Our series profiling the next generation of special collections librarians and rare book curators continues today with Colleen Theisen, Outreach and Instruction Librarian in the Special Collections & University Archives at the University of Iowa. 

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How did you get started in rare books?
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As an undergraduate I needed to complete an internship for my minor in history.  I was sent to the Western Historical Manuscripts collection in the basement of the University of Missouri-Columbia's library to compile a libguide for National History Day. What kind of place was this that had historic papers and diaries, artists' sketchbooks and even a small gallery of paintings, all in one place?  Lewis and Clark's diaries and records from the Dred Scott trials rendered me speechless touching the actual pages that previously unreal names from my history books had created.  All the while 6-12th grade National History Day students were coming in and out the doors, having the same awestruck moments I was having, and then going on to make the words leap off the pages back to life in documentaries and performances. As sixth grade girls took to the stage in bonnets for their performance at the NHD contest, and the suffering from the pages of a handwritten pioneer woman's diary momentarily became their suffering, I was hooked, and the experience of that place never left me.

Where did you earn your advanced degree?

I have a Master of Science in Information from the University of Michigan where I tailored my archives specialization with library science, history of the book, and museum studies classes to fit the diversity of work in Special Collections.

What is your role at your institution?

I am the Outreach and Instruction Librarian for Special Collections & University Archives which means that I coordinate the class sessions that come in to use Special Collections materials and serve as the primary instructor.  I am the social media manager for Special Collections, and I manage our exhibition space as well as coordinating our newsletters and some of our marketing.

Favorite rare book / ephemera that you've handled?

Favorites for me are tied up in favorite learning experiences.  I love the large fragment of the Iliad on papyrus at the University of Michigan because it was featured at the heart of the first lesson I designed using rare materials, tracing the text of the Iliad through time, when I was a TA for Great Books.  I love the 1967 Fluxus Year Box, because of a phenomenal class with 10-12 year old writers that turned into a funny and profound exploration of where or what the boundaries of art might be.

I have a new favorite every day and I do not want to lose that since it helps me figure out and communicate what might be exciting to our students and followers.  If forced to pick a general favorite, with its music, maps, anatomy, astronomy, math and more, collected and illustrated, I could never tire of looking at any and every copy of Margarita Philosophica.
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What do you personally collect?

Lack of money, tiny apartments, and living abroad for an extended period have previously hindered my ability to collect much of anything, but I do have small collections of 1870s-1880s carte de visite photographs and stereographs from Japan, wooden kokeshi dolls, signed YA novels, and "vintage" Fisher Price Little People.  The books I chose from my grandmother's library make up my favorite book collection.

What excites you about rare book librarianship?
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In the abstract, I love that we're called upon to wear every hat, and to invent some as well. In Special Collections we are librarian and archivist, but that also includes curator, teacher, scholar, conservator, writer, graphic designer, data entry specialist, genealogist, PR manager, social media content creator, web designer, historian, mentor, and even grief counselor. Recently I have added .gif animator, and video director.  I love bringing that excitement into the classroom and finding, building, and communicating with book loving communities online.  It's exciting that everything I have ever done or learned is relevant, and yet it isn't enough and never will be.  

Otherwise, I would just answer - the books.  Microminiature to elephant folio, to book arts that challenge if the word "book" fits at all, each and every one is exciting.
 
Thoughts on the future of special collections librarianship?

I think our special collections librarians will be called on even more to be creative collaborators.  Linked data, grant funded projects, digital humanities projects and outreach increasingly call upon expertise, collaboration, and coordination from across the library, the university, and across institutions.  In addition, the boundaries between library, archive, museum, or historical society are increasingly blurred as we are fighting the same fight to communicate our value, and as our digitized collections and metadata are increasingly united.  

More and more we need to make our work visible to counteract the stereotypes, misinformation, and lack of information about librarianship and special collections.  Whether it is creating a site for crowdsourcing transcription, a group to make historic recipes, a Civil War blog posting letters 150 years after they were written, a Tumblr community with animated .gifs of books, or videos as part of a YouTube community, we're increasingly called upon to build and make things together with our communities of librarians, patrons, followers, friends, and fellow creators.   
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Any unusual or interesting collection at your library you'd like to draw our attention to?

