weirdly, books for ever
Here you see the younger Gary and older David in the Newberry Library conservation lab in the early 70's. We have now changed places and Gary is the white hair. But the book work goes on.
Just out of the picture are Norvelle Jones and Paul Banks. Reggie Walker, the black book artist who introduced the legacy of African bookwork to us all, has already left for New York. John Dean is at work upstairs in the last in-house bindery in a US library and the Library is about to order the last oak card catalog cabinet ever to be produced. Only Bill Towner, Director of the Newberry, in his wisdom, would put up with such homage to the book.
two libraries are better than one
The
transliteracies conference is poised to consider the issues crucial to the future of the book. It will examine and compare print and screen based reading, looking for a basic taxonomy of reading behaviors. The accomplished participants are likely to map the needed research agendas.
The UCSB conference
topic of on-line reading is gracefully defined. We will watch this June conference closely and hope that it will find further development in the UI July conference (see side link). An underlying issue is the distinction between print and on-line research and the advisability of separating the print and digital libraries. Perhaps two libraries are better than one. Perhaps the digital library has been built within the print libraries by accident.
bookbinding across time and cultures
Everyone knows that books tell stories, but this
exhibit tells the story of books. The University of Iowa Libraries north Lobby exhibit presents this fascinating story of the making of books. You will learn about the structure of books across time and cultures and discover how the old fashioned paper book is moving into the digital future. You will also be fascinated by the replicas or models of important historical book bindings from the Libraries unique collection.
Through the use of book binding models the exhibit illustrates surprising current developments that point to a prosperous future for the old fashioned paper book. While 26 million enthusiasts have turned to the paper book format to produce family scrapbooks another enthusiasm of publishers for “print-on-demand” technologies has created a new readership for scholarly books.
Then view a desert landscape with the recreation of the books in jars found in Egypt. These Gospels on papyrus proved to be 16 centuries old, yet they were immediately readable to scholars. Don’t count on our “ebooks” and their computer media lasting as long! When it comes to transmitting information across time and culture, it turns out that the ancient technology is more advanced than our own.
Over 70 fabulous replicas of historical book bindings and an array of other unique illustrations and information on the story of books awaits your visit.
|
