Rare Books and Manuscripts Section
   HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

The Rare Books and Manuscripts Section (RBMS) is a section of the
Association of College & Research Libraries The Association of College and Research Libraries (ACRL), a division of the American Library Association, is a professional association of academic librarians and other interested individuals. It is dedicated to enhancing the ability of academi ...
(ACRL), a division of the
American Library Association The American Library Association (ALA) is a nonprofit organization based in the United States that promotes libraries and library education internationally. It is the oldest and largest library association in the world, with 49,727 members a ...
(ALA). The section is devoted to supporting the activities of special collections libraries and archives and promotes the interests of librarians, archivists, curators, and others concerned with the acquisition, organization, preservation, administration, and uses of special collections. The section also maintains ties with related organizations, such as the
Society of American Archivists The Society of American Archivists is the oldest and largest archivist association in North America, serving the educational and informational needs of more than 5,000 individual archivist and institutional members. Established in 1936, the organi ...
and the
Antiquarian Booksellers' Association of America The Antiquarian Booksellers' Association of America (ABAA) is an organization in the United States for dealers in rare and antiquarian books. The association is a member of the International League of Antiquarian Booksellers (ILAB). History Fou ...
, sometimes participating in joint activities with them.


History

The roots of RBMS go back to 1948, when an ACRL University Libraries Section meeting was devoted to the topic of rare books. In 1955, an ACRL Committee on Rare Books, Manuscripts, and Special Collections was formed As part of a 1958 reorganization of ACRL, that committee formally became the present-day RBMS. Note: Reformatted into XHTML from "RBMS at 30: Growing Along with the Profession," ''Rare Books & Manuscripts Librarianship'', III (1988), 3–7.


Governance and organization

RBMS is governed by a seven-person executive committee consisting of a chair, vice chair/chair-elect, past chair, three
at-large At large (''before a noun'': at-large) is a description for members of a governing body who are elected or appointed to represent a whole membership or population (notably a city, county, state, province, nation, club or association), rather than ...
members, and a secretary, all of whom are elected by section
plebiscite A referendum (plural: referendums or less commonly referenda) is a direct vote by the electorate on a proposal, law, or political issue. This is in contrast to an issue being voted on by a representative. This may result in the adoption of a ...
. "The chair of the section, the vice chair/chair-elect, and the past chair serve a one-year term. The vice chair/chair-elect automatically becomes chair of the section after a year as vice chair/chair-elect; and the chair of the section automatically becomes past chair after a year as chair. The secretary serves a two-year term. The members-at-large each serve a three-year term." Each member has one vote and meetings are governed by Robert's Rules of Order, which is used throughout ALA. The RBMS executive committee meets formally twice a year at ALA annual and midwinter meetings. Between formal meetings, business is conducted by other means, such as email and other electronic communications. The section has no paid staff and all work is on a volunteer basis. RBMS is divided into a number of standing committees, ''ad hoc'' committees, task forces, and discussion groups, which also meet at the ALA annual and midwinter meetings. The fourteen standing committees are considered basically permanent. ''Ad hoc'' committees are given recurring tasks, such as the planning of annual conferences. Task forces are charged with specific duties, such as developing documents, and are normally discharged once their work is completed. Discussion groups are also basically permanent but have no appointed members outside the chair. All members of committees and task forces are appointed by the current chair. Appointed committee members normally serve two-year terms with the possibility of renewal for another two-year term. Finally, the chair appoints liaisons to both ACRL committees and outside affinity groups. All chairs and liaisons report directly to the executive committee.


