The Intersection of Libraries and Museums

Museums and libraries share a common mission of preserving important cultural, historical, and educational materials for the public, making their collections accessible so people can learn, explore, and connect with new ideas. Our campus is no exception, where both Pepperdine Libraries and the Frederick R. Weisman Museum of Art preserve cultural heritage and make it available to our learning community.

Recently, dean of Libraries Mark Roosa was named interim director of the Weisman Museum. Roosa stated: “We’re very excited to imagine the possibilities for the future, for new ways to collaborate across the University. Libraries and museums have an awful lot in common, and this is a great opportunity for us to forge a new direction and create an exciting place on campus for our community.”

The University has had the good fortune of stewarding the more than 300 works in the Weisman’s permanent collection. To ensure the art will be available for future generations, under Roosa’s leadership and in collaboration with Rebecca Carson, managing director of the Lisa Smith Wengler Center for the Arts, the Museum will conduct a preservation assessment, specifically analyzing the storage environment. The Libraries will also make reference images of the permanent collection and metadata available through Digital Collections, allowing anyone conducting scholarship from anywhere in the world to become familiar with the Weisman Museum’s artworks.

Recently, the Weisman received a $50,000 grant from the Helen Frankenthaler Foundation to review the museum’s track lighting system. Plans are underway to move forward with the assessment and eventual installation of new lights. Lighting issues are also relevant to libraries, especially within special collections. Many of the items in Pepperdine Libraries’ Special Collections and Archives are kept under safe lighting conditions—as well as temperature and humidity—in Payson Library’s climate-controlled storage. Monitoring lighting, temperature, and humidity levels ensures library archives and museum collections alike stay intact for future generations to enjoy.

Finally, the Libraries are nearing the end of cataloging the book collection of Michael Zakian, the longtime Weisman director who passed away in 2020. More than 2,500 volumes donated to the Libraries by Zakian’s wife Lia Skidmore have been added to our general collections. Additionally, the Libraries added four archival boxes of Zakian's papers and a selection of rare and unique books from his personal library to Special Collections. The entire cataloguing project took more than 1,000 staff hours, completed by several librarians including: Colleen Mullally, associate university librarian for collections, technical services, and scholarly communication; Elizabeth Parang, research and instruction librarian; and Tierney Leonard, collections and metadata specialist. The Libraries is honored to celebrate the legacy of Michael Zakian through this initiative.