Rare Book School Launches Redesigned Website

Rare Book School at the University of Virginia has completed its website redesign aimed at improving access to its wide range of courses, resources, and programs.  

“This new website reflects who we are and whom we aspire to serve,” said RBS Executive Director Michael F. Suarez, S.J. “Our community spans continents and career stages, and this site is designed to welcome all of them, from a first-time visitor curious about rare books to a seasoned scholar looking for their next course.” 

Upcoming events which are all free and available online although booking is required include:

• May 14: Reading by Touch: Learning from Tactile Print, an online symposium on the history, design, and uses of tactile books for blind readers
• June 10: Women’s Libraries & Their Afterlives, a lecture on how women put together collections from the 17th to the 19th century, and what forms those collections took
• July 8: Landscapes, Labor, and the Infrastructures of Printed Newspapers, a talk that draws attention to some of the hidden materials, people, and infrastructures involved in producing and circulating printed newspapers in the pre-digital era

The next RBS exhibtion, opening next month and running through November at the University of Virginia, will be Objects of Poetry
Curated by Barbara Heritage and Zoe Langer, this will look at the materials behind the written text that make poetry possible, including metal, silk, parchment, and paper pulp, as well as calligraphy and typography.