Jennifer WileyMUS 500 Final Paper

LIS Degrees in Museums

When choosing a graduate program, many men and women with interests in a variety of

subjects find themselves drawn to the idea of getting their degree either in museum studies or

library science. However, it is not unusual for students to find themselves torn between the two

potential fields of interest. They spend hours doing research, pouring over their options by

program, school, specialization, and even then are not entirely sure they have made the right

decision by the time their first semester starts. What many of these students do not realize is that

the reason they have such a hard time making a decision has much to do with how much libraries

and museums actually overlap in the real world. Though the programs in school are separate and

the subjects may seem drastically different, many museums today use libraries or people with

library backgrounds to supplement their staff and collections. Depending on the style of the

museum, the role of some one with a library science degree may vary drastically, but many will

be able to find that there is a style out there that will allow them to meld their particular interests

of museums and libraries together into one harmonious career. From institutions as small and

intimate as the Brooklyn Historical Society to those as large scale at the Metropolitan Museum

of Art and those as specialized as Ellis Island to those as diverse as the Museum of the City of

New York, people with degrees in library science are finding an environment that not only works

for them, but also needs them to function at full capacity.

Many museums today have a dedicated library within the institution, primarily used by

the staff but sometimes also available to the public. Very often, “[t]he activities of a museum

require the support of a library, no matter how small the institution.”1 A library becomes

necessary when the collection of the museum develops a significant amount of items appropriate

for a library. Although the nature of the library within a museum is dependent on that of the

institution it is a part of, much is the same between museum libraries and any other kind of

library. For this reason, it is important the library is its own department within the institution and

that it has the support of the administrative staff. A museum library cannot be effective without

recognition and support by the administration.2 Though policies should reflect those of the

_____________________1Larson, John C. 1985 Museum Librarianship. Hamden, CT: Library Professional Publications, p. xii2Larson, p.xii-5

museum, they should be specific to the library and the basic library duties of research and

reference, interlibrary loans, records management, circulation, statistical work, checking wait

and want lists, and photocopying. It should also be kept in mind that research activity by

patrons, be it the staff of the museum or the general public, is the “fundamental process for

which the library exists.”3 Curators, research scholars, and students all have the same basic

needs from the library, regardless of how professional those needs may seem. Through the

library, all levels of researchers gain an understanding of search methodology, the importance of

documentation, and the variety of resources available to them to best fit their specific needs.4

However, of course there also must be some differences between traditional librarianship

and librarianship in museums. While catering to the public is an essential part of any library,

working in a museum library also brings a responsibility of balancing that attention between the

public and the curator, who can often feel that the librarian caters too much to the public instead

of the museum.5 The skills that a librarian brings specifically to the museum supplement the

existing collection, bridge gaps between departments, and complete the “information

environment.” The library is responsible for supporting research for objects and their context as

well as the methods of conservation, display and exhibition. Together, this combination of

focused research materials allows for a context in which the objects can be researched,

documented, and interpreted. This niche of related material provided through the library

enhances and enriches both the collection and the mission of the museum. Additionally, while

the staff may find themselves restricted in the amount of examples of objects they are able to

collect at one time, the library can collect a variety of books illustrating further examples and

provide in depth documentation of the objects in house. Unlike other libraries, a book in

museum libraries is more than a device to carry information, but “an object in its own right.”6

While some museums may give the management of books as objects to other departments within

the library, there are those who believe that this does not serve the books for the best and thus

lets down the collection as a whole.7

The library further succeeds at enriching the museum it serves by developing elaborate

___________________3Larson, p. 694Larson, p. 68-705van der Wateren, Jan 1999 The Importance of Museum Libraries INSPEL 33(4):190-198, p. 196-1976van der Wateren, p. 1927van der Wateren, p. 191-194

networks, both with other museums and between other departments within the same museum.

Through building an in depth catalogue of its own museum’s collection and then collecting the

catalogues of other museums, the library is able to do extensive cross referencing and find

documents that may normally slip through the cracks. While public and academic libraries may

also do something similar to this, in general the extent to which museum libraries collect other

catalogues surpasses that norm, describing them individually and in detail. Altogether this

allows for the most in depth research for the museums individual collection. Within its own

museum, the library is not bound by departmental borders and thus is able to make materials

available across all departments within the museum. Many of these materials may be of use to

the research of more than one department, though that may not always be obvious.8

