So, What Is MALACOLOGY , Anyway?

1. So, What Is MALACOLOGY, Anyway? Melissa Bradshaw May 30-July 6, 2002

2. mal·a·col·o·gy \mal- -`käl- -jē\ n.: e e a branch of zoology dealing with mollusks—invertebrate creatures with soft, unsegmented bodies, many of which house themselves in shells.

3. About the Project • Arranged for May 20 to June 21 • Lisa Rebori, Collections Manager • John Wise, Curator of Malacology • Goal: to create a finding aid and needs assessment survey for an estimated 600 volumes and housing for 400 Chenu prints

4. About the Museum • Houses the Burke Baker Planetarium, Wortham IMAX Theatre, Cockrell Butterfly Center, and three floors of natural science halls and exhibits • Founded in 1909 • Fourth most highly attended museum in the U.S. • Most highly attended attraction in Texas (over two million visitors annually)

5. About the Museum • Permanent exhibits • Astronomy • Space Science • Native Americans • Paleontology • Energy • Chemistry • Gems and minerals • Malacology • Texas wildlife

6. About the Library • Largest malacology library in the U.S. • Used as a reference collection for the curator, researchers, and volunteers • Books do not circulate and most are not highly used • A volunteer librarian had created a list with most of the titles and had organized the library into sections

7. About the Library • Began building the library in the 1960s • Had friends in the oil business who helped acquire much of the collection • Various malacologists and malacological organizations donate their collections to HMNS • Appraised at over $400,000 • Almost complete set of prints by malacogist J. C. Chenu valuing over $40,000 • Dr. Tom Pulley, curator of malacology and museum director

8. About the Library • Types of publications: • Monographs • Multi-volume sets • Serials • Journals • Newsletters • Atlases • Catalogs • Oversize • Reprints • Bound • Unbound • Voyages & Expeditions • Set of over 400 prints by J. C. Chenu

9. About the Library • Dates of publication of volumes: • 1 from the 17th century (1684) • 39 from the 18th century (1731-1799) • 618 from the 19th century • 321 from the first half of the 20th century • 573 from the second half of the 20th century • 5 from the 21st century (2000-2001) • 33 unknown (no printed publication date)

10. About the Library • It takes up roughly two rows of compact shelving located in the Collections department • The books are in all types of formats and sizes and in many different languages • A number of items that are part of multi-volume sets have been commercially rebound in half-style leather

11. Chapter 1: Organization • Cut and pasted list from Word to Excel • Added titles to list • Changed organization of sections • Rearranged Atlases, Catalogs, Voyages & Expeditions, and Bound Reprints sections

13. Chapter 2: Labelling • There was no previous labeling system for books • I created bookmarks for each volume containing • Location on the shelf • Author • Title • Date of publication • I matched the bookmarks with the appropriate volumes

14. Chapter 2: Labelling • The bookmarking process took five weeks to complete because… • There were discrepancies and errors in the list • Books in a multi-volume set often had different publication dates and different authors • I constantly came across books that had not been added to the list • The final count of titles came out to 1,578

16. Chapter 3: Creating the Survey • I referred to “The Yale Survey: A Large-Scale Study of Book Deterioration in the Yale University Library” and sample surveys from students’ needs assessment survey projects for ideas • I created a sample survey and tested it on ten books • Ellen had suggestions on customizing it better to fit the books in the collection

17. PreliminarySurvey Tool

18. Chapter 3: Creating the Survey • The final survey tool contained… • Bibliographic information • Author • Title • Year of publication • Whether item is a first or special edition • Dimensions • Location on shelves • Structure

19. Final Survey Tool 32.5 26.7 5.8

20. Chapter 3: Creating the Survey • Condition of paper • Condition of binding • Leaf attachment • Leaf attachment condition • Environmental damage • Treatment needed • Minor • Major • Immediacy of treatment For conservation treatment

21. Chapter 3: Methodology • Random sampling • Alphabetical • Every tenth book • Twenty percent of the collection (316 books) • Only books from the Monographs & Serials section • Enlisted the help of some Ecoteens (high school summer volunteers)

22. Chapter 4: Results • Of the 316 books surveyed… • 35 need conservation treatment (11%) • 11 minor repairs • 24 major repairs • 19 need phase boxes (6%) • 9 need pamphlet binding (3%) • 11 need commercial rebinding (3.5%) • 251 can be shelved as is (79%) • 77 have yellowing paper (24%) • 53 have brittle paper (17%)

32. Chapter 5: Wrapping Up • Reshelving/Combining sections • “Books” and “Series” sections • “Fossil Malacology” section • New books • Wrote summary of project with results for Lisa and John • Would like to continue project and evaluate remaining sections (Periodicals, Newsletters, Reprints), the Chenu prints, and perform treatments

34. Many Thanks to… • Lisa Rebori • John Wise • Ellen Cunningham-Kruppa (for helping with a project I’d never done before!) • Chela Metzger (for helping identify those unfamiliar binding structures) • Karen Pavelka (for helping to land the project in the first place)