Curating Writers’ Libraries: Towards Policy Development on the Management of Special Collections

Special collections often represent rare and unique items usually belonging to a notable individual or institution. In this study, it will explore such collection as the research revolves around the existing collection management of writers’ collections in libraries, archives, and museums – practices, issues, and challenges. The study employs exploratory and descriptive research design using a quantitative method. The researcher created a survey questionnaire that represents the core themes of this study: selection, acquisition, documentation, collection
preservation, collection maintenance, and marketing. The data collection tool has been reviewed by librarians and archivist who are experts in the field and gained a good reliability estimate. Respondents in various regions in the Philippines, showed a variety of practices and management techniques in handling writers’ collection which caused major concerns among collection managers. With the results of this study, the researcher recommends to further review the proposed collection management policy with librarians, archivists and curators to enable them to adopt a written collection management policy; provide specialized trainings for LAM managers and staff handling such collections; and study a possibility of creating a location register of writers’ collections.