The CLIR Hidden Collections Program Symposium was a successful experience — in terms of our presentation of the French pamphlet project, as well as what we were able to learn from the other participants and speakers. It was gratifying to have so many people interested in the project and to have so many good questions posed to us — many of which we could answer, and some which will give us some good things to consider moving forward. There was a lot of interest in finding candidates who possessed the linguistic abilities and the aptitude to learn cataloging, especially when it came to filling the part-time positions. There was also interest and perhaps some surprise that we were creating full catalog records and including thorough subject analysis. The impression seemed to be that that would make it hard to achieve our production goals for the grant; I believe we’ll be able to achieve the goals. Time will tell. I was interested to see how many projects were for archival collections, rather than library collections (monographs, etc.). I should say the presenters included an equal mix of grant recipients who were nearing completion of their project, as well as those just beginning the project. Again, it was nice to feel that there was great interest in what we’re doing.
Oh, and Jennifer’s poster was a hit!