Special Collections Curator Discusses Published Works, Digital Age
From The Cavalier Daily (University of Virginia):
[Molly] Schwartzburg, who has worked for the last three years at the [Albert & Shirley Small] Special Collections Library [U. of Virginia Library], presented an assortment of modern publications transcending the traditional role of a book to integrate the technology and trends of modern day. Schwartzburg’s collection — largely acquired from a variety of antiquated book fairs around the nation — highlights the revival of the “artist book,” a book whose entire composition is a work in and of itself.
“Part of what I’m doing is being an entrepreneur, saying ‘this is important and this is important,’” Schwartzburg said. “Sometimes I’m buying representative samples, sometimes I’m buying exemplary effort that I think is important and that I think will be enduring.”
Some of the items Schwartzburg said she deemed important included “Gutenberg” — a small book whose floppy disk covers contained renowned literary works such as “A Tale of Two Cities” and the New Testament — “The Drinkable Book” — whose pages double as instructions and water filters to provide readers with years worth of clean drinking water — and “Wreck This Journal,” an internationally bestselling interactive book that has its reader fill and destroy its pages.
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See Also: The Albert and Shirley Small Special Collections Library Collection Development Policy
See Also: Albert and Shirley Small Special Collections Library Blog
Filed under: Archives and Special Collections, Libraries, News
About Gary Price
Gary Price (gprice@gmail.com) is a librarian, writer, consultant, and frequent conference speaker based in the Washington D.C. metro area. He earned his MLIS degree from Wayne State University in Detroit. Price has won several awards including the SLA Innovations in Technology Award and Alumnus of the Year from the Wayne St. University Library and Information Science Program. From 2006-2009 he was Director of Online Information Services at Ask.com.