Professional Documents
Culture Documents
INTEGRATING LIBRARIES, ARCHIVES,
& MUSEUMS
Laura Millar – Archival Consultant
Brian Meissner – ECI/Hyer Architecture & Interiors
Kacey Jurgens – THA Architects
What is Integration?
Integration? Collaboration? Convergence?
Buzz words or legitimate new directions?
Driven by philosophy or pragmatism?
What is achievable? What is desirable?
The Five Stages of Convergence
Contact: starting a dialogue, learning and
sharing information
Cooperation: informal and ad hoc activities,
occasional pursuit of shared initiatives Integration
can happen
Coordination: formal pursuit of projects or at various
initiatives, with a mutually agreed goal levels all
Collaboration: shared creation leading to through
transformational change stages
Convergence: distinctions are no longer
evident; a new blended entity has emerged.
What Is Driving Integration?
The reality of one‐stop shopping in an “Amazoogle” world.
The growth of remote‐access, Internet‐based methods of research,
discovery, and use.
The need to use resources, staff, and time more efficiently.
The pressure for seamless and integrated, and more cost‐effective,
public service.
The potential for stronger and more diverse, yet better coordinated,
holdings and services.
The need to tap into the potential of virtual cultural communities and
the information commons.
The vision of “memory” institutions as cohesive sources of culture,
identity, and information.
Outcomes of Integration
Unified physical reading rooms and reference spaces
Integrated access resources and coordinated descriptive and resource
discovery tools
Shared work spaces leading to improved professional collaboration
Coordinated acquisition/collecting programs
Integrated, cost‐effective, and more robust administration and
management structures
Challenges to Integration
Importance of respecting professional roles and specialities.
Importance of managing materials according to their own specific
needs.
Risk of focusing on the lowest common denominator.
Imbalance in relationships between allied agencies:
Libraries and archives often have more in common with each other than each
might have with museums.
Museums and archives often have other areas in common that do not overlap
with libraries.
Some institutions are higher‐profile and more prominent, overwhelming the
less powerful partner.
Technologies and methodologies developed in one sector do not
always work well in another; new and integrated models are needed.
The Hospital as Analogy
The overall vision is: treat and heal the patient.
The required actions are:
Triage in emergency or admissions.
Identification of needs and service providers.
Movement of the patient through the system.
Documentation and tracking to ensure no information (or lives) are lost.
Specialists participate to their level of expertise, within a coordinated
overarching framework of service.
Success comes with a cohesive team supporting a unified goal but
respecting everyone’s speciality.
Examples of Integration Projects
University of Edinburgh: development of a unified collection
development policy across cultural institutions.
Victoria and Albert Museum: digitization of all items on exhibit on the
ground floor of the museum.
Smithsonian Institution: comprehensive digitization program for
photographic collections.
Yale University: sustainable administrative structure to support
already successful individual collaborative ventures funded with grant
money.
Princeton University: central mechanism for preserving metadata and
digital assets, while allowing units to use their own systems for
collection management and access.
Integration & Physical Facilities
Integration does not require that we restructure our physical
space, but changes in our physical environment can come out
of – and can support – the work of integration, collaboration,
and convergence.
The Rooms, Newfoundland & Labrador
Provincial Archives, Art Gallery and Museum
Opened in 2005, The Rooms is a combined provincial
archives, art gallery, and museum, defined as a “place to
gather” and supports integrated access to art, artifacts,
archaeology, architecture and archival records. The building
design mirrors the "fishing rooms" where families came
together to process their catch –the colours and shapes
reflect the traditional style of fishing huts in St. John’s and
the surrounding Newfoundland out ports.
Library & Archives, Canada
Merging of National Library
& National Archives
The building, opened in 1997 and designed
primarily for archival storage, provides an outer
shell – with a Canadian prairie oil patch theme –
creating an environmental buffer zone for the
interior concrete structure. Within the shell are
preservation laboratories, offices, and forty‐
eight vaults (350 m2 each) for the storage and
handling of archival records, with options for
four different environ‐mental control settings.
With the merger in 2004, the building now
serves both library and archival needs.
Royal BC Museum & BC Archives
Merger of museum and archives
in 2003
Development of “Mammoth”
collections management software
Creation of integrated search tools
and websites
2011 initiative to revitalize buildings, facilities, and operations
To become BC’s leading cultural centre dedicated to preserving the
province’s identity, collective memory, history and heritage.
To become a landmark physical site, province‐wide resource and virtual
environment.
To further our reputation as one of the preeminent cultural museums and
archives in the world.
Ingredients for Success
A clear vision
A strong mandate
Attractive incentives
Support from a champion or change agent
Underlying organizational structure and clarity
Stable, sustainable, and committed resources
Staff support, motivation, and enthusiasm
Trust, trust, trust
Where to Start?
Is the project important for stakeholders and users, not just custodians
and curators?
Is it timely – is there a perceived need or desire?
Is the project best done here and now, or is it better done in some
other institution or at some other time?
Is the project manageable, not overwhelming?
Is Integration the Future?
It is one possible future for libraries, archives and museums.
It is exciting, innovative, and challenging.
Investigating the possibilities of integration can only help each
professional discipline improve its own operations and methodologies.
Working with others helps us understand ourselves better.
SEWARD LIBRARY MUSEUM – A CASE STUDY
A Story About Outreach
FIRST FLOOR PLAN SECOND FLOOR PLAN
LIBRARY ARCHIVES MUSEUM PLANNING
Site Plan
Ground Floor Plan
Second Floor Plan
QUESTIONS?
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