Collection Development and Management

Contents:

Introduction and general guidelines

The Department collects in support of study, teaching, and advanced research in the humanities and the hard and applied sciences, and to document the recent and distant past of our University and our community. In his inauguration as the University's fifth president, Cornelis de Kiewiet said, "A university is never fully mature. It must grow and change, else it languishes and loses its place." The same is true of a research and teaching collection: it sustains its usefulness, becomes more complete, and supports new and original inquiry through acquisition. 

A collection such as ours keeps its place by adding the valuable and unique to foundation collections, and by pursuing 21st-century materials that reflect the diversity and complexity of the issues facing our community as part of the world at large. Through our collections, we encourage innovative scholarship and the research interests of new generations of students, faculty, and scholars.

When materials are not available by donation, acquisitions are made through purchase, primarily with endowed funds. We acknowledge and honor our crucial partnerships with friends and donors over the years; their interest and trust are one indication of the true worth of our endeavors.

The River Campus Libraries website includes a directory of Endowed Funds. In evaluating purchases or potential donations, the following factors are considered.

• Research value, and usefulness in teaching and exhibition: including evidential and informational content, uniqueness, credibility, accessibility, time span, complementary relationship to other holdings, and potential uses.
• Material characteristics: including age, volume, format, and physical condition.
• Administrative considerations: including staffing as well as preservation, storage, and processing costs.

The unique history of Rochester has meant that our collections contain substantial materials relating to often under-collected communities and cultures; we actively build on those existing holdings and seek opportunities to explore new areas. Through our collections, we facilitate study and research from multicultural and interdisciplinary perspectives.
 

This is a general policy that provides broad guidelines for collecting by RBSCP, including the University Archives. The purpose here is not to document all collection strengths and areas of distinction, but to guide current selection criteria by designating certain areas of continued growth and indicating, where appropriate, collecting qualifiers and limited procedures for deaccessioning. 

Areas covered in this document include:

1. Literary collections
   1. Rare books
   2. Children's books
   3. Literary collections, mainly since 1930 
2. Historical and non-literary collections
   1. Historical collections
   2. Women’s rights collections
   3. Rochester’s horticultural history
   4. Rochester's architecture 
3. University Archives

As circumstances change, collecting areas are reevaluated and modified as appropriate.

Past and fuller descriptions of major collecting areas and collections of distinction are available, including:

• The online “Subject Guides to Rare Books and Manuscript Collections,” based in large part on the 1994 publication A Guide to the Collections, Rare Books & Special Collections, University of Rochester Libraries.
• Other descriptions can be found in back issues of the University of Rochester Library Bulletin, including “Our Special Collections,” Spring 1949, and "The Department of Special Collections: A Survey," Fall 1968.

1. Literary Collections

a. Rare Books

We selectively add to our cataloged collections, through gift or purchase, works by the following:

• Dickens, Charles (1812–1870).
• Dryden, John (1631-1700).
• Eliot, George (1819-1880).
• Morley, Christopher (1890-1957).
• Ruskin, John (1819-1900). See also: John Ruskin Papers, 1849-1875. D.312.
• Southey, Robert (1774-1843). See also: Robert Southey Papers. A.S727.
• Tennyson, Alfred (1809-1892). See also: Alfred Lord Tennyson Papers. D.233.
• Thoreau, Henry David (1817-1862). 

 
As well as to our holdings of:

• British and American publishers’ cloth bindings, 1830-1910. See also: Beauty for Commerce: Publishers’ Bindings, 1930-1910.
• Rochester and other local imprints, 1800-present.  

 
And imprints of:

• The Eragny Press.
• The Roycrofters. See also: Roycroft-Hubbard Papers, 1887-1965. D.77.
• The Vale Press.

See also:

• "Subject Guides to Rare Books and Special Collections—British and American Literature."
• "Subject Guides to Rare Books and Special Collections—British and American Theater."
• "Subject Guides to Rare Books and Special Collections—Printing, Publishing, and Book Arts."

b. Children's books

We collect through gift or purchase American and British children’s books, primarily 1760-1930.  Our holdings are strong in nineteenth-century New England and New York State chapbooks, Mahlon Day imprints, and Rochester imprints. In addition to these areas, current collecting is focused on materials related to key social issues, such as gender, etiquette, ethnicity, and race. We also collect editions of Cinderella and versions of The Three Bears.  
See also: "Subject Guides to Rare Books and Special Collections—Children’s Books and Popular Literature."

c. Literary manuscripts, mainly since 1930

Last modified: August 28, 2015.