Technical Services

The Technical Services Department of the Boston Athenæum consists of Acquisitions, Cataloging, Serials and Systems sections and is responsible for selecting, acquiring, receiving, invoicing, cataloging, and processing all Library materials.

The Acquisitions Department manages the purchasing of books and other Library materials. Book selection is done by the Book Selection Committee which follows a formalized Acquisitions Policy. Any member who would like to suggest to the Committee a title for the Athenæum to purchase may do so via the suggestion book at the Circulation desk or by filling out the online request form.

The Serials Department manages the purchasing of magazines, journals, and electronic databases and ensures that they are available throughout the Library for use by members. The Athenæum currently has about 500 active subscriptions.

The Cataloging Departmentmaintains the online catalog, adding new items as they are received, and works to ensure accuracy of records for older materials that were formerly in our card catalog.

The mid-1990s conversion of the Cutter catalog to machine-readable records that form the basis of the Library’s online catalog produced a large number of substandard entries. Some collections, such as maps and atlases and manuscripts were not converted at the time. Upgrading these brief records and adding records into the catalog for unconverted collections are also regular activities of the department.