The Rusty Hevelin Science Fiction Collection is in process, but anyone can follow the progress on our Tumblr devoted to processing of the zines, convention materials, and pulps dating back to the emergence of science fiction fandom in the 1930s.  We also continue our Fan Culture Preservation Project partnership with the Organization for Transformative Works, collecting fanzines. I think people would be surprised by the extent of the ATCA Collection (Alternative Traditions in Contemporary Arts) including The Fluxus West collection and the complementary International Dada Archive, Finally, we're crowdsourcing transcriptions at DIY History where we just added pioneer diaries, and The Atlas of Early Printing is likely of interest to your readers, if for any reason it is yet unknown to them. And of course, our Special Collections Tumblr, named "new and notable" by Tumblr for 2013: http://uispeccoll.tumblr.com/

Any upcoming exhibitions at your library?

Food in the world of Downton Abbey opens with the new year tracing the culinary creations featured on the television show, whether upstairs or below, into the contemporary cookbooks of the time from our Szathmary Culinary Collection.

"The Race for the Chinese Zodiac," by Gabrielle Wang, illustrated by Sally Rippin; Candlewick Press, $14.99, 32 pages, ages 5-7.


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THE RACE FOR THE CHINESE ZODIAC. Text copyright © 2010 by Gabrielle Wang. Illustrations copyright © 2010 by Sally Rippin. Reproduced by permission of the publisher, Candlewick Press, Somerville, MA on behalf of Walker Books Australia and Black Dog Books.


In Gabrielle Wang's retelling of this classic Chinese creation story, the Jade Emperor announces a race to determine which twelve animals will have a year named after them in the zodiac. As the gong sounds, the animals plunge into a mighty river and make their way to the finish line.  Who will be first? Who stops at nothing to win?  Children and adults will find this a pleasure to read, and its quick pace mimics the feel of competitors vying for the top spot. Sally Rippin renders Charming Rat, Spirited Horse and all the other animals in Chinese ink and earth-toned linocuts. 


After reading the end notes to find out which Zodiac year is yours, try this fun post-reading activity: Enlarge the Chinese characters for each animal that are found throughout the book. Give children a big brush and let them trace the characters with bold brushstrokes.  


?????(Wishing you luck in the Year of the Horse!)



"Again!" by Emily Gravett; Simon & Schuster, $17.99, 32 pages, ages 4-6.

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Again! image reproduced with permission from the publisher, Simon & Schuster.



Here we have a great example of why physical children's books still have an edge over their digital counterparts. In this story, Cedric the dragon prepares for bedtime, which also means mama dragon will read his favorite bedtime story.  As the title aptly suggests, the evening tale is read over and over, even as his very patient and accommodating mother starts to doze off. As a result, Cedric transforms from an almost angelic looking creature into a fire-breathing fiend. Dragons aren't known for their patience, and Cedric demonstrates his lack of this particular quality with an ending that is sure to enthrall young children. (Without giving it away, this is where the paper copy triumphs over the e-version.) Fans of Emily Gravett's award-winning illustrations will be happy to see that she has stayed true to her style - simple, engaging drawings that pop off white backgrounds. Readers will recognize Gravett's work from her other award winning titles such as Wolves and The Odd Egg.
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The Hürriyet Daily News reported earlier this month that the National Library of Turkey - unbeknownst to the Turkish government - sold off over 140 tons of rare and historical books into the secondhand market. Many of the books and periodicals did not have paper or digital records. Booksellers and collectors in Turkey bought the National Library books for between 15 and 50 Turkish liras per kilogram.  ($7.00 - $23.50 at today's exchange rate per kilogram; just over 2 pounds).

The corruption was detected by the National Library when an historical book with the National Library's stamp was sold to the Konya Manuscripts Library.

Roughly 102 tons of books were sent to the Library's waste department in 2007; another 45 tons of similar books were sent at a later date.  The waste department then opened a secret auction for the books, selling them off by the kilogram to booksellers and collectors.

