In general, books arriving as part of a manuscript collection should be removed from the collection during processing. Appraisal of printed materials can be complex; there are often categories that are clear to processors, and then a wide swath of grey area.
When cataloged, the HOLLIS record for the published item will have a 541 in the holdings (Source of Acquisition, i.e. donor name) and then usually a 561 (ownership note, which usually is the name of the collection, i.e. From the papers of Dorothy I. Height or From the records of Boston Women's Health Book Collective). The text of the 561 is also written in pencil on the item, but the published materials department is no longer using physical bookplates.
Books may fall into one of several categories: 1. Books by or about the creator of the Manuscript collection. 2. Books that are not by or about the creator but fall into the Schlesinger Library collecting policy for printed materials. 3. Books that you are not sure whether they fall into the collecting policy. 4. Books that duplicate current Schlesinger Library holdings. 5. Books that are out of scope of our collecting policy.
Essentially, archivists are assessing and searching HOLLIS for holdings information on all these categories of books, but might want to separate them into relevant categories for curatorial ease of appraisal.
1. Those volumes that are by or about the creator of the manuscript collection but are not currently in our collection (or, in some cases, may duplicate what's in our collection but be annotated or have some other compelling reason to keep and catalog them) are relatively easy for the processor to identify. Fill out a separation form and separately note the titles in order to inform the curators of what is being added to the library collection.
- Books that are not by or about the creator but clearly fall into the Schlesinger Library collecting policy for printed materials can also be cataloged on the archivist’s recommendation. Fill out a separation form and separately note the titles in order to inform the curators of what is being added to the library collection.
- Books that are not by or about the creator and MAY fall into the Schlesinger Library collecting policy for printed materials are more difficult to appraise. You should segregate these materials for review by the curators. Fill out a separation form.
- Books that duplicate current Schlesinger Library holdings. If these do not merit inclusion in the collection (if they have annotations, bookplates, signatures, etc., they may merit inclusion) they can be given to the Published and Printed Materials Department for sale through Better World Books, the Prison Book Program, or for possible donation to another library. These books can be given (with completed separation forms) to the head of published materials with a note that you think they should be sent to Better World Books or another library. Please note that for published materials that duplicate items in other libraries at Harvard, consult with the curators whether we should also have a copy at the Schlesinger.
- For books that are out of scope, box them together and create only one separation form for the box indicating in the notes field that all the materials in that box are out of scope. The Head of Published Materials will then review for possible donation.