Nota Bene News from the Yale Library
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Spring T993 Volume \/ 11 , Number '- Nota Bene News from the Yale Library Alumni Support Preservation :\ scholar reading. Woodcarving in the Preservation of Yale's extraordinary research collections Arts of the Book is at the hea rt of the library'S mi ssion. Over the yea rs, a Room, Sterling number of alumni have supported this endeavor. Recent Memorial Library. gifts and pledges earmarked for p rogram development now make it possible to address the enormous tion challenge in a predictable fashion. Protectin g and enhancing access to books, journals, manuscripts, maps, and other special collections will sustain rhe Unive rsity's teaching and resea rch programs and continue to arrract scholars from all over the "vorld. In the last calendar yea r alone, Yale alumni and other suppo rters have given nea rl y $I.2 million to supporr preservation ini tia tives . Yale University Library has long been a pi oneer in developing innovative approaches to prese rvation and conserv ation. Over the past twenty yea rs, the rion Department has identified methods fo r assess in g systematica ll}' the preservation needs of Yale's research coll ections and assigning prioriti es for action. Yale vvas among the first group of research libraries to launch rhe program fOf\\'ard. The generous gifts of ivlarie and large-scale preservation microfilming projects and Edward Swenson' 40, The Gaylord Donnelle ), 198) ti nues to lea d the field in their creative management. Gift Trust, and Anthony T. Dean' 57 have made it possi- Yale is now explori ng ways to leverage thi s sign ifi cant ble to conceive of a truly comprehensive preservation investment in preserva tion mi crofilm by usin g digital program on campus. im aging tec hnology to increase access to a large portion Yale's reputation as a research instituri on is based in of irs holdings. large part upon rhe scope, size, and uniqueness of its To assure continuing support for core preservation library holdings. When browsin g the shelves of any vices, the Library has sought to augment significantly its library on ca mpus, students, facul ty, and visiting scholars preservation en dowment. Thanks to a recem pledge of may well find rhe rare and rhe commonplace si de by $r million by the Frances and Benjamin Benenson side-wondrous id eas juxtaposed across ce nturies of dation, Inc., the library is now making notable progress printing technology. Creative strategies now being in strengthening this foundation of preservati on acrivity. menred ar Yale will help preserve the integriry of Yale's Charl es B. Benenson '33 is presid ent of the Foundation. co ll ections for today's library patrons, as well as fo r The library'S Prese rvation Department is launching future generations of sc holars.-pLc seve ral preservation initiatives under the coordina ti on of its newly orga ni zed management tea m. A new collection s care facility will provide for the o ngoing ma intena ll ce and repair of circulati ng coll ections housed in the Ster- Kruidellier Gift to Sterling ling Memorial Library. Yale is reinforci ng its commit- A recem gift to Sterling Memorial Library will greatly ment to the cooperati ve efforrs of research libraries to advance the university's efforts to preserve its priceless bui ld a national collection of books and serials preserved coll ections. T hanks ro a $1 million g ifr from David on microfi lm. With the assistance of a library-wide Kruidenier '44 of Des Moines, Iowa, the Library has just preservation support group, the scope of preservation moved closer to the insta ll ation of a climate control activities on campus will broaden in the coming yea rs to system designed to arrest rh e deterioration of the books encompass other sc holarly reso urces at Yale . in the stacks. In the past year, ne\\' gifts and pledges of su pport for " I would hope," Mr. Kruidenier stated, "that my gift Yale Library'S preservation efforts are helping to move would serve as a model for future donors toward this preservation project. Time is of the essence, and I hope that many other Ya le friends and alu mni will heed the cal l. " Yale University Librarian Millice nr D. Abe ll ex pressed her gratitude. " Mr. Kru id eni er's gifr comes at a crit ica l time for the frag il e Sterlin g co ll ec ti ons. All of us in the Li brary feel buoyed up by hi s leadership and comm it- ment as we seek additional funds to make the climate control system a rea lity." About 80% of Sterl ing's holdings are primed on acidic paper, which becomes brittle unless it is ke pt under rela- tively constanr levels of temperature and humidit)l. The Sterling stacks do nOt currently provide sllch conditionsi the sixty-three yea r old building has never had an ai r- conditioning or humidit)' control system, a nd its obsolete hea ting system fu ns uncontrolled. Kruidenier, an executive with Cowles Media Com- pany, expla in ed that he decided to make his gift after a tour of Sterling Memorial Library. " I feel fortunate," An apol'hccary preparing a draught, from Hieronymus Brunschwig, he sa id, "to be able to do something for a universiry that Buell dcr Vergift der Pcstilellz, Strassburg, ! 