In case you missed it, it is #MuseumLibraryWeek, hosted on social media by Thomas J. Watson Library (at the Metropolitan Museum of Art) and at Smithsonian Libraries and Archives. Both are members of the OCLC Research Library Partnership, along with numerous other museum libraries. Some of those partners include:
- Art Institute of Chicago
- Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute
- Cleveland Museum of Art
- Frick Collection and Frick Art Reference Library
- Getty Research Institute
- Metropolitan Museum of Art
- Museum of Fine Arts, Boston
- Museum of Fine Arts, Houston
- National Gallery of Art
- Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art
- New-York Historical Society
- Saint Louis Art Museum
- Winterthur Museum, Garden & Library
Additionally, there are museum libraries that are embedded within the universities, colleges, and even national libraries that make up the transnational OCLC RLP. We often say that it is the diversity of institutions and institution types in the OCLC RLP that makes our group distinctive.
Just one example of how those institutions have influenced our thinking is the Operationalizing the Art Research Collective Collection project. This project examines the opportunities, challenges, and potential strategies for cooperation between art, academic, and independent research libraries to help identify new collaborative models to support the continued availability of the art research collective collection. You can look for outputs from that project later this year.
While we celebrate museum libraries every day, we are delighted that there is a special week where everyone can appreciate these organizations, their distinctive collections, and talented staff.
Merrilee Proffitt is Senior Manager for the OCLC RLP. She provides community development skills and expert support to institutions within the OCLC Research Library Partnership.
