Catalog
The Folger Shakespeare Library is in the process of migrating to a new catalog (May-June 2022). Hamnet will be retired on June 30, 2022.
Other resources for discovery
In addition to our catalog online, we also have card catalogs and finding aids.
Catalogs typically provide bibliographic description of individual items such as books, journals, works of art, manuscripts, objects, etc.
Finding aids typically provide archival description of collections of manuscripts and records, with inventories detailing what is included in each collection.
However, there is some overlap between catalogs and finding aids; collections can be described in a catalog and individual items can be described in finding aids. In general, if you are looking for a published resource or a work of art, start with the catalog. If you are looking for unpublished papers and records, including letters, diaries, collected documents, and the like, start with finding aids.
Questions
If you have questions about the catalog, please contact catalog@folger.edu.
Related articles
For other articles about the catalog, please see Category:Catalog. For articles geared towards librarians using the TIND ILS, please see Category:TIND_ILS.
Timeline of new catalog development
| January - June 2021 | Collection Description staff draft requirements for a new integrated library system (ILS).
Researcher Services staff revise the requirements with special attention to the needs of end users. |
| January - September 2021 | Collection Description staff survey the ILS marketplace for suitable options. |
| October 2021 | The Folger Shakespeare Library selects TIND as their new ILS vendor. |
| October 2021 - March 2022 | Collection Description staff and TIND go through multiple iterations of data migration. |
| March 2022 | Data in our former ILS (Ex Libris' Voyager) is 'frozen' and the final migration takes place. |
| April 2022 | Library staff begin using the new catalog and attend multiple training sessions.
Post-migration data cleanup and systems configuration continues. |
| May 2022 | We announce the preview launch of the new catalog to readers of The Collation blog, and we explained our decision to go with TIND. |
| June 2022 | Public launch of the catalog. |
| Summer 2022 | Copy-specific information will have an easier-to-read display; it's currently presented in a large block of text |
| Summer 2022 | There will be a full index browse so that it's possible to browse by author, subject, call number, and other indices. |
| Summer 2022 | Staff will begin rolling out Folger-specific search guides and documentation. Watch this space! |