Rare Books and Special Collections in American Libraries: Seeing the Sites

Abstract

In the early 1970s, when I began to teach at the Columbia University School of Library Service, I quickly discovered that, though the literature of historical and enumerative bibliography was immense, the literature of rare books and manuscripts librarianship itself—whether separately considered or taken as a part of research librarianship as a whole—was virtually non-existent. Since I was at the time almost entirely innocent of any knowledge of rare book librarianship, my need for information was great. I found myself taking to the road to inform myself by personal observation.

In recent years, I have continued to spend . . .