Programs and activities

RBMS maintains and supports a number of programs in fulfillment of its mission. The Section hosts an annual conference. The first conference (before 2015 called the preceonference) was held in 1959, and one has been held annually since 1961. Although traditionally limited to 250 participants, in recent years it has grown to accommodate expanding numbers. The conference, lasting for three days, consists of a mix of plenary sessions, seminar discussions, and outside activities, such as tours and visits to sites of interest. The section offers competitive scholarships for first-time attendees. Over the years, the conference has grown into one of the major rare book conferences in the United States and complements other conferences such as those of the
Bibliographical Society of America The Bibliographical Society of America (BSA) is the oldest learned society in North America dedicated to the study of books and manuscripts as physical objects. Established in 1904, the society promotes bibliographical research and issues bibliograp ...
, the
Society of American Archivists The Society of American Archivists is the oldest and largest archivist association in North America, serving the educational and informational needs of more than 5,000 individual archivist and institutional members. Established in 1936, the organi ...
, and the
Society for the History of Authorship, Reading and Publishing The Society for the History of Authorship, Reading and Publishing (SHARP) formed in 1991 in the United States on the initiative of scholars Jonathan Rose, Simon Eliot, and others. Its members study the history of books and the "composition, mediati ...
. RBMS also promulgates a number of guidelines that seek to describe best professional practices in the special collections field. As of 2012, the section had five such documents in print. Guidelines are reviewed and approved by ACRL, which is in reality the formal adopting body. Other documents, such as the RBMS Ethics Statement, are the section's sole responsibility. These documents are sometimes adopted by other bodies as professional statements. In 2009, the newly revised "Guidelines Regarding Security and Theft in Special Collections" were translated into Spanish, a first for an RBMS document. Recognizing the importance of exhibitions to the work of special collections libraries, RBMS has administered since 1986 the Katharine Kyes Leab and Daniel J. Leab American Book Prices Current Exhibition Awards, given in five categories to outstanding printed and electronic exhibition catalogues produced by entities in the
United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...
and
Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...
. Funds to support this award were donated by the Leabs. Technically, RBMS has no print publications of its own; all items, including guidelines, are issued by ACRL. The two most prominent RBMS-sponsored publications are '' Your Old Books'' and '' RBM: A Journal of Rare Books, Manuscripts, and Cultural Heritage''. The former is a guide developed by Peter VanWingen to assist average persons in determining if books in their possession might be rare or valuable. The original version has been revised and is available gratis either in hard copy or online. ''RBM'', available in hard copy by subscription, is a formal academic journal that treats special collections topics and has been issued twice a year since 1986. Founded as ''Rare Books and Manuscript Librarianship'', the title was changed to its present one in 2000. Except for the last three issues, some back files of the journal are available online. Finally, RBMS produced a semi-annual printed ''RBMS Newsletter'', which began in 1984, eventually went to electronic only, and in 2010 was phased out entirely. All newsletter back-files are available, however, online. The committee maintains a presence online through multiple media, including its own website where a large number of
electronic publication Electronic publishing (also referred to as publishing, digital publishing, or online publishing) includes the digital publication of e-books, digital magazines, and the development of digital libraries and catalogues. It also includes the editing ...
s can be found, a discussion list,
Twitter Twitter is an online social media and social networking service owned and operated by American company Twitter, Inc., on which users post and interact with 280-character-long messages known as "tweets". Registered users can post, like, and ...
feed, and
Facebook Facebook is an online social media and social networking service owned by American company Meta Platforms. Founded in 2004 by Mark Zuckerberg with fellow Harvard College students and roommates Eduardo Saverin, Andrew McCollum, Dustin M ...
pages.


Membership

As of 2010, RBMS had approximately 1,800 members, making it the fourth largest ACRL section. Membership in RBMS is open to anyone who wishes to join, although memberships in both ALA and ACRL are required as prerequisites. A 1997 survey indicated that 96% of RBMS members are white and many are aging. The section actively recruits both new members (as reflected in its conference scholarship program) and a more diverse population (as indicated in its diversity statement).


See also

*
Books in the United States As of 2018, several firms in the United States rank among the world's biggest publishers of books in terms of revenue: Cengage Learning, HarperCollins, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, McGraw-Hill Education, Scholastic, Simon & Schuster, and Wiley. H ...


References


External links


Rare Books and Manuscripts Section official website
{{Books Library associations