| Summary: | 博士 === 國立政治大學 === 圖書資訊與檔案學研究所 === 105 === The information age is the golden age for the development of special collections. In the information society, special collections represent not only the heart of an academic library’s missions, but also one of the identifiers of a research library in the information age. One of the fundamental tasks of a national library is to acquire, preserve, and make accessible of nation’s historic or cultural heritage resources, including manuscripts, archives, rare books, public records etc., and born digital special collections material.
The aims of this study are to investigate the historical development of special collection in National Central Library of R. O. C. (Taiwan), from 1933 to 2017. During these 80 years, the important factors surrounded by special collection historical development will be discussed, including critical, political, social, cultural, and historical important events, organizational structure changes, special collection relative developments, special collection publications, services, and international & national interchanges.
This study adopts three qualitative research approaches, including literature review research methods, historical research methods and in-depth interview research method. Fifteen librarians working in NCL Special Collection Division participated in the interview research process and provided vivid and detailed working experiences in special collections development.
Based on literature review of special collection and national library’s functions, searching data, NCL special collection historical development results and in-depth interviews conclusion, this study has the following findings: (1) Special collection dated back at least to the 1940’s till 1980’s became a popular and commonly-used term in the modern library. Special collections as a term is defined in the modern sense, depending on age, scarcity, market value, subject matter, condition, or physical format. They include rare books, manuscripts, archives, maps, games, and digital materials; (2) The role of national library varies in size and functions, basically including the preservation of the national publications by legal deposit and the compilation of national bibliographies. Its first high priority is to acquire and preserve the historical and cultural heritage collection of manuscripts, rare books, archives and other digital special collections for the future generations. In digital age, the new tasks of national libraries include: to forge new partnerships and to work collaboratively, nationally and internationally, and to promote citizens’ information literacy; (3) Starting from 1933 to 2017, the historical development of special collection in National Central Library of R. O. C. (Taiwan) is a sustainable development process, in five historical development stages with an emphasis on different special collection development focuses; (4) The special collection development policy of National Central Library of R. O. C. (Taiwan) is a useful guideline for the workplace practice in special collections development. The most recent special collection development policy of National Central Library was published in 2017, with 15 categories of special collection materials defined; (5) In the new information society, the digitalization technology brings a lot of new opportunities to national libraries. Digitalization is an important new task for a national library to adopt and to explore new territories, including digital technology, digital preservation, digital cooperation, and digital marketing. Through the special collections collaborative digitalization project, nationally and internationally, the national libraries create new resources, winning more national and international prestige.
The major suggestions of the study are as follows: (1) Adopting and making best use of new technology in special collections development and management.; (2) Building a special collections research and development teamwork group, focusing on academic research planning jobs; (3) Establishing the special collections collaborative digitalization project, nationally and internationally, as a core mission of National Central Library of R. O. C. (Taiwan); (4) Prolonging or formulating the special collection’s management regulations, revise regularly to pursue efficiency; (5) Educating more special collections professionals and providing more life-long learning resources; (6)Sustaining the inter-organizational cooperation traditions in the special collections development of National Central Library of R. O. C. (Taiwan); (7) Enhancing the special collections reliable funding and applying for more grants to support the development; (8) Organizing more self-evaluation and review meetings with stakeholders, users, and librarians, to make special collections accessible to the public; (9) Helping draft missions for special collections associations and sponsoring interest groups activities; (10) Compiling descriptive catalogs for the special collection, such as creating databases with scholars and teachers of History or Chinese Literature Department of Taiwan’s universities.
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