Many thanks to all those who responded to my enquiry about managing
books held within archive collections. The summary of the responses is
as follows:


Sixteen responses were received, with replies from six archivists, six
librarians, two record officers and two individuals responsible for both
the library and archive sections. 

Respondents were divided almost equally between those who would consider
moving book collections out of archives, either transferring them to
open shelves or a rare book collection, or disposing of them, and those
who kept the books with the archive collection. Both groups contained
respondents from both library and archive/record office institutions.
One record office noted that it has a policy of no longer accepting
books with collections of records.

Books with no annotations or provenance markings are often moved out of
the archive collection, and catalogued as normal with provenance
references in the library and archive catalogues. Annotated books tend
to be treated differently as unique items, and are often stored and
catalogued within the archive collections. The same appears to apply for
books with a lot of inserts, although one institution would consider
removing inserts, giving them manuscript numbers and transferring the
book elsewhere. One institution kept particularly valuable and rare
items in the archive as the environmental conditions were preferable.
Another institution transferred most of the book collections to the
library section, with the exception of particularly fragile or small
items. Policy also appears to differ for pamphlets, which are often
retained and catalogued within archive collections, as they are often
quite ephemeral and fit in well with archive material. Periodicals and
journals published by an organisation also tend to be kept and recorded
with the rest of the organisation's archive.

The retention of duplicates depends on value, annotations and terms of
donation, although minimising duplication of material was a priority due
to lack of space. One institution noted that duplicates would be kept if
reference to the publication is essential to understanding the archive
(for example, when the author is the creator of the archive),
particularly if the other available copy was a loan rather than
reference copy.

The majority of the respondents, as would be expected, noted that book
collections within archives were recorded on archives accessions
documentation when they arrived, and information was added about where
they were transferred to if they were removed from the archive
collection. In terms of cataloguing, responses ranged from the majority
who catalogued all the books individually on the library management
system, with an item level description in the archive system, to a
smaller proportion of other institutions, both libraries and archives,
who catalogued the books on the archive system only. This was often the
case if the material is pre-1800 or in pamphlet or broadsheet format,
and often, in the case of archives or record offices, using an in-house
system for cataloguing printed materials or using a special template for
book catalogue records on CALM. Some respondents noted that this was not
ideal as books often became 'hidden' in archive collections.  For those
who operated a dual system, full cross-referencing and the inclusion of
provenance information in the book record was also carried out. However,
archives who took responsibility for the book collections as well,
including the cataloguing of the material, were often those who had a
librarian among the staff who would undertake this cataloguing work.

In terms of processing and storage, books in archive collections are
generally shelved rather than boxed unless there are only a few, they
are in pamphlet or broadsheet format, or the books are particularly
valuable or fragile. Only a few respondents referred to processing and
numbering practices. In general, depending on where the book collections
are stored, the books are either classified according to the library
open access or rare book sequence, if transferred from the archive
collection, or given a manuscript/archive number if they are kept within
the archive. 

A number of institutions concluded that collections are generally dealt
with on a case-by-case basis, and that procedures and policy on this
issue are constantly evolving. 


Many thanks,

Fiona Barnard
Rare Books Librarian
University of Reading, UK.