The "Self Assessment" worksheet below, left, is intended to help identify the risks to your special collections by breaking down their management into approachable sections. This practical template is intended to provide a current snapshot of your institution's special collections management practices and should be useful for many types of institution and collections formats. The template can be filled out periodically, and in effect, be your institution's record of preservation activities. There are three sections:
It is expected that each section will take about 20 minutes to complete, for a total expected time to completion of one hour.
The "Special Collections Management Priorities" worksheet below, right, will help you work through setting realistic short-term collection goals that will enhance the safety and stability of your important collections, and help develop policies for special collections management.
Both sets of surveys are required for certain MBLC-LSTA grants.
The template expands and supersedes MBLC's "Critical Collections Questionnaire" document, and was further influenced by the framework of University of Ilinois' "Preservation Self-Assessment Program" (PSAP). Larger institutions are recommended to consider enrolling in PSAP themselves.