Similarly, the librarian’s training to breakdown barriers between subjects coupled with an

understanding of a variety of sources and the ability to manipulate information systems helps the

librarian to aid the staff, who may be trained in one subject-field, to get the most out of

interdisciplinary materials. Additional library training that become of great use to museums

include the knowledge of copyright and the training to collect and circulate information in a

standardized format. Copyright is a subject that many are unsure of, but librarians deal with it on

a daily basis. The librarian’s ability to advise or alert the museum staff to potential issues could

be invaluable to a museum. Equally valuable is the long tradition of standardized description in

libraries due to centuries of dealing with materials of mass-production. While museums have not

always been as keen to use standardization as a way of preserving their collections uniqueness,

the rise of mass communication through technologies has made it a necessity to reach the public

who may be using the Internet to search for specific collections or objects. The way a library

uses standardization to catalogue a collection thus becomes the best way to make collections

accessible beyond the physical museum.9

Not all the useful training of librarians has been so traditional. Since the 1990’s, the

relationship between libraries and information technology and multimedia departments within

museums has grown in importance as the need for a web presence has grown. The library’s

catalogue, special collections, and archives, which often hold documentation of the institution’s

history, became of great interest for web content. The materials in these collections had great

___________________8van der Wateren, p. 1949van der Wateren, p. 195-196

potential to peak public interest with their uniqueness and supplement the collections the public

was already generally aware of with additional information. This change required several

considerations by the institution. Should collections now be organized under technology or was

technology to be perceived as a tool to serve the needs of the collection? If technology did

overcome the collections, was it the IT staff or the library staff that should become in charge of

collection development, cataloging, and other traditional librarian tasks? This is a prime

example of how the evolution of the museum can change the organizational structure of the

library, realigning the staff with new departments and thus redefining the mission and purpose of

the library.10 Especially when a library staff is small, it is extremely important that the staff is

flexible to meet the ever changing needs of their museum, which are inevitable. Changes should

not necessarily be feared because there may be, as there was with the growth in technology, the

potential for a rise in the visibility of the library, which is a huge advantage for both the library

and the museum.11

Although these are the general roles of librarians in museums, the wide variety of

museum types results in a large spectrum of different jobs available for people with a masters

degree in library science. From the most traditional library positions to jobs in labs instead of

libraries, different museums have different needs but most require some amount of staff with a

librarian background. Some museums are historical centers, some are focused on art, and still

others are part of national parks, but all have a goal to develop their collections as much as

possible and to serve the public, the same goals that drive libraries of all varieties as well.

The Brooklyn Historical Society is not the type of institution many think of when they

first consider what a museum is. The intimate museum serves its direct community by both

preserving the history of Brooklyn and showcasing art from the community today. The Othmer

Library and Archives, the museums onsite library, is itself a reflection of these dual roles. It is a

historical landmark in and of itself (one of three interior historical landmarks in Brooklyn) as

well as a research library housing special collections, manuscripts, archives, images, and oral

history collections. While it serves to preserve local and national history, the collections extend

into documentation of the present day community. Altogether, the library as a whole “serves the

___________________10Benedetti, Joan M. ed. 2007 Art Museum Libraries and Librarianship Lanham, MD: Scarecrow Press, Inc., p. 4-611Benedetti, p. 9

mission of the Brooklyn Historical Society by supporting research into the history of Brooklyn

and Long Island and by collecting, preserving, and promoting access to our library and archival

materials.”12 The librarians here develop their collections with the thought toward supporting

and enriching the exhibits, programs, and education activities at the historical society. They

have also built an in depth online catalog in order to both make their collection accessible to a

large public and to help patrons prepare themselves before venturing to the library in person for

research. This will save valuable time for both the staff and the patron and will be just as

valuable to the average person at home starting a personal project as it will be to the museum

staff organizing a large scale exhibit.13

This type of institution lends toward research librarianship. Like in the previous

discussion, this is a library within which it is extremely important for the library staff to have an

intimate knowledge of the collection and to add to the research about the objects. The historical

society keeps a running blog that documents the projects at hand, including those happening in

the library and archives. This is written by the members of the staff associated with each project

and not only gives insight into the inner workings of the society, but also promotes the current

projects and encourages the public to come see what is happening now. Additionally, there are

posts that examine items in the collection, though they may not be a part of any current project,

as a way of showcasing what kinds of things are available through the historical society, peaking

interest, and lending to the education goals of the society. The library staff have researched these

items including photographs, maps, and more not only to write these blog posts, but to achieve

the goal of better understanding their collection.14

It is important for research librarians to not only know what is physically in the

collection, but also to have an understanding of those items in order to best serve both the public

and their museum. Through this understanding, they are able to find items to help with a

research project or to add to an exhibit that may not seem relevant without understanding the

background of the item. It is also important when dealing with collections like photographs and

manuscripts because these collections can be comprised of many small pieces and it may be very

easy for an item of great value to slip between the cracks. In these cases, the librarian plays a

___________________12Brooklyn Historical Society 2010 About the Othmer Library http://www.brooklynhistory.org/library/about.html accessed June 8, 201113ibid14The Brooklyn Historical Society Blog 2011 brooklynhistory.org/blog accessed June 8, 2011

crucial role in making sure that whatever project is being worked on, big or small, professional

or personal, is as complete as possible.

