Libraries--Special Collections

Trinity College, Watkinson Library

We spoke to Jeffrey Kaimowitz, Head Librarian of the Watkinson Library and Curator of the Enders Ornithology Collection. Mr. Kaimowitz has been with the Watkinson for 30 years.

The Watkinson Library was founded in 1858 as an independent, public “library of reference” by one of the founders of Trinity College, who left a $100,000 general endowment for the library in his will. The Watkinson Library opened in 1866 with 12,000 volumes. At the time, the Watkinson Library and Trinity College were separate institutions. The two merged in 1952, when financial pressures brought the trustees of the Watkinson Library to seek affiliation with another institution. Today, Watkinson is uniquely dedicated to maintaining its identity as a separate, non-circulating collection available to the needs of all researchers, not only those in the Trinity College community. The Library is therefore open access, but non-university affiliates must fill out a “Watkinson Library/Trinity College Archives Application for User’s Card” and provide photo ID before being able to use the library.

Trinity College, founded in 1923, is one of the oldest colleges in the U.S. and is an independent, nonsectarian liberal arts college. Its undergraduate population is approximately 2,200.

Library Dimensions and Background

The Watkinson is staffed by three full-time professionals, and supplemented by five part time student workers who put it 6-8 hours per week during the regular school year; two students work full-time during the summer.

The Watkinson Library is located in a first floor annex of Trinity College’s Raether Library and Information Technology Center.

Acquisitions and development

“The library’s endowment is not bad, but it’s not huge,” said Mr. Kaimowitz. “It does pay for a lot of the expenses for the Watkinson.” He estimated that the library’s endowment covered 80% of the operations budget, including acquisitions, repairs, and salaries, while Trinity College covered the remaining 20%.

“We have an independent board of trustees, and sometimes they bring in donations of books to us, but also we purchase from catalogs and sometimes find things on the internet. There’s a general Watkinson acquisition fund which is not large, and we have a larger [separate] amount for ornithology.” An endowment came with the ornithology collection when it was donated to the Watkinson over 20 years ago. “That fund also pays for current materials in ornithology for our general library, and includes one database that is related to ornithology and wildlife. It’s not restricted to antiquarian books,” Mr. Kaimowitz said.

The Watkinson Library also receives donations through the college Development Office and from the general college administration.

“We buy rare and limited edition material. We also buy limited number of materials that help to interpret the collection, bibliographies and other works that relate to the holdings we have specifically in the Watkinson. We not only buy books, but manuscripts, and for the ornithology collection some original paintings to illustrate the ornithology books. It has its own room that holds part of its collection but it’s a fairly substantial.”

Pre-screening procedures and security

Registration for non-university affiliates involves filling a basic form and showing photo identification for the librarian to check. The librarian then issues the patron a card. Mr. Kaimowitz introduced the card and registration system, along with prohibition of coats, bags, and pens, when he first came to the Watkinson 30 years ago. The sightlines on the reading room were “quite good” according to Mr. Kaimowitz, but made better by the recent renovations. “We’ve talked about making the rules more strict, but the thing is that there’s always someone here and there’s a fine line between being careful and strict and really putting people off,” he told us. His personal philosophy was to shy away from the “Draconian” rules he has seen enforced elsewhere, but did admit that there have been problems in the past, before his time. “Theft is more of a problem than damage. We don’t have that much damage. If you use a rare book that is fragile, you’re going to have damage every time it’s used, that is true. On that basis, you could say damage is more of a problem.” But Mr. Kaimowitz said they haven’t had problems with mutilation during his tenure there. As for damage done before his time, he said, “Things were not monitored or they weren’t in special collections – that was the problem. Thirty, forty years ago, people just weren’t worried about things being stolen in the same way today. Especially now because of the internet, any thief can look online and find out what you have. Now people are more worried and aware. It’s a much more serious issue these days.”

“Many of the things we use here may be fragile and may be scarce but not terribly rare. It’s not like we’re a library that everything that comes out is a super rare book.” Mr. Kaimowitz stressed that staff familiarity with such a collection becomes all the more important. “That’s very important in general, that your staff be aware of what they’re providing to patrons – how important the book is, how rare. Reliability and competence of staff is crucial.”

Publicity and exhibits

“Our heaviest uses are internal, college and faculty. But people sometimes find us online, no question about it. People request materials because they’ve found them online and become interested in a collection.” Mr. Kaimowitz also told us of a man who had called him up from Paris because of a Watkinson collection by a pioneer translator of Russian literature into French. As it turned out, the man had communicated with the writer and been referred to the Watkinson.