Philadelphia Area Consortium of Special Collections Libraries
P. O. Box 22642, Philadelphia PA 19110-2642
(215) 985-1445 voice, (215) 985-1446 fax * pacscl@pacscl.org
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PACSCL Projects

PACSCL projects currently in process or recently completed include the following:

• PACSCL Catalogs Online: an upgraded online public access catalog for several members, in addition to "one click" search capability, using the Z39.50 interface, that will allow users to search the special collections portions of all members' online catalogs at one time (in process, funded by a grant from The William Penn Foundation)
  
  
• The PACSCL Consortial Survey Initiative to assess and provide information on approximately 35,000 linear feet of manuscripts and archival material in member collections (in process, funded by a grant from The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation) [view project website]
  
  
• The Greater Philadelphia GeoHistory Network, a project that will allow users to explore the Greater Philadelphia area through time and place by entering a street address or other information, based on the City of Philadelphia's landmark Geographic Information System (funded by a planning grant from The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation)
  
  
• Finding Aids Online: For special collections not appropriate for traditional cataloging, such as archives, photo collections, etc., the Internet offers the potential to make specialized finding aids available. Funded by a grant from The Delmas Foundation, staff from PACSCL libraries were trained in the new technologies that make this possible. An additional project, also funded by the Delmas Foundation, made it possible for fifteen of its member libraries to place existing finding aids in the Research Library Group's data base and to create new finding aids using Encoded Archival Description.
  
  
• Philadelphia Area Illuminated Manuscripts Enterprise (PRIME): Philadelphia libraries hold exceptionally rich resources of illuminated manuscripts from the middle ages and the Renaissance -- codices, leaves, and cuttings. Many of these are of great artistic or scholarly significance; many have never been cataloged or described. This project combines an overview of materials in member library holdings, together with an in-depth description of the most significant, with an exhibition of 80 of the finest examples. Entitled Leaves of Gold: Treasures of Manuscript Illumination from Philadelphia Collections, the exhibition was on display at the Philadelphia Museum of Art March 10-May 13, 2001 and the Frist Gallery, Nashville, TN, September 27, 2001-January 6, 2002. The exhibition is complemented with an extensive web site, educational programs, full-color catalogue, and CD-ROM. [about the project] [online exhibition]

Future projects: PACSCL has planned a set of linked initiatives, including the online catalog, consortial survey, and geohistory network projects listed above, that together form The Greater Philadelphia Research Collections Network. The Greater Philadelphia Research Collections Network will expose hitherto hidden collections through an assessment project and develop shared online access to information about and selections from member libraries' holdings. It will do so to serve members' constituencies, the international research community, educators, regional heritage developers and interpreters, life-long learners, and others in the general public.