The Daily Hürriyet, who reported the scandal, went hunting for exlibris books from the National Library in the secondhand market in Ankara, where the library is located. The newspaper found several books with the National Library stamp, two from the 19th century and one from the early 20th century, priced between 400 and 1000 Turkish Lira. ($188 - $470)

Culture and Tourism Minister ?mer ?elik said via his Twitter account, "The National Library is the memory of the national culture and is the institution that bridges us with the international culture. It should be protected cautiously. It will be protected determinedly."  ?elik went on to say, "It seems that the neglect has links to some interests groups outside. We will crack down on these."
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A rare copy of the "Cranwell" edition of The Seven Pillars of Wisdom has surfaced at Edinburgh auction house Lyon & Turnbull. The book, signed by Lawrence, is expected to fetch £20,000 (roughly $33,000) when it heads to auction on January 15th as Lot 297 of Sale 399.

The Seven Pillars of Wisdom - T. E. Lawrence's famous recount of his role in the Arab Revolt of 1916 - 18, was first printed in the enormously rare "Oxford" edition in 1922. Only eight copies were printed. Lawrence then reworked the text over the next few years, aided by critical commentary from E. M Forster. 

In 1926, Lawrence again took The Seven Pillars of Wisdom to print, this time as part of the "Cranwell" edition, privately printed for subscribers. Of the 211 copies printed, 170 were complete and 32 were intentionally left incomplete, lacking three plates, intended as gifts to the men who had served with Lawrence in Arabia who might not be able to afford the high price of the full edition.  (The complete edition retailed for £31 in 1926, roughly £1500 today).

The copy heading to auction next month is one of these 32 incomplete editions and was gifted by Lawrence to Captain H. M. "Harry" Goldie, who had served with Lawrence during the Revolt.  An ALS from Lawrence to Goldie is tipped-in, which reads in part "You, having been one of us, get (if you want it) a gratis copy of the text of the subscribers edition."

A complete printing of a "Cranwell" edition of The Seven Pillars of Wisdom copy sold at Bohmans in London last year for £50,450 ($82,334).



  
432px-Papiermuseum_Basel_2008_(14).jpgJust came across a story/slideshow on the Basel Paper Mill in the current issue of Victoria magazine. "Housed in a medieval-era timber-framed structure on the banks of the Rhine River in Switzerland, the Basel Paper Mill is dedicated to preserving and honoring the arts of papermaking and typesetting," begins the story. I want to go! Sounds like the perfect place to spend a winter holiday!

Image of Basel Paper Mill exhibit, Courtesy Gryffindor/Wikimedia.
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I present the stunningly beautiful cover of our winter 2014 issue, which was sent to the printer today. Inside: Hollywood stars and Pawn Stars, Kipling and Chandler, book art and rare maps, auction reports and the annual book collector's resource guide, and more. Subscribers, look for it in your mailboxes just after the new year. Non-subscribers, what are you waiting for?



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The British Library uploaded over 1m photos into the public domain last week via Flickr Commons.  The enormously diverse images were drawn from 17th, 18th, and 19th century books originally digitized by Microsoft.  Microsoft then, in turn, gifted the scanned images to the British Library who wanted to ensure the photos would be released into the public domain.

The images include "maps, geological diagrams, beautiful illustrations, comical satire, illuminated and decorative letters, colourful illustrations, landscapes, wall-paintings and so much more that even we are not aware of."

In an effort to learn more about the images and promote their usage, the British Library plans to crowdsource inventive ways to "navigate, find, and display" the photos. Each image has been tagged with information about its provenance, however there is little to no interpretation of what the images mean.  The British Library hopes that users of the collection will help fill in the blanks.

norway church bl.jpgThe original blog post about the release stated, "We want to collaborate with researchers and anyone else with a good idea for how to markup, classify and explore this set with an aim to improve the data and to improve and add to the tagging. We are looking to crowdsource information about what is depicted in the images themselves, as well as using analytical methods to interpret them as a whole."

The British Library went on to say, "We are very interested to hear what ideas and projects people use these images for and we would ideally like to collaborate with those who have been inspired to explore them."

You can browse the collection on Flickr here and learn more about the effort from the BL's blog here.

