LAPL Rare Books
I got a tour of the Rare Books department on Saturday, thanks to Emma Roberts. In addition to the oldest, most expensive, and most-at-risk-of-theft books in our collection, the department also houses some of the library’s more unique (if not monetarily valuable) collections. Being a fan of the old and rare, this was a special treat (one of my fellow volunteers put off moving to her new job in Monterey so she could see it!). Unfortunately, some of these unique collections are poorly cataloged and therefore hardly used, mostly because no one knows they’re there!
For instance, the library houses a collection of books/posters/flyers/ephemera about bullfighting. The collection is extensive enough that interested parties have come from as far as Spain to view it (apparently the enthusiasts of such things know about it, and share amongst themselves). But I searched for mention of it last night on LAPL’s website and could find no mention of it aside from the brief mention on the Rare Books Department page.
That page, by the way, is now inaccurate. The oldest tome in the rare books collection is a manuscript dating from the thirteenth century - something we didn’t realize until last summer when someone from the Getty came over to view it and proceeded to identify it for us within an hour.
The Rare Books department is stocked primarily by assimilation of volumes from other departments, especially given how minimal the acquisition budget is for the library in this economy. As other departments stumble across volumes in their stacks that should receive more security, they offer them up to the Rare Books staff. I’ve actually been a catalyst for at least two such volumes based on my work in the Art Department stacks - sadly, primarily because both old tomes were significantly damaged - "The Ship that Sailed to Mars" by Timlin and Kay Nielsen's "In powder & crinoline; old fairy tales retold".
The map collection’s “baby” in the Rare Books department is an elephant folio 1888 atlas compiled by Dakin Publishing, which is even older than the library's noted Sanborn Fire Insurance Atlases. Designed much like the Sanborn Maps of fire insurance purview, this map includes pasted in squares of city blocks with all the buildings and businesses drawn in/listed. The librarian indicated there were an astonishing number of houses of ill repute and opium dens represented. Huzzah the Wild West!
There used to be regular open hours for the department where anyone could walk in and request books. Based on library funding and thus staffing cuts, this is no longer the case. Now those materials are available by request only. Primarily, the materials will be brought to the Art Department (as Rare Books is a sub-department) and the librarians will keep an eye on you/the materials while you view them there. In the cases of white-glove materials and large groups, they may make an exception and shuffle schedules enough to allow for the reading room in the rare books department to be used instead. In particularly rare cases, especially with collections like the bullfighting collection, a librarian has been known to bring a uniquely trusted patron/visitor into the stacks so they can grasp the magnitude of options available to them before deciding what to pull out. This is EXCEEDINGLY rare.
The department itself is currently only accessible to those with departmental badges of senior librarian or higher. The elevators that serve that floor require a badge authorization, not to mention the doors to the department itself, and the closed stacks within the department. There are two closed stacks rooms for the Rare Books, and sadly one of them is routinely too warm for comfort of the overseeing librarians - HVAC control is a complaint of many staffers throughout the library from both directions. The History department has a closed stack room that they joke can be used to keep your beers cold (not to mention their most valuable map/historical books and Turnabout Theater collections) and several regular circulation rooms leave librarians and staff members shivering in their sweaters, while other rooms complain of constantly being in the 80s - not a good thing for antique books. The space for Rare Books is an odd “attic room” kind of space. The reading room is sunken compared to the reference/reception desk area, and the larger of the two stacks which starts at the reception level is also split level, but going up towards the back, where the storage space twist and turns into odd corners, primarily devoted to storage of folios and even elephant folios.
Another problem with storage of the Rare Books collection is that so few funds are available for archival storage and packaging. Any new acquisitions headed for the Rare Books room are spared the typical application of call number/bar code/book plate stickers that other volumes receive. New rare books receive an acid-free bookmark with the call number typed on it, with bar codes for item identification attached only to plastic covers or sleeves over the item. Older tomes often need boxes for storage to protect their delicate and fragile bindings and pages. Sadly, these sleeves and boxes and covers all cost money, and must often be built to custom sizes, so the department librarians must prioritize based on most urgent need and leave the rest to wait patiently.
