Title: The Library of Congress,
Book Conveyors
(Created/Published between 1886 and 1900)
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Description and History
The organizational lineage of the
Collections Access, Loan and Management Division stretches back
to 1897, when Library services and collections were transferred
from the Capitol building to the new Library of Congress building.
At that time, the Main Reading Room Division was established, with
one of its responsibilities being the service and care of the collections.
In 1939, with its name already changed to the Reading Rooms Division,
service was expanded to include the new Annex Building. Subsequently,
in 1944, the Stack and Reader Division was formed as part of the
Reference Department reorganization. As the custodian of the General
Collections, its mission was to insure the widest possible use of
the collections while ensuring the security of those collections.
In addition to providing retrieval services from the General Collections
and maintenance of those collections, the Division also administered
a program to assign study rooms, study tables and reserve shelves
to facilitate extensive research projects. This program was known
as Special Facilities for Research or, simply, Research Facilities.
Additionally, the Division received applications from researchers
for book stack access and issued stack passes when such access was
deemed necessary.
The Collections Access, Loan and Management Division was formed
in 1978 following much discussion and committee work addressing
the needs of the General Collections. A major concern at that time
was the fact that up to thirty per cent of requests resulted in
a not-on-shelf (NOS) report, with no indication of where the items
might be located. The formation of the Collections Access, Loan
and Management Division demonstrated the Library's commitment to
ensuring that the General Collections received attention necessary
to ensure their retrievability. In planning for this new division,
it was critical to understand that high quality service depended
not only on a well-trained public service staff, but also on the
maintenance of a readily retrievable collection. To accomplish this,
the following steps were taken: All functions necessary to maintain
and service the General Collections were combined in one division;
An inventory/improvement program was established to gain control
over these collections, and ensure their retrievability; and, The
already existing special search program was expanded greatly to
provide a logical next step for readers needing material not readily
retrievable. Steven J. Herman, then Chief of the Stack and Reader
Division, became the Chief of the new division at its inception
and has remained in that position over the past two decades.
The General Collections themselves are comprised of approximately
12 million book and bound serial volumes, shelved on 257 miles of
shelves. Every working day, as many as 3,000 requests are received
for items from the collections.
The Division meets the twin demands of collections access
and maintenance through its staff of over 250 employees. Staff are
involved in every aspect of collections service and maintenance
work. A full range of maintenance activities are performed, from
erecting shelving and cleaning collections to shelfreading and shifting
crowded areas. While the maintenance work goes on behind the scenes,
the public service work of the division takes place at book service
desks in the Main Reading Room, Local History & Genealogy Reading
Room and in the Center Room, Adams Building (serving the combined
Science and Business reading room facility). There are also special
search desks in the Main Reading Room and in the Center Room, Adams
Building. |