Running Header: LORE & ORDER TEAM PROJECT 1 A Glimpse of Hollywood: Uncovering History at the Margaret HerriCk Library Lore & Order Team ProjeCt NiCk Casarez, Angela Brown, Eileen Urrutia, and Amy Rogers LIM 502 University of Southern California November 22, 2019 LORE & ORDER TEAM PROJECT 2 Organization Information The Margaret Herrick Library The Margaret HerriCk Library (MHL) is a non-Circulating reference and research ColleCtion dediCated to the “history and development of the motion piCture as an art form and an industry” (“Margaret HerriCk Library,” n.d.). The MHL was founded in 1928, a year after the ACademy of Motion PiCture Arts and SCiences (AMPAS) was founded and was eventually named after Margaret HerriCk, the Library’s first librarian. The library was “established to assist the organization’s mission to advance the arts and sCiences of motion piCtures, the library began building a comprehensive research and reference colleCtion of film-related paper materials” (Mehr, 1996, para. 2). It is currently located on S. La Cienega Blvd in Beverly Hills, where it has been since 1991. The library has many rare items in their extensive colleCtion such as photographs, portraits, periodiCals, clippings, posters, and speCial correspondence between filmmakers, exeCutives, and aCtors. The library also has an extensive poster colleCtion, art materials, costume drawings, musiC and reCorded sound, and a digital colleCtion that is browsable online. Many colleCtions are available for visiting patrons onsite like books, manusCripts, and other internal databases, but many speCial colleCtions are only available through email or phone requests a few days in advance. Users Anne Coco, DireCtor of the GraphiC Design ColleCtion, and RaChel Bernstein, the Head of Reference and PubliC ServiCe, both stated that the users that frequent the MHL are researchers, students, film sChools, or people in the film industry. Currently, the library is seeking to diversify its user base and focusing on elementary sChools in the area to encourage LORE & ORDER TEAM PROJECT 3 field trips to teaCh young sCholars how to use the library and learn how to do research (Personal CommuniCation, OCt 11, 2019). As the MHL holds many rare and unique items, there are a number of guidelines patrons must adhere to when entering the Library to use the items. These guidelines ensure the items are proteCted and the library stays open to users. When users walk into the building, they must CheCk in with a photo-id at the front desk and sign in/sign out on a sheet. A locker is assigned to patrons to put their belongings in. The only items that are allowed in the aCtual Library are a photo ID, paper and pencil, and a laptop without a case. When entering the Library on the seCond floor, patrons must turn in their photo ID in exchange for a library pass they can use for the day. When they plan on leaving the Library for the day, their photo ID is returned, and all patrons must sign out after retrieving their belongings from their assigned lockers. A few colleCtions and databases are available to browse online from the MHL website, but the majority of items and databases can be aCCessed onsite. Additionally, many speCial ColleCtions Can only be requested via email a few days in advance. Users need to make an appointment to view the requested items, to give time for the SpeCial ColleCtion Librarians to gather items for the patron, and have them ready to view the day of their appointment. Patrons are only allowed to view one box at a time and must handle all items with speCial care, including wearing gloves to view any photographs. Patrons can visit the library on the days they are open, Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, and Friday from 10 am to 6 pm. Patrons can also contaCt the Archives staff at [email protected] or (310) 247-3000 x 3345. Current Collections “Today the library boasts nearly 42,000 monograph volumes, more than 2,400 periodiCal titles, 10 million photographs, 300,000 clipping files, 80,000 sCreenplays, and 35,000 movie posters” LORE & ORDER TEAM PROJECT 4 (Kinder, 2010 pg. 264). The Library also maintains production files, general subjeCt files, and books on anything that has to do with film including production, the art of filmmaking, improv, Comedy, and film/ACademy history. Additionally, “There are over 1000 speCial colleCtions,” available by appointment that “document the product and aCtivities of motion piCture companies and organizations as well as the careers of individual producers, direCtors, writers, aCtors, Cinematographers, art direCtors, costume designers, composers, makeup artists, animators, Columnists, publiCists, exeCutives, and others who have made a signifiCant contribution to the industry” (Mehr, 2009, p. 31). Many of these SpeCial ColleCtions are only viewable onsite and for a short period of time and must be handled with speCial care. Collection Development Policy The mission of AMPAS is “to reCognize and