500. has done so much for me an d the civil ized wo rl d. What better purpose co uld one have than to help prese rve the book collection of one of the world's great universities." Chemistry Collectio115 Online In thanking M r. Kruidellier, Accing Presi dent Howard Given rhe size of the Ya le Uni ve rsity Libra ry'S co ll ec- R. Lamar reiterated HYa le's responsibi lity to preserve our tions, the conversion of a ll catalog cards for pre-1977 share of cultural hi story for the sllldenrs of today books inro machine-readable form in Orbis wi ll be time- and for generations to come. Yale is turning to its consuming and expensive. Severa l large, grant-funded fr iends and supporters for assistance in fu lfill ing this projects in this rerrospecrive conversion process are responsibility." -KHS completed or underway and have been described in this newsletter. [n addition, li brary sta ff undertake sma ll scale efforts \.vithour outside support to improve the ava il abil ity of materials through Orbis. One such project at the Sterling Chemi stry Library will achieve a mil estone by adding to Orb is the majority of Yale ca talog records for the fie ld of chemistry. Nota Bene is published during [hc academic year 10 acquainr In June of 1992, the staff of the Chemi stry Library rhe Yale communir)' and orhers inreresred with rhe resources began convertin g its catalog ca rds into machine-readable of the Ya le libraries. Please direct comments and quesrions to records; nine months later all of the books shelved in the Sus:lnne Robcrrs. Ediror, Bibliography Departmcnt, Sterling Memorial l ibrary (432- 1762.). Chemi stry Library can be fou nd in Orbis. In addition, the proj ect has added to the Orbis database complete Copyright © 1993 Ya le Uni versity Li brary in formation on journal vo lumes shelved in rhe Chemistry Library. Library staff are now working on adding Contributors {O this iSSLIe include Paull. Conway. Bcarricc records to Orbis for the small coll ection of books whic h K. Luh, j ill Newby, Kimberly j . Parkcr, Chrism A. Sammons, were rransferred to rhe .Mudd Library from Chemistry, judith A. SchiH, Kristi n 1-1 . South, and Pa ul F. Stuehrenberg. When this portion of the project is completed th is fa ll , all Special thanks arc due Kristin H. South. of the records fo r materials owned by the Sterling Chem- Photographs on pages I and 2. a re by .Michael Marsland. istry Library will be in Orbis. The projecr will continue with the conversion of cata- Design is by j ohn Gambell and Rebecca Gibb. log records for chemi srry books in the Kline Sc ience Library. Thanks to th e hard work of lib rary sta ff and Millicent D. Abell. Universiry Librarian Susanne F. Roberts, Ediror student assistants, Ya le library users will have on-line access to most of rhe Library's chemistry holdings.-KJ P Donors Support Divinity Library Ya le Divinity School Library One cenrury ago George Edward Day, professor emeritus Awarded Grant o f Hebrew la nguage and literature, donated his coll ec- Ya le Divin ity School Library has bee n awarded a gra nt tion of mi ss ions-related materia ls to rhe Ya le Divinity of $185,400 to preserve 3,000 seria ls' vo lumes from its School and became the catalyst for the formation of a n Day Missions Colt ection over a two-year period . This " Hi storical Library of Foreign Missions" at Yale. In project is funded by the National Endowment for the 19 1 J a bui lding was constfllcred to house the Da y Ivli s- Humanities thro ugh th e Great Co llections Mlcrofilm mg sions Coll ecti on, fund ed by generous bequests fr om Day Project, Phase I V (GeM P IV ) of the Research Librari es and his wife, Olivia Hotchkiss Day. \'Vh en th e Divinity Group (R LG). The grant continues a ten-year effort by Sc hool moved to Prospect Sneer in 1932, th e Day RLG in stitmions to save disinteg rating materials in th e Li brary was merged with the Trowbridge Reference nation's li braries.