Tom-
We have a small but growing artists books collection (see list on our
website) which is heavily used due to the fact that at we have a studio
faculty member, Beth Grabowski, who uses the collection. This year we even
had a First Year Seminar (freshman seminar) on artist books. We keep them
in our work area, behind the ref/circ desk, on open shelves, shelved by
size--most class in N7433.4. We don't currently have an artists books
catalog location but after we complete our migration to Millennium I may do
that. We just have a book dummy in the stacks. On occasion I have
transferred books from the main library or our own stacks, sometimes
reclassing them (e.g. Humument.) In earlier years, often the artists books
were bound, but when I arrived I stopped that and had them placed in
protective enclosures by Preservation.
I noticed excessive handling by students during the classes and separation
of the unmarked books from enclosures so asked the faculty member to have
the students move from book to book (which are placed on binder's board or
paper on a table) instead of passing them. They are allowed to handle the
books--this is a teaching collection--but not pass them around. We do not
require gloves, which can actually cause more damage. This procedure seems
to work well, but some more fragile book structures suffer damage,
unavoidably. But again, this is a teaching collection and we do not buy
expensive books The Rare Books Collection acquires livres d'artistes, etc.
but we do not...
At present we are exhausting space for this non-circulating collection which
is not integrated into our own packed "special collection" which I am
gradually transferring to Rare Books, sadly. And I'm not sure what I'll do
next. The ever-present space problem.
I have a SILS student working on a project to create a database of these
books as LC cataloging is inadequate. she has taken some photos which we may
mount on our website. She and I will be going to UVA in June to meet with
Johanna Drucker and other librarians to talk about UVA's artists books
online project.
Patricia T. Thompson
Art Librarian
Joseph Curtis Sloane Art Library
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
CB 3405 Hanes Art Center
Chapel Hill NC 27599-3405
Tel. 919-962-2397 Fax 919-962-0722
e-mail [log in to unmask]
www.lib.unc.edu/art
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