uphold excellence in the motion piCture arts and sCiences, inspire imagination, and conneCt the world through the medium of motion piCtures” (AMPAS, 2019a). The MHL supports this mission in its efforts to “ColleCt, preserve, and make aCCessible materials” that document the history of motion piCtures (AMPAS, 2019a). The library demonstrates their commitment to supporting their parent organization and user Community through a detailed and organized colleCtion development poliCy (CDP). ACCording to Johnson (2018), a CDP should “desCribe(s) the library’s mission and user community and provide(s) guidance for developing and managing a colleCtion” (p. 122). The CDP desCribes the provision of aCCess and colleCtion seleCtion criteria. As the library colleCtion is primarily comprised of historiCal legaCy materials, it is important to CommuniCate usage poliCies and guidelines to their stakeholders, while also ensuring maximum aCCess to a wide audience. The non-Circulating materials of the library are aCCessible to the publiC, and attention must be paid to copyright, privaCy, and the long-term preservation of such LORE & ORDER TEAM PROJECT 5 materials. SpeCifiC colleCtion areas are identified in the poliCy, eaCh desCribed with further detail, seleCtion criteria, and notated exclusions. The CDP desCribes how seleCted material will Contribute to and support the overall mission of the MHL. Through a detailed desCription of the cultural heritage materials whiCh the Library aCquires and preserves, and the ways in whiCh these materials support AMPAS and their user Communities, the MHL can make itself visible and emphasize its value to target user groups. In this way, the CDP can be utilized as a tool to shape future outreaCh and marketing aCtivities whiCh can serve to conneCt their communities. Outreach Initiatives and Opportunities Social Media We reCommend the implementation of a strong Social Media program that will be used as the main form of outreaCh for the MHL, providing an easily aCCessible platform for anyone to use. Social Media, in all of its forms, allows for a virtual community to exist and it is “important for a library, a community institution, to be available in all the locations where people are” (Vatter, 2016, para. 3). The use of this platform would allow the MHL to increase the visibility of their colleCtion and reaCh a broader group of people who are unfamiliar with the library, as well as keep current patrons updated on the goings-on within the library and its colleCtion. Employing Social Media would be a fast, simple, and inexpensive mode of promotion for the library and any additional exhibits the MHL would host using its colleCtion. Our suggested platform of choiCe is Instagram, as it provides a number of advantages speCifiC to our plan, incorporating both ease of use for the administrator and audience as well as promotional strength. It should be noted that the focus of this partiCular Social Media platform is on the sharing of photos and videos. ACCording to Kit Smith (2019), Instagram “is one of the LORE & ORDER TEAM PROJECT 6 best platforms to advertise on – a Forrester report has shown that engagement with brands on Instagram is 10 times higher than FaCebook, 54 times higher than Pinterest, and an astonishing 84 times higher than Twitter” (para. 2). Instagram also promotes “follows” to aChieve a greater network. This feature would allow the MHL to follow other libraries, direCtors, universities, and archival institutions to ensure that they are conneCting with their target audience. This aligns with the manner in whiCh we wish to showCase MHL’s various items and colleCtions: providing a single or set of photos and/or videos of a seleCted item; a brief desCription of the item explaining what it is and why it is important; and finally, the ability to direCtly link the audience to additional relevant information within the MHL or to an external website, such as the direCtor or costume designer’s web page. Additionally, this platform provides seamless integration with FaCebook (NA, 2016), whiCh is important as, aCCording to Johnson (2018), “the goal is to create Content compelling enough that users will share it with their social networks” (Johnson, 2018, p. 267). This could increase the audience, increase awareness and use of the MHL, and further promote any exhibits that the MHL is showing or conneCted with. Please see Appendix B for direCt links to the MHL Digital ColleCtion. We have outlined a sample of topiCs that would be essential to highlight in our Social Media campaign, in order to communiCate the value of our colleCtion to our users: 1.The Margaret Herrick Library The Library was established in 1927, after the founding of the ACademy, and eventually named after its first librarian, Margaret HerriCk, 1936 - 1943. In its infancy, the ACademy was most concerned with “establishing standards for film sound and projeCtion ratios,” (“Margaret HerriCk, the ACademy’s first librarian,” 1999.