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Research universities carry significant responsibilities for preserving the printed heritage under their care. Cornell University Library takes this responsibility seriously, and is committed to providing adequate protection and security for all its historic materials. As appropriate, library units should inventory their general collections to identify materials appropriate for transfer to a special collections facility. Cornell Library's Annex facility also provides units with a secure housing option for low-use items of long-term historical value, or for items that are at risk of theft or damage on the open shelves. Such items may be assigned to the Rare Annex location (rmc,anx), from which they will circulate only to a secure, observed reading room on the central Cornell campus.

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A. Material Eligible for Rare Annex

At Cornell, all items printed before 1865 must be provided with secure, climate-controlled storage and monitored reading room access. In addition, materials printed after 1850 and before 1930 should be evaluated for significant artifactual, historical, or market characteristics and assigned to a location best suited to ensure long term preservation and use. All items 1864 and earlier are processed automatically for Rare Annex. Items from 1865-1869 are reviewed by RMC staff for Rare Annex; any items not selected for Rare Annex will be processed for the Circulating Annex. Items from 1870-1930 are reviewed by RMC staff for Rare Annex; it not selected for Rare Annex, then the appropriate Olin/Uris selector reviews for central campus or circulating Annex. Full criteria for Cornell University Library's transfer guidelines are available on the staff web at Policy on Transfer of General Collection Material to Special Collections.  (<--This link is not working/old Collection Dev. staffweb)

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B. Processing Locations

Currently, transfer of material identified as rare from central campus to the Library Annex has been approved for the following libraries:

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• If provenance includes the phrase "From the Income of a bequest made by__", no provenance note is added to the bib record.
• To record a gift, add a 541 field with the following: Rare Annex copy #: (use original location copy#) Gift of __.
  
  Example: 541__Rare Annex copy 1: Gift of Henry W. Sage. (with leading indicators both BLANK).
Add $dNIC at end of the 040 field if you have added any new 541 and/or 700/710 fields to the record.

3.  Update the holdings record:

• Add $dNIC at end of the 040 field if you have added any new 700 or 710 fields to the record.
• Add an Administrative Note to the Instance record, showing a post-cataloging maintenance transaction.  (The LTS macro for this is ,,mc. Consult with the DBQ supervisor if you do not have this macro).

3.  Update the Holdings record:

• Add a Add a Holdings Administrative note with the transaction code for transfers, including piece-count and the original location code (e.g. date:20250225 ttype:t userid:pca1 ploc:lts pcs:1 orig:olin)  (The LTS keyboard macro for this transaction code is ,,t. If this macro is not on your computer, consult with the DBQ supervisor). 
• Update the Permanent Location field as follows:
  
  1. 1. Change olin, uris,or rmc,ice to rmc,anx
     2. Change ech, sasa, or was to ech,ranx, sasa,ranx or was,ranx
• Add a public Holdings Note (note type: note) with description of binding type.
• Add a NON-public Holdings note (note type: note) with the appropriate transfer note (e.g. "transferred to Annex from Olin 2/25/26 pca1", or simply "transfer from olin 2/25/26 pca1")

• If you have recorded provenance, add it to the public Holdings note with the binding information.Evidence  Evidence of ownership (e.g. bookplate, signature, inscription) should appear in parentheses after the owner's name (e.g. Provenance: Andrew Dickson White (bookplate).  Multiple former owners can also be reflected, depending on what evidence has been left on the book (see examples below).
• If the work was inscribed by the author, note this specifically by including "inscribed by the author within " within the parentheses.
• If the work has a gift letter, postcard, or other item tipped in, include this information with its location after the binding type (e.g. Gift letter tipped in front). (See final example below)
EXAMPLES

Examples:

4.  Recording Gifts:

• Donors of the material to the library collection are distinguished from provenance by having a separate Holdings Note with Note Type: Source of Acquisition.  If the donor prefers to remain anonymous, make sure to click the staff only box at the end of the note field.   
  • Note: Past workflows involved tracing donors with 541 fields in the MARC record, and sometimes provenance notes were combined with donor notes.  Because of confusion caused by patrons searching the donors as authors, however, and to accommodate the donors who wish to remain anonymous, LTS staff should create the separate "Source of Acquisition" note in the Holdings record, separately from the provenance note(s).

Example:

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45.  Update the Item record

• Change these fields to the following, as applicable:
  
  1. Perm Loc.: RMC Annex, Echols Rare Annex, South Asia Rare Annex or Wason Rare Annex.
  2. Item Type: Non-circulating
  3. If the item is in a preservation box or has loose items such as newspaper clippings inside the cover, count the pieces (INCLUDING the box) and enter the number in the Number of Pieces field.
     
•  If no item record has yet been created, create one and affix the barcode to the first leaf of the book
•  Place the item on the Annex book truck in the Physical Processing area.   

56.  Adding a Barcode to a transfer book: if a book that is being transferred to a Rare Annex collection lacks a barcode, wrap a mylar strip vertically around the cover with the spine on the LEFT (usually the front cover).  Let the ends of the mylar overlap slightly, without any tension on the cover, and attach the 2 ends with an AVERY 5963 label, which is 2"x 4".  Attach the barcode to the label.

Example:

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SPECIAL CASES