Syracuse University Library to provide enhanced Web access to Charters adult education library

Syracuse University Library to provide enhanced Web access to Charters adult education libraryMay 04, 2006Sara Millersemortim@syr.edu

Syracuse University Library’s Special Collections Research Center (SCRC) plans to provide enhanced Web access to selected manuscript collections within its Alexander N. Charters Library of Resources for Educators of Adults. The Charters Library, considered to be the largest compilation of English-language materials in the field of adult education, comprises more than 900 linear feet of manuscript, print, visual and media materials that document the history and development of the field, including literacy, human resource development, continuing education, distance education and international development. The library was begun in 1949 by Alexander Charters, who has played a major role in its expansion.

With support from the Alexander N. and Margaret A. Charters Endowment, Syracuse University Library has hired a part-time librarian, Michele Rothenberger, who will, over the next several months, process materials recently added to the manuscript collections; update existing finding aids; create new finding aids where required; convert all finding aids — new or revised — to an industry-standard format (using Encoded Archival Description, an XML standard used by research institutions); and make these finding aids accessible, in full, via the Internet. Finding aids will be made available on an ongoing basis starting in June. Within the next year, it’s anticipated there will be online finding aids for most of the manuscript collections.

The new, Web-accessible finding aids will provide detailed information about individual collections — such as the names of people and organizations whose correspondence is included in the collections — and types of materials, such as speeches, proceedings and letters. After consulting the finding aids, researchers will be able to request the materials they need.

Among the manuscript collections to which materials have recently been added are the Alexander Charters Papers, the Adult Education Association (AEA) Records, the American Association for Adult and Continuing Education Records (AAACE), the Center for the Study of Liberal Education for Adults (CSLEA) and the National University Extension Association (NUEA)/UCEA.

To visit the Charters Library online, go to http://tinyurl.com/lxtsu. For more information about the Charters Library, contact the Special Collections Research Centerat E.S. Bird Library, 443-2697, or e-mail scrc@syr.edu.