So what's it all about?

Life in Special Collections, as I’ve come to understand it, goes something like this. Collections come in to us (or items are added to collections) when they are either donated, or (less often) bought using trust fund money. Collections relating to a prominent person are often donated by a family member if the person has died, or if still alive, they or someone in their office sends more to us every so often to add to the collection. The first project I volunteered on was sorting through press cuttings from Melvyn Bragg’s office; I was told that ‘every so often he clears out his drawers and sends it all in’.

There needs to be a process whereby all the exciting old stuff is legally handed over to the university library and its details clocked onto the system; this is called accessioning and is one of my line manager’s responsibilities. Ideally, what would happen next is that the material would be examined, surveyed and catalogued straight away so that everyone, including library users, knows what’s there and can access it. In the real world, things work much more slowly, and items have to be left – and often moved multiple times! – until a staff member is able to work through boxes, examine the condition of the contents and do any repackaging necessary so that they can be safely preserved and handled. This is why I never ran out of volunteer work last summer, and why, indeed, volunteers are so valued at the Brotherton. Absolutely nothing bored me as a volunteer (well, apart from clearing out the map drawers…) because the work often involved looking through boxes of items that none of the staff had laid eyes on. Often we are sent lists of what has been deposited, but these are often more of a summary. The most exciting moment for me was when I was sorting some papers belonging to the poet and playwright Tony Harrison and was told, ‘There’s a letter from Laurence Olivier somewhere in there’. I did find it, though unfortunately Olivier hadn’t signed it, just squiggled! Pah.

Now, in the L-shaped room, I’m going a step further and am doing a proper survey of art objects. I was allowed to design my own survey sheet, to help me record as quickly and efficiently as possible the information that needs to go on record. I based it on existing survey sheets they use in Special Collections and am now using it to work my way through all the prints, photographs, plans and seventies multimedia collages (yes, really) that are standing upended between bookshelves in the L-shaped room. After a slow start in which I messed about with spacing several times, I feel I’ve now cracked it and am using it with a bit more ease. I’m including a condition report on the sheet also, with a diagram box to help me depict all those nasty cracks, stains and acid burns that I’m slowly getting used to picking out and recognising.

Next time: the delights of deframing, and what exactly is a cotton duck??