iSchool Capstone

What Do We Have, Where Is It, And What Do We Want?: Making Hillel UW’s Jewish Library Accessible Again

Project tags:

archives & special collections

knowledge organization

Project poster

Hillel UW maintains a small library (currently roughly 1600 volumes), but lacked any inventory record or formal policies. Our team used LibraryThing to catalog the collection and create a searchable online catalog with bibliographic information, subject tags, and appropriate classification, while reorganizing and weeding the collection as we went. We also worked with Hillel staff to draft a collection development policy that formalized the library’s subject scope, gift policy, and criteria for future collection building and weeding. Together, the catalog and reorganization improve access to the collection for those who wish to use the library as a research resource and for Hillel staff and community members’ daily needs. The collection development policy provides a formalized statement of procedural expectations for staff working with the library, which will increase the consistency of their application and clarify library needs for staff and members of the public interested in contributing to the library.

Project participants:

Katherine Ehlers

MLIS

Beck Prigot

MLIS

Jeffrey Lopez

MLIS