National Colloquium on Special Collections

Many collectors, booksellers, and librarians are making plans to attend Acknowledging the Past, Forging the Future, a national colloquium on library special collections on October 21-22 at Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland, Ohio. According to its web site, "This national colloquium will explore some of the factors that governed the growth and use of special collections of the past, as well as current and emerging challenges for special collections in the future. How can libraries and university faculty work together to educate students to become more aware of the hidden treasures that are available on their own campuses, and to gain a lifelong appreciation for them? How can collections from individual institutions work together to create a robust whole from the parts? How can scholars, libraries, potential donors, and collectors come together to forge new partnerships to employ these valued collections to advance knowledge and scholarship--particularly in a digital age? This colloquium will be a seminal event in acknowledging the historic strengths of special collections of the past, and for speakers and participants to chart a course for the next decade and beyond."

We're proud to note that longtime FB&C columnist Joel Silver, director and curator of books at Indiana University's Lilly Library, will moderate one of the panels on "Acknowledging the Past." Other panelists include booksellers Ken Lopez and Tom Congalton, Sotheby's vice president Selby Kiffer, collectors Paul Ruxin and Jon Lindseth, and a number of "front-line" special collections librarians. There are also five featured speakers: Sarah Thomas, vice president, Harvard Library and Roy E. Larsen Librarian for the faculty of arts and sciences; Alice Schreyer, interim library director and associate university librarian for area studies and special collections, University of Chicago Library; Jay Satterfield, special collections librarian, Dartmouth College; Stephen Enniss, director, Harry Ransom Center, University of Texas at Austin; and Mark Dimunation, chief of the rare book and special collections division, Library of Congress. Sounds like quite a lineup!

The colloquium is organized by the Kelvin Smith Library at Case Western Reserve, and presented in collaboration with River Campus Libraries at University of Rochester, Vanderbilt University, and Washington University in St. Louis Libraries. Major sponsors include Preservation Technologies, L.P. and Addison & Sarova Auctioneers. The full schedule of events is posted here, and early bird registration is open until September 1.