5. Item Usage and Storage

a. Pulling items for research/review

Per Schlesinger Access Services best practices, all materials pulled both onsite and from HD should be entered as Aeon requests. This makes it easier to track where items are at all times and to resolve issues when simultaneous requests occur.

There should also be an Aeon activity created for each exhibition. Early in the exhibit planning process (i.e. before item research and selection begins), the Registrar will set up a 30-minute meeting with the Access Services Coordinator to create an Aeon activity for requests. Detailed instructions can also be found on the Schlesinger Sharepoint site in the Best Practices for Managing Exhibit Requests document. When material is paged or arrives from HD, the status in Aeon should be changed to Item on hold for activity.

If material from a container is selected for inclusion in the exhibition and removed from the container, this information should be added to the "Notes" field of the associated Aeon request (this is in addition to the physical out slip and holdings note documentation listed in the "Removal procedures and documentation" section below. The Aeon note should include the item identifier and the date the item was pulled from the container.

In the event that material that is being reviewed/used by the exhibition committee is requested for use in the Reading Room or to fulfill a copy request, Access Services staff with send a message to the person who originally borrowed the material in Aeon to see if it is available for use. If so, Access Services staff will leave an out card in the space where the exhibition committee is storing the materials, so that there is a record of where the item is and who is using it.

b. Removal procedures and documentation

Archival Materials: Once an archival item has been selected for inclusion in an exhibition, it should be removed from its "home" box so the rest of that box can be refiled. To indicate that material has been removed, the registrar should put a photocopy of the item and an out slip on colored paper with the date, exhibition name, and item description in the folder location where the item was removed from. This not only highlights the missing item for users but also provides a placeholder to facilitate refiling the original after the end of the exhibition. 

Published Materials: For published materials that are included in exhibitions, a note should be added to the 852 field in the holdings record (with the actual dates of the exhibit): $$z On Exhibit: mm/dd/yyyy-mm/dd/yyyy. Any on-site published materials that are on display should have a physical out slip in the appropriate spot on the vault shelves and all exhibited published materials should have an active Aeon request for the duration of the exhibition (this does not apply to most archival materials, since the boxes will be refiled once the relevant item is removed).

c. Where and how to store materials

There is a designated space in Vault 2, Aisle 75 that can be used for exhibition storage. This can be useful during item research when a high volume of material is being recalled for review and consideration. Materials can also be stored here once they have been selected and put into temporary housing but the exhibition has not yet been installed. Various committee members will need access to the materials between the selection stage and installation stage for the purposes of conservation, imaging/photography, layout design, and label writing, so keeping everything in one, centrally accessible location is ideal. The Registrar is usually responsible for putting items in temporary housing (folders, hollingers, etc.) and tracking the location of exhibition materials at all stages of the process.

d. Conservation/preservation review

Add notes on when in the process conservation review happens, what are the possible outcomes of that review, how does conservation work proceed, and how Library staff are involved (allowing access to materials etc).

Consult with Kelli and Kate to make sure the information here is accurate.

Requested input from WPC librarians on 2/13/24 - promised response in "late March"

e. Reproductions

Reproductions are used for a variety of reasons:

• The original is determined to be too delicate for display
• The material is from another repository (not the Schlesinger)
• The material needs to be enlarged or reduced for optimal display
• The material is born-digital

The Gallery Coordinator manages the process of ordering reproductions in close communication with the Library staff on the committee. The committee should determine the sizes of items that will be reproduced as early in the process as possible in order to facilitate work on case and wall layouts.

After an exhibition finishes, reproductions are typically offered to the staff for personal decorative use or recycled (they have not traditionally been kept by the Library for any reason).

f. Installation and deinstallation

Library exhibition committee members are involved in the pre-installation walk-through, which is when the Curator will confirm with the Gallery Coordinator exactly where all the materials should be hung in the space. The actual installation is managed by the Gallery Coordinator (for anything hung on the walls) and the Conservation Team (for items displayed in cases). Similarly, the Gallery Coordinator and Conservation Team are responsible for deinstalling the materials at the end of the exhibition, including unframing and removing items from any temporary supports/protective housing. The Conservators will then return all of the original items to the Registrar for refiling.

The Registrar should contact the Access Services Coordinator or Library Assistant for Access Services if they need assistance refiling materials or tracking down containers.

g. Post-exhibition refiling guidelines

Refiling should occur promptly after an exhibition closes. The Registrar should recall/pull all the necessary boxes, replace the items in their proper folders, and remove any flags/out slips/photocopies that were holding their place. When published materials are refiled on site, make sure to remove any out slips there as well. Any relevant Aeon requests should be closed out using the usual protocols once the materials are returned to their final destination (vaults or HD). Helpful notes:

• Remember to remove the holdings note from any published materials that were included in the exhibition (or as someone in the Published Materials Dept. for help doing this)
• Note that the location of some archival materials may have changed during the time when the exhibition was on display and therefore may not match what was originally noted in the registry; you may need to re-check the location when you go looking for the containers (this is particularly true for materials that were still in processing or newly processed when they were selected for exhibition)
• Check with Access Services or Manuscripts staff if you are having difficulty locating particular containers or locations
• Clearly note in the registry spreadsheet once materials have been successfully refiled