Working with Friends of the Library to Augment Staff Resources: A Case History

Abstract

At the program session of ACRL’s Rare Books and Manuscripts Section during ALA’s 1993 Annual Conference in New Orleans, special collections librarians and library development officers discussed the ways in which special collections could play an important role in library development efforts. During the question-and-answer period, Professor Terry Belanger (University of Virginia) took the floor, briefly commented on the understaffing prevalent in most special collections departments, and then asked, “When you spend time and effort on development, what is it you’re not doing?” The implication that development is not a part of the “real work” of special collections librarianship raised . . .