Thank you to everyone who responded regarding unique artists books. One of the responses that came directly to me from Laurie Whitehill from the Rhode Island School of Design Library was one that I consider especially thoughtful. With her permission, I am forwarding it to the list.
Barbara Reed
Dartmouth College
--- Forwarded Message from "Laurie Whitehill" <[log in to unmask]> ---
>Date: Mon, 20 Nov 2000 11:10:16 -0500
>From: "Laurie Whitehill" <[log in to unmask]>
>To: <[log in to unmask]>
>Subject: One-of-a-kind Artists' Books
Hi Barbara,
Although we don't have a written collection policy regarding artists'
books, we generally do not collect one-of-a-kind artists' books for many
of the reasons stated in Jim Findlay's response to your ARLIS-L posting.
We feel that they really belong in a museum. Saying that, however, we
do have two. One is a pop-up book by Paul Johnson that is really a
paper sculpture. It was expensive but still affordable. The other is a
word-less book with handmade paper and small objects of nature included
in the binding and loosely strewn throughout. This one is by Sandra
Lopez. Again, it was small and affordable. I chose those because I
wanted to have some examples of unique books to show students in our
collection. Since the purpose of our collection is for teaching, I
believe that it is good to have as wide a variety of examples as
possible. I even include books that I think are not successful, either
in part or as a whole.
I would say that you might consider how that book would be used by your
primary patrons. If you think students or researchers would be
interested, then it might be good to have it in the collection. How
would it relate to the rest of the artists' books in your collection?
When people come to see your artists' book collection, would they expect
it to include such items? Who is the artist? Is it a well known artist
or a local person? Do you have other works by that artist in your
collection. What is the quality of the work? If you were a
museum curator, would you accept this piece? Who is the donor?
Would you be offending them if you do not take it? If you think it will
set a precedent that you do not want to encourage, or that it would be
an odd item in your collection, requiring extra storage and exhibit
space, special conservation, etc., then you probably should see if the
museum would be more interested.
All the best,
Laurie
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