SpiritPhotography-MedRes.jpgProof of mystical power from beyond the grave? This album of twenty-seven spiritualist photographs taken during seances in the 1920s and estimated to be worth $4,000-6,000 sold to a private collector last week for $93,750. The silver prints were taken during seances at Dr. Thomas Glendenning Hamilton's Psychic Room in Winnipeg, Canada. They show levitation experiments, psychic mediums in trances, and supernormal ephemera. All are cornered into black pages and accompanied by handwritten explanations, in an unknown hand, in white ink. Apparently the good doctor took to Ouija boards and other spiritualist investigations after his young son died, and these photos comprise one small part of a larger collection of the family's papers, scrapbooks, and photographs housed at the University of Manitoba Archives & Special Collections.

Daile Kaplan, vice president and director of photographs & photobooks at Swann Galleries, called the result "stellar." A second lot--a California mug shot album featuring a line-up of pimps and embezzlers--likewise sold high, at $22,500. Kaplan said, "As new collectors from the fields of Contemporary, Outsider Art and Material Culture enter the photographs marketplace, the gap between classical photography and other fields narrows, and values continue to rise."

Image Courtesy of Swann Galleries. 
Our series profiling the next generation of special collections librarians and curators continues today with Sean Visintainer, Special Collections Librarian and Curator of the Herman T Pott National Inland Waterways Library at the St. Louis Mercantile Library at the University of Missouri - St. Louis.

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What is your role at your institution? Please introduce us as well to the St. Louis Mercantile Library; a unique library that I'm not sure all of our readers will be familiar with.
 
I am the Curator of the Herman T. Pott National Inland Waterways Library, a special collection at the St. Louis Mercantile Library - University of Missouri at St. Louis, and also a special collections librarian at the Library.  The Mercantile Library is the oldest existing general library west of the Mississippi River, founded in 1846.  From its inception the Mercantile has been a membership library, which includes borrowing privileges, discounts on research fees, publications, and attendance at our many yearly exhibition openings, lectures, colloquia, book signings, and other events.  The Library's core collection focuses on St. Louis and regional history, westward expansion, exploration and science, the American river and rail experiences, rare books and the book arts, and the humanities.
 
Being part of a small staff with large ambitions, my day-to-day duties are fluid and varied, which makes my work exciting and challenging.  I work on collections processing and description; website design and editing; collection development; both in terms of rare books and archival collections; donor and board relations; presentations and talks; exhibition design; and special events and programs logistics. Lately, I've been working to develop the University of Missouri system's new digital library instance, which has been at times interesting, daunting, and educational, sometimes all at once.
 
How did you get started in rare books?

While attending the University of Missouri at Columbia for my MLS, I took a class on special libraries, which turned out to be really eye-opening in terms of the possibilities of employment in the field.  We students got to tour the operations of architectural libraries, federal libraries, law libraries, medical libraries, corporate libraries, and many more institutions, but the libraries that really grabbed me were the special collections and rare books libraries.  There is something incredibly evocative about holding a rare book or historic archival item in your hand - it is a tangible and powerful link to our culture and history, and to the trials, travails and issues faced by our ancestors.  I knew from the first moment that I stood in one that I wanted to work in a rare books and special collections library.

Have you worked at other institutions as well?

I did some graduate work for the HOK Architectural Research Library, and I worked as a board member for the Rupununi Learners Foundation, an organization dedicated to increasing literacy and environmental conservation in the Rupununi region of Guyana, South America.  Libraries are a big part of the Rupununi Learners Foundation's literacy efforts.  If I weren't in the special collections and rare books field I could be perfectly happy working on literacy and digital divide issues in the developing world.

Favorite rare book / ephemera that you've handled?

It is tough to say that I have just one, but a few items stand out to me.  The Mercantile's material with the broadest appeal is probably our signed Audubon double elephant folio Birds of America.  The Birdshave the size, value, beauty and provenance to really awe viewers.  From our inland rivers collection, I really love Zadok Cramer's early river guides, The Navigator, released yearly in the early 1800s.  These books existed before much mapping and description was available for America's inland rivers, and they contain a lot of really interesting content, from local history and lore, early maps, travelers' information, and even an early mention of the Lewis and Clark journey.  Not only river guides, but also drivers of immigration, facilitators of commerce, travel guides and historical artifacts, the importance of these books really bellies their modest appearance.

What do you personally collect?

