Educational Programs: Innovative Practices for Archives and Special Collections. ed. Kate Theimer. Lanham, Md.: Rowman & Littlefield, 2015. 208p. Paper, $55.00 (ISBN 1-4422-3852-7).


402 College & Research Libraries May 2016

Much has been written about the current state library instruction, so much so that 
to say something genuinely unique has become nearly impossible. However, for those 
seeking to make substantive change to their library’s instruction, Markgraf, Hinnant, 
Jennings, and Kishel offer a model with which to begin, if not wholly adopt, and pro-
vide detailed discussions about the process that will prove useful in avoiding at least 
some of the challenges that they themselves encountered.—Joseph Aubele, California 
State University, Long Beach, California

Educational Programs: Innovative Practices for Archives and Special Collections. 
ed. Kate Theimer. Lanham, Md.: Rowman & Littlefield, 2015. 208p. Paper, $55.00 
(ISBN 1-4422-3852-7).

Traditionally archives, rare books and special collections have been used by professional 
historians, bibliographers, faculty members, and individual graduate students primar-
ily in historical and literary studies. More recently, many of our libraries have been 
promoting a wider mission and broadening the patron base to include use by classes of 
undergraduate students, academic disciplines outside historical and literary studies and 
even the general public (including K–12 students). Despite best intentions to broaden the 
community of researchers, we often struggle to come up with innovative and effective 
programs to educate and welcome these new users into our reading rooms. Archivists 
and librarians are being asked to engage in pedagogy more directly and use skills not 
typically included in the curriculum of library and information science graduate degree 
programs. Editor Kate Theimer’s Educational Programs: Innovative Practices for Archives and 
Special Collections is a useful resource to help librarians and archivists to begin thinking 
about the design and implementation of educational programs at our own institutions. 

Part of the Rowman & Littlefield’s series Innovative Practices for Archives and Special 
Collections, Theimer’s Educational Programs presented a collection of thirteen individu-
ally authored case studies documenting thirteen real-world educational programs. 
Geographically based in both the United States and England, these libraries and archives 
ran the gamut of the special collections landscape: large and small institutions funded 
by both state and private revenue sources; academic research libraries and historical 
societies; and large staffs with dedicated outreach librarians and one-person special 
collections departments. The educational programs profiled in the case studies reached 
a wide variety of users: undergraduate and graduate students; students of schools of 
education; teachers and faculty members; school children of various ages; and the 
general public. Theimer claimed that the programs were deliberately selected for the 
case studies because archivists and special collections librarians will find elements 
transferrable to their own workplace settings or they “can serve as models, sources of 
inspiration or starting points for new discussions.” (vii)

Those looking for a nuts and bolts “How To” manual should look elsewhere, as that 
is not the purpose of this volume. It should be understood from the outset that these 
case studies present broad sweeps rather than detailed blueprints. Averaging fifteen 
pages in length, each of the individual case studies were structured with common 
sections: an introduction followed by sections on “planning,” “implementation,” “re-
sults,” “lessons learned,” and a conclusion. The authors of the case studies were able 
to give broad overviews of their programs. Certain themes did emerge across the case 
studies. One constant refrain was the need to fully engage the professors or teachers 
who sought to use special collections in their curriculum into the planning process 
of the educational programs. These lessons are relevant and useful reminders for all, 
whether a librarian at an academic library or a historical society. 

Academic librarians should not immediately dismiss the case studies involving 
school-age children. Many of the authors noted that K–12, undergraduates, and even 

doi:10.5860/crl.77.3.402



Book Reviews 403

many graduate students have come to age in the digital world and often only know to 
seek online options for their research purposes. The case study of the Cumbria Archive 
Service (United Kingdom) connected elementary school children with the papers of 
Alfred Wainwright in a series of innovative educational programs. The chapter’s authors 
noted that students found “An experience with a real object or artifact is magical. Real 
objects have an aura about them that can transport a visitor or workshop participant 
back in time and provide a unique and special experience.” (23) Perhaps this sense of 
wonder is not that unexpected in elementary school children; yet what about graduate 
students? The educational program designed by Greta Reisel Browning (Appalachian 
State University) had graduate students compare physical volumes from her reposi-
tory’s rare book collection with digitized facsimiles from online resources. Browning 
noted that the students found “The ‘aura’ of the book powerful; handling a first edition, 
feeling the paper, and smelling an open book struck them as an unusual and thrilling 
part of the research experience.” (8)

Educational Programs read almost like a textual version of a panel on educational 
programs presented at a professional conference. Often, the most enlightening part of 
these panels is the question and answer segment where the panelists not only engage 
questions from the audience, they interact with each other. A concluding essay by the 
editor would have provided another level of analysis to enhance the self-reflection of 
the “lessons learned” and “conclusion” sections provided by the individual authors of 
each case study. Additionally, a more coherent organizational structure ordering the 
case studies would have made the volume a little more approachable. For instance, the 
editor could have organized the case studies into sections sorting them either by types 
of institutions (such as higher education libraries or historical societies) or audience 
(such as K–12 schoolchildren, college students, or teachers). The reader essentially has 
to read all the case studies to get a sense of what programs might be readily applicable 
to his or her set of circumstances. The short, yet highly workable, index does present 
a shortcut for the reader to jump to useful case studies or passages. 

These criticisms are easily overlooked given the brevity and well-structured design 
of the individual chapters. The volume could also prove itself to be a very useful 
text to be incorporated for a library and information science course on reference or 
archival management. Additionally, the case studies will provide useful background 
for practitioners to consider before enhancing or designing their own programs. The 
activities of the thirteen educational programs profiled in the individual case studies 
are indeed inspiring, and elements of those programs could very well be incorporated 
into many of our own educational programs.—Edward Copenhagen, Harvard University, 
Cambridge, Massachusetts