Unique Materials in the SILS Standing Group

Documentation

Digital Collections in Primo: Options and Insights (PDF) 2023

Survey on the use and implementation of alternative controlled vocabularies among Alliance institutions report (PDF) 2022

Guidelines for Addressing Bias in Archival Description and Catalog Records (PDF) 2021

MARC Records for Archives & Manuscripts: Best Practices (PDF) April 2020

Enhancing Unique Collections in the SILS: Issues and Source(s) Identification (PDF) Updated February 17, 2017

FY17 UCSILS group issues list (PDF) Updated September 2017

Overview

The Unique Materials in the SILS (UMSILS) standing group studied and responded to issues affecting unique materials in the Alliance’s Shared ILS (SILS). It examined and revised best practices in consultation/collaboration with the Cataloging Standing Group of the SCTS Team. The group studied, characterized, and proposed solutions to the issues with physical and digital items represented in the SILS including, but not limited to, rare books, oral histories, newspapers, and digital objects. They identified primary challenges to functionality and discovery, including metadata practices, infrastructure requirements, and local vs. organization-wide system configuration.

Background and Context

This group continued the work of the Unique Collections in the SILS Working Group, whose charge was as follows:

Study and characterize the issues with physical items represented in the SILS with MARC records including, but not limited to, rare books, oral histories, and newspapers. Identified the primary challenges to functionality and discovery, including metadata practices, infrastructure requirements, and local vs. organization-wide system configuration.

The group proposed solutions to the issues that could be addressed organization-wide including, but not limited to, changes in metadata practices, infrastructure, or that need to be submitted to Ex Libris for resolution.

In spring 2023, the Unique Materials in the SILS Standing Group completed their charge and ended their work.