Summary: Instructions for handling laid-in material accompanying Special Collections items.

Laid-in material refers to ephemeral items left in resources by booksellers, former owners, etc. 

Laid-in Collection Workflow

The Laid-In collection was created with the goal of documenting, preserving, and providing public access to items that accompany cataloged Special Collections materials but were not necessarily published with them. For instance, bookmarks, photographs, and other ephemera.  Additionally, the Laid-In collection houses documents that showcase the provenance of cataloged items, such as correspondence with book dealers and donors.

For cookbooks and zines

Please note, this workflow does not apply to Cookery materials or Zines. For Cookery materials and Zines, all laid-in items remain with the cataloged item regardless of the type of laid-in material. Laid-in materials from other sublocations may also be kept with the associated item at the discretion of the curator. When you find laid-in material in a Cookery item or Zine, place a pink streamer in the item and place it in a bag (provided by Conservation) to indicate to the SPC stacks team that it requires additional housing. See specific instructions below.

Please contact Leslie McRoberts for questions related to Cookery materials and contact Joshua Barton for questions related to Zines.Leave all laid-in materials in their original places inside the piece in question.

• Flag the book with the pink Non-separated laid-in materials streamer.

  • Insert 561 note that includes the $5 MiEM at the end 

    • If there are 10 or fewer pieces of laid-in material, describe each one and note its location using page numbers.

      • Example: Handwritten recipe for banana bread between pages 10 and 11.

    • If there are more than 10 pieces of laid-in material, make a more generic entry instead.

      • Example: 17 miscellaneous items laid in between various pages of the book.

    • Use multiple 561s with $3 at the beginning of each field if you need to provide in-depth description of several pieces of laid-in material.

      • Examples:

        • $3 Letter. $a Letter written by author to owner containing information about the first draft ... $5 MiEM

        • $3 Photocopy. $a 5 pages of photocopied material from the author's first draft, including ... $5 MiEM

  • If deemed useful for discovery and retrieval:

    • Add any 7xx fields relating to persons or bodies associated with laid-in material

  • Place piece in provided plastic bags to ensure laid-in materials aren't lost

For all other SPC materials

Add the following items to the laid-in collection:

• Bookmarks, booksellers’ descriptions, photographs, notes, or other loose materials that are connected to the cataloged item by association with a previous owner

• Non-MSU correspondence which is found laid into the materials

Note: MSU correspondence with dealers or donors is not required to be added to the laid-in collection, but can be added at the curator’s discretion.

Do not add the follow items to the laid-in collection:

• Correspondence with dealers or donors that contains personal or sensitive information that should not be publicly available. For questions, please consult with the relevant curator.

  • Ex. The donor for the Arsenal collection is anonymous. Correspondence related to this individual should not be placed in the Laid-In collection.

• Materials created as a part of any MSU Libraries workflow (e.g. Acquisitions, Cataloging, etc.), except following consultation with the curator.

  • Ex. Purchase slips, procedural documentation, location assignment flags, MSU Libraries book plates

When you have identified an item to be added to the laid-in collection:

1. In the 561 field, describe laid-in materials and note their location(s) if appropriate before removing them. A separate 561 is allowed, if needed, especially if the book in hand requires numerous provenance notes unrelated to laid-in materials. The level of description is at the discretion of the cataloger or at the request of the curator, but concision is key. All 561 fields should conclude with $5 MiEM

   1. Examples:

      1. $3 Letter. $a Letter written by author to owner containing information about the first draft … $5 MiEM

      2. $3 Photocopy. $a 5 pages of photocopied material from the author's first draft, including … $5 MiEM

      3. $3 Newspaper clippings. $a 10 newspaper clippings containing information about the author’s publicity tour… $5 MiEM

   2. Smaller or particularly fragile items should be housed in Mylar (paper scraps, pressed leaves, locks of hair, etc.). Mylar sleeves will be provided with laid-in boxes.

   3. Photographs should be housed in Mylar.

   4. If you have questions about housing a particular item, contact Conservation.

   5. If the item is too large for the legal-sized folder, contact Dayna.

2. Place the item(s) in a folder provided by Dayna and Evalyn. You will be provided a box with folders, prelabeled with Box and Folder numbers, which will stay in your office. Add laid-in items to the next available folder. When you have used all your available folders, contact Dayna and you will be provided with a new box. We will take all filled folders and provide new ones at this time.

   1. Write the item’s call number on the center top of the folder in pencil.

   2. Use one folder for all laid-in items associated with a single cataloged item.

3. Add a 590 note to the record using the following template (fill in the Box and Folder number based on the folder you have chosen).

   1. MSU: Loose materials were found laid in to this item during cataloging. For the preservation of these materials, they were transferred to the Laid-In collection (MSS 466), Box x, Folder y.

4. Add the following 655 _ 7 note:

   1. Insertions (Provenance) $2 rbmscv

5. Add the following 787 08 linking field:

   1. $t Laid-in materials collection $5 MiEM

For questions about this workflow, please contact the curator of the collection.