  Their work will help make these treasures, long hidden away in the Bronx, widely available to the world.

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