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Southeastern Massachusetts Cooperating Libraries (SMCL)

 Collection — Multiple Containers
Identifier: MC-090

Scope and Contents

The SMCL collection is comprised of financial materials including grants and budgets, historical information on the development of the organization, as well as administrative records such as annual reports, policies and procedures, and bylaws. A strength of the collection are the bound copies of the Union List of Serials dating from 1978 to 1987. The collection is organized into three series: FINANCES, UNION LIST OF SERIALS, and ADMINISTRATIVE MATERIALS.



The FINANCES SERIES includes SMCL’s budgets from 1971-1987, various Grant records from 1977 to 1987, reports on the cost associated with the Union List of Serials.



The UNION LIST OF SERIALS SERIES includes copies of the Union List of Serials from 1979-1987, along with the history of its development and some statistical information.



The ADMINISTRATIVE MATERIALS SERIES includes general information about SMCL including its Annual Reports from 1972-1990, handbook, policies and procedures, bylaws, delivery services, and brochures.

All sub-series are a complete run, unless otherwise indicated.

Dates

  • Creation: 1968-2002

Access Restrictions

No restrictions, this collection is open for research.

Copyright

Copyright is retained by the authors of items in these papers, or their descendants, as stipulated by United States Copyright law.

Biographical / Historical

In 1968, the libraries of Wheaton College, Bridgewater State College, Stonehill College, and Southeastern Massachusetts University (now called UMASS Dartmouth) founded the Southeastern Massachusetts Cooperating College Libraries (SMCCL). This agreement between the colleges gave both students and faculty access to a much larger collection of publications. In the 1970s, several other libraries such as Bristol Community College and the War Veterans Hospital Library joined as affiliate members. With the addition of these new libraries, SMCCL voted to change the name to Southeastern Massachusetts Cooperating Libraries (SMCL) to account for the new members that were not college libraries.



Every six months SMCL published a Union List of Serials. This was a compilation of all periodical and serial holdings of all the libraries within SMCL. Within this collection, there are copies of all the Union Lists published between 1979 and 1987. In order to help facilitate the interlibrary borrowing system, a van was purchased by SMCL to transport materials between the libraries. Twice a week, this van traveled to all the affiliated libraries to deliver requested materials.

In the early 2000s, Bridgewater and UMASS Dartmouth left SMCL to join the state’s library system. Then in 2005, Wheaton College joined HELIN, a consortium of mostly Rhode Island college libraries. SMCL didn’t formally end, but the withdrawal of three of its four major members meant that it could no longer operate. Although SMCL did not dissolve until 2005, the records contained in this collection only go up to 1992. Around this time, the Director of SMCL organized and archived all their records held at Wheaton College. Since that time, the collection has not been added to, leading to the abrupt end of records in 1992.

Extent

14 carton(s)

Language of Materials

English

Immediate Source of Acquisition

This collection was compiled over time by the Marrion B. Gebbie Archives and Special Collections. It was accumulated through transfers from SMCL.

Processing Information

Processed by: Jennifer Witzgall W'18 November 2014

Entered into ArchivesSpace by: Jennifer Witzgall W'18, November 2014

Title
Inventory of the Southeastern Massachusetts Cooperating Libraries (SMCL) Collection
Status
Completed
Author
Jennifer Witzgall W'18
Date
11/11/2014
Description rules
Describing Archives: A Content Standard
Language of description
Undetermined
Script of description
Code for undetermined script
Language of description note
English

Repository Details

Part of the Marion B. Gebbie Archives and Special Collections Repository

Contact:
Wheaton College
26 East Main Street
Norton Massachusetts 02766