To help ease this burden, the Bruckman Rare Book Friends has organized and hosts occasional fundraisers to help keep materials stocked for the overseeing librarians. The group participates in monthly book sales and has also launched its own program series. If you are interested in becoming a Bruckman member or would like to learn more about the group's calendar of events, please email bruckmanbruckman@aol.com, Helene at mochlove123@gmail.com. You can also contact Emma at 213-228-7243 or eroberts@lapl.org (Appropriately enough, they’re not so much online… yet.)
For instance, the library houses a collection of books/posters/flyers/ephemera about bullfighting. The collection is extensive enough that interested parties have come from as far as Spain to view it (apparently the enthusiasts of such things know about it, and share amongst themselves). But I searched for mention of it last night on LAPL’s website and could find no mention of it aside from the brief mention on the Rare Books Department page.
That page, by the way, is now inaccurate. The oldest tome in the rare books collection is a manuscript dating from the thirteenth century - something we didn’t realize until last summer when someone from the Getty came over to view it and proceeded to identify it for us within an hour.
The Rare Books department is stocked primarily by assimilation of volumes from other departments, especially given how minimal the acquisition budget is for the library in this economy. As other departments stumble across volumes in their stacks that should receive more security, they offer them up to the Rare Books staff. I’ve actually been a catalyst for at least two such volumes based on my work in the Art Department stacks - sadly, primarily because both old tomes were significantly damaged - "The Ship that Sailed to Mars" by Timlin and Kay Nielsen's "In powder & crinoline; old fairy tales retold".
The map collection’s “baby” in the Rare Books department is an elephant folio 1888 atlas compiled by Dakin Publishing, which is even older than the library's noted Sanborn Fire Insurance Atlases. Designed much like the Sanborn Maps of fire insurance purview, this map includes pasted in squares of city blocks with all the buildings and businesses drawn in/listed. The librarian indicated there were an astonishing number of houses of ill repute and opium dens represented. Huzzah the Wild West!
There used to be regular open hours for the department where anyone could walk in and request books. Based on library funding and thus staffing cuts, this is no longer the case. Now those materials are available by request only. Primarily, the materials will be brought to the Art Department (as Rare Books is a sub-department) and the librarians will keep an eye on you/the materials while you view them there. In the cases of white-glove materials and large groups, they may make an exception and shuffle schedules enough to allow for the reading room in the rare books department to be used instead. In particularly rare cases, especially with collections like the bullfighting collection, a librarian has been known to bring a uniquely trusted patron/visitor into the stacks so they can grasp the magnitude of options available to them before deciding what to pull out. This is EXCEEDINGLY rare.
The department itself is currently only accessible to those with departmental badges of senior librarian or higher. The elevators that serve that floor require a badge authorization, not to mention the doors to the department itself, and the closed stacks within the department. There are two closed stacks rooms for the Rare Books, and sadly one of them is routinely too warm for comfort of the overseeing librarians - HVAC control is a complaint of many staffers throughout the library from both directions. The History department has a closed stack room that they joke can be used to keep your beers cold (not to mention their most valuable map/historical books and Turnabout Theater collections) and several regular circulation rooms leave librarians and staff members shivering in their sweaters, while other rooms complain of constantly being in the 80s - not a good thing for antique books. The space for Rare Books is an odd “attic room” kind of space. The reading room is sunken compared to the reference/reception desk area, and the larger of the two stacks which starts at the reception level is also split level, but going up towards the back, where the storage space twist and turns into odd corners, primarily devoted to storage of folios and even elephant folios.
Another problem with storage of the Rare Books collection is that so few funds are available for archival storage and packaging. Any new acquisitions headed for the Rare Books room are spared the typical application of call number/bar code/book plate stickers that other volumes receive. New rare books receive an acid-free bookmark with the call number typed on it, with bar codes for item identification attached only to plastic covers or sleeves over the item. Older tomes often need boxes for storage to protect their delicate and fragile bindings and pages. Sadly, these sleeves and boxes and covers all cost money, and must often be built to custom sizes, so the department librarians must prioritize based on most urgent need and leave the rest to wait patiently.
To help ease this burden, the Bruckman Rare Book Friends has organized and hosts occasional fundraisers to help keep materials stocked for the overseeing librarians. The group participates in monthly book sales and has also launched its own program series. If you are interested in becoming a Bruckman member or would like to learn more about the group's calendar of events, please email bruckmanbruckman@aol.com, Helene at mochlove123@gmail.com. You can also contact Emma at 213-228-7243 or eroberts@lapl.org (Appropriately enough, they’re not so much online… yet.)