The blog entries kept by the librarians at the Brooklyn Historical Society also

demonstrate the relationship between the librarians and the museum staff. One such entry

written by the “Project Map Cataloger” begins with an explanation of how she discovered the

subject of the current entry.

“Recently, I was speaking with Julie Golia, our public historian, who wanted to know if we had early maps that showed different spellings of the name Brooklyn. As I was looking through the collection to identify the most interesting spellings, I was surprised by the variations in nomenclature for our area.”15

Not only does this introduction show how a member of the library staff might ask a member of

the library staff for help and what kind of information the library staff has access to, but it also

shows how helping the museum staff actually helps the library staff do their jobs better as well.

Because understanding the collection is so crucial to librarianship in these institutions, being

asked to look into something the librarian is not already familiar with also serves help their

understanding of the subject in a way they might not have even realized they were missing.

On the opposite end of the size spectrum are the libraries associated with the

Metropolitan Museum of Art. Not only is subject matter different here, but the size is drastically

different. The Met is a world-renowned museum and a major tourist destination for people from

all around the world coming to New York City with a collection of over two million works of

art. Interestingly, the role of the library within the institution was recognized as a vital

component all the way back to the very beginning of the museum’s life by its founders. Right

along with the name of the actual museum, the Thomas J. Watson Library of the Met shares “the

distinction of being among the world’s greatest treasuries for the study of the arts of many

cultures.”16 Additionally, due to the enormous size of the institution, there are several

specialized libraries dedicated to one curatorial department each. Together, these libraries

maintain exhibition, collection, and auction sale catalogues, books, periodicals, electronic

resources, and a number of rare titles notable for their historical and scholarly value.17

___________________15Hansen, Carolyn May 20, 2011 Brooklyn by an other name…

http://brooklynhistory.org/blog/2011/05/20/brooklyn-by-any-other-name/ accessed June 8, 201116Thomas J. Watson Library N.d. Library History http://libmma.org/portal/library-history/ accessed June 8, 201117Ibid

The services provided by the library staff at the Met are more along the lines of a

traditional library. Patrons can acquire a library card, check out books, request for interlibrary

loans, and more. Because of this, the library staff, at least of the main Thomas J. Watson

Library, perform the more common library tasks for the public such as circulation, reference,

photocopying, and program development.18 The amount of people who use the museum and the

library as compared to an institution like the Brooklyn Historical Society is dramatically

different and the general rules of supply and demand come into play. The historical society will

most likely never get the kind of traffic that the Met sees and thus does not have a need to offer

such services. If the Met, on the other hand, tried to take their patrons needs on an individual

case by case basis like the historical society, they would never be able to accommodate every

one who requests their services.

Examining a job posting for a public services librarian at the Met further confirms that,

although there is an expectation to “encourage engagement with the library and the Museum,”19

the major role of the librarian would be like that of a librarian in a more traditional library. Such

responsibilities and duties listed include

“provide high-quality reference service and instruction/develop programming initiatives to enhance and expand Nolen’s reach/select and manage materials for the library collection/work collaboratively with Education staff to coordinate Storytime and other joint initatives”20

If these are the responsibilities and duties outlined in the job description, it can be assumed that

they are the major roles that will be fulfilled by the librarian. Although there will most likely

also be some collaboration with the museum staff, it is clear that that is not the focus of position.

Although this is only one job within the library, in a smaller institution like the Brooklyn

Historical Society, almost every member of the library staff will work with the museum staff on

a regular basis.

The Met did at one point maintain a blog to showcase its exhibits, but the blog has not

been updated since early 2008. This could be a casualty of a larger, less collaborative staff or

could be an example of how much less the Met needs to stir up interest. However, many

___________________18Thomas J. Watson Library N.d. Services http://libmma.org/portal/services/ accessed June 8, 201119January 11, 2011 Job Posting: Public Services Librarian, Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York

http://arlisnap.org/2011/01/11/job-posting-public-services-librarian-metropolitan-museum-of-art-new-york/ accessed June 8, 2011

20Ibid

traditional libraries do not maintain a blog and this could also just be more evidence of the more

traditional library role of the libraries at the Met. With less focus on research and more focus on

public access, there are few projects to update the public on and the focus instead is on informing

the public of the services available to them through the library. Since these services rarely

change, this is role fulfilled by the static library website.