I've been collecting as many auction and bookseller catalogs and bibliographies as I can get my hands on - a direct effect of my director, friend and mentor, John Hoover.  I also collect St. Louis and regional history, cookbooks and travel guides.  Travel guides are particularly interesting to me, because the information can be so ephemeral - post-civil war Syria, for example, will be a much different place than it was ten years ago.

What excites you about rare book librarianship?

There will be some really cool technological possibilities coming down the line that could directly impact rare book librarianship. For example, a colleague recently introduced me to Clavin, which might one day be used for applications like geotagging and mapping old travel narratives, or 19th century city directories.  With more books being digitized every day and more useful technology being invented, I suspect that the future of special collections and rare book librarianship will look very different than it does today.  It is a lot of fun to try and keep up with everything that is developing in the digital world, and to plan future possibilities for use in our Library.

Of course, digital representations, even with all their bells and whistles, can't compete with a real, tangible object.  I love researching and purchasing materials for the Library's collections.  There is something indescribably enjoyable about locating a work that I've been on the hunt for, or turning something up that I wasn't aware of, and knowing that it will strengthen the Library's collections.

Thoughts on the future of special collections / rare book librarianship?

As described a bit above, I think it will be imperative for rare books librarians to keep abreast of everything happening in the digital world, with an eye towards how to utilize those happenings in the future.

I also think that with the time for physical research at the Library likely diminishing in the future, two things are important to keep in mind for the future: 1) keeping stats of digital use could end up being a large justification for the department or library down the line; and 2) outreach, especially in terms of programming and exhibitions, will be another great way to justify the continual acquisitions of rare books and related materials.

Any unusual or interesting collection at your library you'd like to draw our attention to?

Both of our transportation libraries are top-notch.  We are and deserve to be on the "to see" lists of any serious researcher, author, media company or publisher working on rail and river transportation.  My director has spent many years assembling a fantastic Indian captivities collection as well - the library has a sizable amount of these documents, in book and manuscript form.
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Any upcoming exhibitions at your library?

We've got pretty full exhibition calendar for the upcoming year.  In January, I'll be opening an exhibition with our railroad curator, Nick Fry, called Most Marvelous Machines, which will tell the story of steam travel in America in the 19th and 20th centuries.  Nick will also be putting together an exhibition about the railroad industry's impact on and support of American elections, Whistle Stops: Campaigning by Train.  We've also got in the works exhibitions related to the 250th anniversary of the founding of St. Louis next year; Mapping St. Louis,about the early mapping of the city, and From Chouteau to Scharf, which will showcase the early printed histories of the city.

455px-Jack_London_young.jpgJack London wanted more than four cents a word, bless his freelancing heart. In a five-page letter London wrote on May 6, 1905, he chided his Cosmopolitan editor, John Brisbane Walker, about his article, "Revolution," and the paltry fee he was offered via telegraph. "I couldn't see why an article ten times stronger plus my name was not worth five cents a word," he wrote. The article was, according to London, perfect for Cosmo.

That letter--which could have been penned by a freelance writer yesterday, though perhaps not to Cosmo--will, perhaps ironically, be sold later this week for an estimated $4,000-6,000. Profiles in History, a California-based auction house, has a few London letters up for grabs at its Property of a Distinguished American Private Collector Part III auction on December 19. In another editorially-minded letter from February 6, 1908, London, author of White Fang and Call of the Wild, writes at length about plot and technique in fiction: "But it cannot be denied that what is technically known as 'the threads of the plot,' however closely woven they may be during the story, must inevitably separate again. The trick is to end your story just at the inch before the division."

A third lot of London features a typed letter from August 31, 1915--near the end of his brief career--in which he inquires (again) about pay rates for writers. Here he addresses Eric Schuler, the secretary and treasurer of the Authors League of America, writing, "The point of this letter is this: Is there any way in which you can send me samples of the rates that are paid to the first class, top-notch writers in the United States, both by magazines and by book publishers." Once a freelancer, always a freelancer. Coupled with another letter and a signed photograph, this letter is also expected to reach $4,000-6,000 at Thursday's sale, where a broad selection of literary, musical, political, and scientific manuscripts and rare books will be on offer.

Image via Wikipedia.
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