(via Amanda Binder, University of North Carolina – Charlotte)
Join the ALA Reference & User Services Association’s History Section for a discussion on promoting primary sources. The meeting will take place online via Zoom on Wednesday, February 28, at 11:00 AM CDT. Please see below for more information, including the link to registration.
Libraries offer access to a wide range of primary sources both in content and format. Some of the primary source materials we promote are only accessible behind paywalls, or behind the walls of our Special Collections reading rooms, while others are freely available online, or can be checked out from our general collections. Discovery systems present new layers of access to these primary sources that can help us promote them. These same systems can also present challenges to our users in determining context for what they discover. How can we improve discovery systems to better help our patrons make sense of primary source records in their search results? Are discovery systems a good space to promote item-level records from primary source databases and other collections? What decisions and strategies have you all enacted to selectively promote these most important resources to researchers? Join other librarians to discuss best practices for promoting primary sources and exchange ideas for trying something new.
In this session, we will discuss the challenges and successes faced by different types of libraries in promoting primary sources. We will also share strategies for responding to different user group needs in the context of centralized discovery or search systems.
Please register to join us for this discussion! Registration is open to anyone. Membership in ALA, RUSA and the History Section are not required to participate in this discussion. We especially encourage those responsible for promoting primary source collections and those involved in integrating these types of resources into library discovery and search systems.
Register in advance for the session here.
After registering, you will receive a confirmation e-mail containing information about joining the meeting.