Pratt Museum revitalizes reference library

Published 5:30 pm Thursday, April 2, 2026

If you missed the announcements on social media last week and don’t know yet that the Pratt Museum recently unveiled a new-and-improved research library — well, now you do.

Museum staff held an open house on Friday to allow members of the community to explore the newly modernized Research Library and Resource Center that’s housed between the Pratt’s downstairs classroom and collections storage. While materials cannot be removed from the library, patrons are welcome to stop by during the museum’s hours of operation to browse the books — both nonfiction and fiction, like titles by Elsa Pedersen — articles, audio tapes and other items available on the shelves.

“We’re trying to make a good system where people can come and use the library anytime that we’re open during business hours. Collections access can be accommodated as well by appointments with our staff, so we can help with that,” executive director Whitney Harness said.

Harness and other staff members have spent the last several weeks, since January, sorting through the library’s contents book by book, culling outdated or duplicate items, reorganizing the shelves and generally working to make the research library more accessible to patrons doing professional research or fulfilling personal interests and curiosities.

“One thing we went through (was) to pull some of the books that weren’t regionally relevant, just because it’s so much easier to find resources online, even at the Homer Public Library,” she said. “Before the internet came, it was a little harder, so they tended to keep a lot more books here that might be relevant to, like, Southeast Alaska, and we want to make room for more of the emerging research that’s been done locally — the whole southern Kenai Peninsula as well as across all of Cook Inlet.”

The project was funded by a $5,000 Homer Foundation grant, which the museum officially completed at the end of March. The grant enabled Pratt Museum staff to purchase contemporary academic literature relevant to their collection materials and mission-driven educational programming, update the library catalogue system, and to purchase and install a new overhead projector with USB and Bluetooth compatibility to facilitate collaborative use, presentations and group viewing of digital resources, a Jan. 15 press release states.

Curation of the library itself, however, is an ongoing process.

“We just want to make sure people are aware that we have the library and that they can come and use it and spend time here getting to know more about the community, too,” Harness said. “As we have more folks move into the community, it’s not just the exhibits that can be engaging in that way. There’s a lot of history here that isn’t to be on exhibit, but people can learn a lot about Homer and the entire southern Kenai Peninsula.”

Harness said that maintenance of the library catalog is focused on ensuring materials are relevant to the museum’s mission and to the Kachemak Bay region.

“We do try to keep things as regionally relevant as possible, but there are times where there’s crossover, or if we have materials in our collection that might have been donated because of who had them or where they were found, but they’re specific to other parts of Alaska, then we do like to keep some resources,” she said, specifically noting the museum’s Native basketry collection that spans the entire Pacific coast of Alaska, as well as their extensive collection of related books.

The library also contains “a lot of really cool community resources” like Homer High School yearbooks.

“They aren’t necessarily collections items, but we want the public to be able to view them, so we’ve made space,” she said.

The Pratt also has a number of books and materials in hand that will soon be added to the library catalog, and are taking recommendations on new book acquisitions as well.

One new feature they’re working towards is a section on memorabilia from and materials on the 1989 Exxon-Valdez oil spill.

“We want to create an area in here where we can focus on emerging research that’s still coming out on the effects of the Exxon-Valdez oil spill, so we can have these resources here,” Harness said, holding up a stack of 1989 Homer News issues featuring stories on the spill, “as well as new research, because there’s still a lot being done and we ultimately want to update our exhibit to reflect some of that.”

Other items that have long been a part of the museum’s library catalog or collections are now being given a more front-and-center seat, including oral history recordings with artist R.W. “Toby” Tyler, construction photos from past Pratt Museum renovations, museum newsletters from the 1970s up to 2007 and photographs from public programs and other events from the Pratt’s history.

“We’re just trying to make all of those things that have been here, that nobody was really aware of, more accessible for people to come in and check out,” Harness said.

“We’re trying to add some more curiosities too — like this,” she pointed to a mold of a sperm whale brain resting on a bookshelf, “it’s not accessioned, so it can’t be in our collections storage room, but it’s pretty interesting. So it’s fun to have some of those things in here.”

The books that were pulled from the shelves during the library’s update will be made available for sale in a fundraiser at the “Yellow House” next door on May 30.

“It should be, hopefully, a never-ending project as more information comes in, that way it doesn’t stagnate and lose its relevancy,” Harness said of the library’s curation. “But there is a wealth of information in a lot of these books. It’s really special to have them all here, and there’s also a lot of great ones that are going in the sale too.”

Volunteer opportunities will be available in the research library soon as well. For more information, visit the Pratt Museum online or subscribe to their monthly e-newsletter.