Each month I check in over at ACU Special Collections to provide updates about the growth and development of our print collections. The first week of each month I get a report from our library catalog administrator with a spreadsheet of the items added the previous month across our various collections. I modify the list a bit to make it easier to read, then drop it in a post and use it as an opportunity to brag on my colleagues and get the information out there. My hope is that for the more obscure items, someone sometime, somewhere, will search the web for it, and the title will come up in our old blog post, and then they can go from there to find the item they need. I also think it critical to keep our donors informed of the progress in building the collection. I know lists of titles and authors are not the most compelling reading, but first-class research-level collections do not happen. They do not drop from the heavens, they are built. In our case, they are built almost solely by donors and used by researchers whose work deserves to be sourced by the very best collection that can be assembled. They are built methodically, diligently, consistently, all for the purposes of preservation and use. So, I hope the lists are useful.
In 2021 over 5000 new old things came our way, passed through cataloging, and are now on the shelves. That is a tremendous achievement and you can read more at the link below.
eScriptorium 