Ellis Island is yet another drastically different example, though at the same time has

aspects of both the Metropolitan Museum of Art and the Brooklyn Historical Society. Like the

Met, Ellis Island is a major tourist destination for people visiting New York City from all over

the world. However, like the Brooklyn Historical Society, it is a small, specialized institution

with a finite focus. Unlike either, though, Ellis Island Immigration Museum is a part of the

National Park Service. The National Park Service believes that each of the 400 national parks in

America are parts of history and so many national parks today have museums onsite with a focus

on the specific park it is associated with as well as files related to the National Park Service.

Because the size of these parks and so also their museums is drastically different on a case by

case basis, the roles of librarians in the National Park Service range from the traditional to the

nontraditional like the range of any classification of museums. In general however, those

associated with the history projects within the National Park Service work to “preserve, protect,

and share the history of this land and its people.”21

The Bob Hope Memorial Library located within the Ellis Island Immigration Museum

maintains files, books, manuscripts, oral histories, periodicals, photographs, and video related to

both Ellis Island and the Statue of Liberty, as well as immigration history (though no original

immigration files) and of course materials related to the National Park Service.22 According to

George D. Tselos, the supervisory archivist on staff at the library, his job primarily consists of

performing oral history interviews and fielding reference questions from researchers. Because

the focus of the museum and the library is on historic preservation, it is not surprising that many

of his tasks are directly related to that goal. Because of the museums dedication to immigration,

many researchers interested in genealogy contact the library and archives for information about

their family history on the island. Though all records of immigration have been moved from the

___________________21National Park Service N.d. Discover History http://www.nps.gov/history/ accessed June 13, 201122National Park Service 2010 Bob Hope Memorial Library

http://www.nps.gov/elis/historyculture/bob-hope-memorial-library.htm accessed June 13, 2011

island to the National Archives, there is still a great deal of record of general immigration history

and information from the oral history interviews as well as other personal materials such as

photographs and manuscripts that could be of great use to researchers. Additionally, the library

maintains the most diverse collection of images of the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island in the

world as well as many records of both that are valuable to researchers interested in either subject.

Like Tselos, much of the library staff on Ellis Island is dedicated to research

librarianship. Like in the Brooklyn Historical Society, they often receive requests for research

from both the public and the museum staff. Although no appointment is necessary to visit the

library, a fact that is not true in all museums, research requests are expected to be made prior to a

patron visiting the library in order to save valuable time for all.23 At this point in time the oral

history project appears to be the largest regular project to occupy the staff’s attention. According

to Tselos, part of the problem is that the project has been going on so long that some of the older

media is out of date and needs to be reformatted. This requires that the librarians on staff are

also knowledgeable of both old and new technologies or are able to do the additional research

necessary to bridge the gap. Librarians in many cases must be problem solvers, especially in

untraditional library environments.

However, not all museums have are able to provide library services. The Museum of the

City of New York employs men and women with degrees in library science, but due to “current

staffing and budgetary contraints”24 has had to close its research room to the public. Instead, the

staff directs patrons to the New York Historical Society, the New York Public Library, the

Library of Congress and the Municipal Archives with their questions and requests that involve

further research. While they do plan on eventually being able to restore this service, the fact that

the statement of closing says that the research room is closed to the public, not just closed in

general,25 it can be assumed that some small amount of library staff has been maintained.

However, there are other departments within the museum that also employ those with library

degrees. The prints and photographs department among others utilizes the skills of librarians

outside of a library environment to aid in preservation and digitization of the collection. This

___________________23Ibid24Department of Collections Access N.d.

http://www.mcny.org/sidebars/research-at-the-museum-of-the-city-of-new-york.html accessed June 16, 2011

25Ibid

takes the options of careers with a library degree to a completely new level of “nontraditional.”

While many librarians with interests in museums can easily find an environment that allows

them to be a part of both worlds, it is also possible to work entirely in the spectrum of museums.

