LIS 657���������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� Jonathan Eaker   Mint Museum Library Site Visit Assessment ����������� I was not sure what to expect at the Mint Museum library. I had seen a picture one time of the library, and it did not look very big. I thought they would have a small collection of books that dealt with the subject matter of their exhibits. I also thought they may have books related more generally to art and history. I wondered if part of their purpose was to house or catalog items that were not on exhibit. ����������� Joyce Weaver runs the Library of the Mint Museum. The library is actually comprised of several libraries: the J. A. Jones Reference Library, the Delhom-Gambrell Reference Library, the library for the Mint Museum of Craft + Design, and a slide and video library. She works mostly at the J. A. Jones library with maybe one day a week at the Delhom-Gambrell and one day every two weeks at the Craft + Design. The library has around 15,000 books and she estimated that the collection has nearly 30,000 items total. Ms. Weaver told us that the library is there for the other museum staff to research their areas. The museum library serves 53 employees with 6 curators plus all of the volunteers that work there. Auxiliary groups, such as the Friends of the Mint, use the library for their needs. The public is able to use the library, and she said most of that is done through phone reference. She is the only full time librarian but she does have a part time employee and volunteers. She reports to the Director of Education but said that may not be the case in other museum libraries. The library is also used to teach docents about the areas they will be working in. They require the docents to do background research before they guide tours or work in the museum. She answered one of my questions when said all of the objects are handled by a registrar and not the library. The collection of the libraries is made up of books, periodicals and vertical files on artists. ����������� The previous librarian had been there about 35 years and was ready to retire. When Ms. Weaver was hired she found that the former librarian did not have a very formal cataloging style and just knew where to find most items. To check out books, users just write their name and the title of the book on a sheet of paper on the desk by the door. There is no online catalog; the Craft + Design library does have a catalog for searching. They are putting in a grant to get an online catalog. She said that in the meantime they do not want to put in a system that will have to be changed or updated shortly after, so they will stay with the current system for now. There was no written collection development plan in place. She is now working on that. Most of the books were donated and some are outdated or not relevant to their collection so those need to be weeded out. She has been talking to the curators to see what they want and need and has found them very supportive. She keeps the curators aware of new titles when they are added to the collection. Some titles the library does not have can be borrowed through a museum book exchange. They are a member of SOLINET (the Southeastern Library Network), and can get items on loan through other member organizations. They also sometimes receive items from traveling exhibits on display at the museum, but sometimes they have to purchase them in order to add them to the collection. They have a collection of rare and valuable books which currently are just housed in the Delhome-Gambrell library on the shelf. She showed us a very rare book of prints of Asian ceramics that has suffered some light damage and said they are currently putting in a grant to preserve these materials. She does not have to write the grant because the library has someone on staff that does that. When asked if she used online resources she said they did not pay to access any and they are not really needed. Ms. Weaver said the benefits of her job are being able to work 8-5 weekdays, seeing exhibits before they go public with curators guiding them, and being able to meet artists. The biggest problem she has encountered is educating people what the library has to offer. She has put together an information sheet and is working on an updated web page. ����������� What I found most surprising was that the Mint Museum library has as many resources as it does. I thought there may be a few shelves, but when you add all three of the libraries together they have a decent sized collection. I was also surprised at how unorganized it sounded. With no good catalog I don�t know how they have managed to be useful. The lack of preservation of the rare and valuable books also surprised me. You would think the one place that knows the value of preserving items and has the resources and personnel to do it would be a museum. With the museum running mostly on grants and donations I guess the items tucked away in the library have just got overlooked. I also had no idea they were used to educate the docents and volunteers that work there, I just assumed the curator put together a brochure that they were required to know.