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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.