No matter what avenue a librarian chooses to take to use their degree within the museum

world, there is support both on a legal and peer level. A federal grant-making agency called the

Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS) was created in 1996 through the Federal

Museums and Library Services Act. It supports non-federal, not-for-profit museums, libraries,

and archives across the country and has consolidated programs for libraries and museums. The

IMLS aims to “resolve the blurred boundaries between libraries and museums in the digital

world”26 and has been a driving force for promoting library-museum collaboration through

policy and National Leadership Grants. In 2003, the Museum and Library Services Act was

passed, reauthorizing the IMLS through 2009 and declaring that activities should stimulate even

greater collaboration between institutions so that resources may be shared and communities

strengthened. These types of actions recognize that libraries and museums both provide

educational and recreational services to the local community and play important roles in cultural

preservation.27

The Special Libraries Association (SLA) is a nationwide organization for librarians in

institutions that do not fall under the basic categories of public, academic, or school libraries.

The Museums, Arts, and Humanities Division (MAHD) within the SLA specifically represents

librarians working in museums and similar institutions. Like in most special library fields,

librarians in MAHD are a small and specialized population. According to a survey performed in

1987, most students do not go into library school with the idea of entering the field of museum

librarianship.28 There is a great deal of encouragement for those who do know they want to go

into museums to pursue “joint degrees or programs that include the study of preservation,

archives, NFP organizations, and nonbibliographic information systems and control.”29 Because

the population is such a small one compared to the more traditional library fields, it has been a

slight struggle to get library science programs to offer the kind of services that would best

___________________26Gibson, Hannah 2007 Links between Libraries and Museums: Investigating Museum-Library Collaboration in

England and the USA Libri 57:53-64, p. 5427Gibson, p. 54-5628Bierbaum, Esther Green. 1988 Museum, Arts, and Humanities Librarians: Careers, Professional Development,

and Continuing Education Journal of Education for Library and Information Science 29(2):127-134, p. 12829Bierbaum, p.133

prepare a student for entry into the world of museum librarianship. However, the SLA has made

education a priority within its list commitments and has been willing to work with library science

programs to help alleviate the issue. Finally, the promotion of Continuing Education has also

been a priority within MAHD in order to lead to the highest degree of professional development

in museum librarianship.30

Museums and libraries do no exist in entirely separate worlds and there are many routes

possible to bridge the gap for those who are interested. Today many library science programs

make that bridge even more easily accessible through the offerings and promotion of joint

degrees and certificates of advanced study. Often upon entering library school, students have

very little idea of what kinds of library jobs are really available to them. Their perceptions are

often limited to the traditional roles of public, academic, or school librarian. However, if

someone pursuing a masters degree in library science has even a slight interest in museum

studies, it is becoming easier and easier for them to explore that interest. In a tough economy

like the one facing America today, the wider the possibilities within the job market, the less

stressful graduation can become. Even more importantly, however, the opportunity to combine a

degree in library science with a position in museums can lead to a much more enriching career

for those interested. While the actual role of the librarian can be drastically different from

institution to institution, the possibilities for students with degrees in library science are as

diverse as the students who fill the programs.

___________________30Bierbaum, p.133-134

References

Benedetti, Joan M. ed. 2007 Art Museum Libraries and Librarianship Lanham, MD: Scarecrow Press, Inc

Bierbaum, Esther Green. 1988 Museum, Arts, and Humanities Librarians: Careers, Professional Development, and Continuing Education Journal of Education for Library and Information Science 29(2):127-134

Brooklyn Historical Society 2010 About the Othmer Library http://www.brooklynhistory.org/library/about.html accessed June 8, 2011

The Brooklyn Historical Society Blog 2011 brooklynhistory.org/blog accessed June 8, 2011

Department of Collections Access N.d.http://www.mcny.org/sidebars/research-at-the-museum-of-the-city-of-new-york.html accessed June 16, 2011

Hansen, Carolyn May 20, 2011 Brooklyn by an other name… http://brooklynhistory.org/blog/2011/05/20/brooklyn-by-any-other-name/ accessed June 8, 2011

January 11, 2011 Job Posting: Public Services Librarian, Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York http://arlisnap.org/2011/01/11/job-posting-public-services-librarian-metropolitan-museum-of-art-new-york/ accessed June 8, 2011

Larson, John C. 1985 Museum Librarianship. Hamden, CT: Library Professional Publications

National Park Service N.d. Discover History http://www.nps.gov/history/ accessed June 13, 2011

National Park Service 2010 Bob Hope Memorial Library http://www.nps.gov/elis/historyculture/bob-hope-memorial-library.htm accessed June 13, 2011

Thomas J. Watson Library N.d. Library History http://libmma.org/portal/library-history/ accessed June 8, 2011

Thomas J. Watson Library N.d. Services http://libmma.org/portal/services/ accessed June 8, 2011

van der Wateren, Jan 1999 The Importance of Museum Libraries INSPEL 33(4):190-198