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As most of you are aware, the University of Arizona Map Collection
is no longer a separate department within the Library.
I am writing to ask a question, and by that question give you a
bit of an update on the status of the Map Collection here.
 
The question:  does anyone know of an existing map reference
collection which has been disseminated throughout a library?
This is the plan as it stands now.  Beginning now, and
continuing through "transition" (the Fall Semester, possibly) all
services in the Map Collection will be assigned to other teams.
For example:
 
1.  There will eventually be no circulation desk here in the Map
Collection.  Map circulating items will be carried by the user to
a central desk on this floor.  We have 4 trained students
assistants in this "department" at this time and we hope that they
will be  retained by the Materials Access Team (Loan) to assist at
that  central desk, but it also will be serving the former Media
Center/Film collection, and the former Newspaper and Microforms
Room.
 
2. There will eventually be no reference service in the Map
Collection.  There will be some basic "Type One" reference at that
central circulation desk I mentioned, mainly the directional and
known item variety of questions.  All "Type Two" questions
regarding ALL materials in the Main Library will be handled at one
set of desks in Main Reference (formerly Central Reference),  on
the second floor. That desk will primarily be staffed by high level
career staff and some librarians as needed.  "Type Three", or
"extended or in-depth reference questions" will be handled by
librarian/specialists by appointment with a user.
 
Since there will be no reference service in the Map Collection,
the Transition Planning Team has established a "mission team" to
decide what to do with the "Map Reference" materials.  "Map
reference" is the computer/cataloging designation for any
non-circulating items in our collection, and consists mainly of
atlases, gazetteers, serials, and other cartographic formats such
as globes, CD-ROMs, etc.
 
The task ahead of the mission team is to decide, by Dec. 1, title
by title, the future location of all materials in the Map
Reference area.  At this time choices are:  (1) if it is strictly
a finding aid, it might stay here with the open case sheet map
collection (like an index map); (2) if it is an atlas, book, or
carto-bibliography, it might go to the open main or science stacks
(circulating or non-circulating); (3) if it is "truly" a reference
work that "Type Two" people could use easily, or that users could
use independently, it might go to Main Reference, although the team
has been asked to keep that group of things small.  We have also
asked the team to consider Special Collections (which also is no
longer a "department", but part of a larger team), as a site
because at least the collections would be controlled and paged by
student assistants.  I think that we have assurances that special
collections is an option, but that also has its drawbacks because
of restricted access, shorter hours, and lack of proximity to other
cartographic materials.
 
Academic departments here are starting to get worried, and a
Geography Dept. faculty member asked me yesterday if this has  ever
been done before.  I didn't know.  I know that Map
Collections often suffer the consequences of "reorganization" by
reporting to various other departments, but does anyone know of  an
instance where a collection has been broken apart?  Remember  we
are talking about almost 5000 titles in our "Map Reference"  area,
some antiquarian, collected over almost 40 years as a Map
Collection.
 
Write the list or write me directly at [log in to unmask]
Thank you.
Charlene Baldwin