University of Kent and Rochester Cathedral: Cataloguing and collaboration

Rochester Cathedral has around 7,000 printed volumes, with approximately 2,500 dating from circa 900 to 1901. The library had not been catalogued to recognised standards, but in February 2013 the Cathedral was granted £3.55 million by the Heritage Lottery Fund for a project entitled “Hidden Treasures: Fresh Expressions” to make its physical collections more accessible to the public and researchers, with a significant allocation to refurbishing of the library, and cataloguing its books.

The University was invited to undertake the cataloguing element of the project, and to make the catalogue publicly available by adding it to appropriate University resource discovery systems.

With the undertaking of such a high-profile project, an early challenge required a review of our own approach to rare book cataloguing, and development of a hybrid cataloguing standard. How would the University store, and make accessible, these collections alongside two parallel projects to refurbish the university library and implement a new library management system? Would the projected timescale of six months be adequate? This session will take you through the lifecycle of the project, exploring time management, staff resources, working with stakeholders, developing a bespoke cataloguing standard, and will review the benefits of this unique partnership.