Collections Management

What We Do

Ever wonder how that book, journal, or electronic resource became part of the Bowdoin College Library?  Collections Management is the group of people responsible for acquiring, describing, and, when necessary, repairing materials so they can be useful. We also maintain the library catalog so researchers can find what they need quickly and reliably. Every month, hundreds of new print resources and thousands of electronic resources pass through our department before they find their way into researchers’ hands.

Staff

Karen Anctil, Head of Acquisitions 
Karen oversees the acquisition of new materials, including periodicals, government documents, and other print materials, and manages the entire life cycle of the library’s collection of electronic resources.

Alexander Elliott, Collections Management Assistant
Alexander manages the receipt and physical processing of all library material types, including monographs and serials and government documents, and maintains the print journal collection.

Shawn Gerwig, Conservation Technician
Shawn performs and manages preservation services for the collection, including doing basic repairs and custom boxing.

Mary Macul, Head of Cataloging 
Mary manages the cataloging workflow, makes policy decisions about descriptive levels, and catalogs items in all formats and most languages.

Kat Stefko, Associate Librarian for Discovery, Digitization, and Special Collections, and Director of the George J. Mitchell Department of Special Collections & Archives 
Kat supervises the staff and work of Collections Management.

Summer Unsinn, Systems & Database Maintenance Librarian
Summer serves as Bowdoin’s administrator of the library’s catalog (CBBcat), working in concert with systems staff at Colby and Bates.  She also works to ensure accurate and reliable data within the catalog to promote discoverability of materials by patrons.

Donna Van Dyck, Acquisitions Specialist 
Donna responds to purchase requests from faculty and other researchers. Orders and processes print monographs.

Ryan Wheeler, Cataloging and Metadata Librarian
Ryan catalogs materials in all formats and languages, with a particular emphasis on rare books, audio-video materials, government documents, and serials.