Video: “Meet the University of Washington Librarian of 50 Years Who Oversees a Collection of Rare Artists’ Books”

From KCTS in Seattle:

For the past 50 years, [Sandra] Kroupa has devoted her life to working in the University’s Special Collections Library, in recent years as a teacher and curator of rare and “artist” books.

The Special Collections department lies on the lower level of the Allen Library on the University of Washington’s main campus in Seattle. The department owns over 250,000 printed books; Kroupa personally oversees 155,000 titles.

While the more valuable books in the collection are not available on the open shelves for general perusing, Kroupa can unearth one of these books for viewing if you have an appointment. Particularly fragile and one-of-a-kind books are kept in a climate-controlled vault, maintained at a consistent 60-65 degrees Fahrenheit with a low relative humidity to prevent them from degrading.

Read the Complete Aticle, View Video Report (4:42)

See Also: University of Washington Libraries Special Collections

See Also: Digital Collections–University of Washington Libraries Special Collections