LIBRARY LINKS

A scholar is just a library's way of making another library.

Designer unknown (1920), "Literacy is the path to communism"
(Publisher: Gosizdat, Moscow)


Traister begins with obituary notices for a friend and colleague in the special collections world, Peter VanWingen, whose untimely death in November of 1995 made both that and the larger world smaller and less attractive places for all who were fortunate enough to know him.


  1. TRAISTER'S BASIC LIBRARY RESOURCE is Penn's Library

  2. Directory of North American Libraries: A Staff Directory

  3. LibraryLand: Index to Resources for Librarians

  4. Internet Library for Librarians

  5. Now beginning to build its resources is the Union Manuscript Computer Catalogue Website ("institutions in the United States and Canada with pre-1600 manuscript holdings"; maintained by Melissa Conway and Lisa Fagin Davis).

  6. Library and Archival Exhibitions on the Web (from the Smithsonian Institution Libraries)


  7. Some links to specialized library-related resources:
    1. Humor and Culture in Libraries
    2. A guide to the "BiblioMystery" (bibliographically-oriented mysteries; from Simmons)
    3. Image and the Librarian
    4. The Invisible Library ("a collection of pseudobiblia, artifiction, fabled tomes, libris phantastica, fictitious books, and books within books" -- disappeared as of 22 March 2002 -- has anyone got a new URL for it?)
    5. The Laughing Librarian
    6. Librarian Avengers.com
    7. Library Humor
    8. The Lipstick Librarian
    9. An Ode to Librarians Everywhere
    10. Warrior Librarian Weekly


    1. Other US and North American library links

    1. American Antiquarian Society

    2. American Philosophical Society

    3. Brown University Library
      1. The John Hay Library, Brown University
      2. Library Publications and Exhibits

    4. Bryn Mawr College Library

    5. Colby College, Miller Library Special Collections

    6. Columbia University; see, too, Collections and Treasures of the Rare Book and Manuscript Library at Columbia University

    7. Connecticut Historical Society

    8. Special Collections Library, Duke University
      1. Duke University Archives
      2. Women's Studies Resources
      3. Finding aids created by the Rare Book, Manuscript, and Special Collections Library
      4. Guide to the Cataloged Collections in the Manuscript Department of the William R. Perkins Library, Duke University
      5. Digital Image Access Project Photographs (1000 images pertaining to the theme of "The Urban Landscape" drawn from fourteen different collections held by the Library)
      6. Ad*Access, a site dedicated to Duke's collection of North American advertising imagery ("over 7,000 advertisements printed in U.S. and Canadian newspapers and magazines between 1911 and 1955"); see also Emergence of Advertising in America:1850-1920

    9. Folger Shakespeare Library
      1. HAMNET: The Folger Online Catalog

    10. Free Library of Philadelphia

    11. The Getty
      1. The Getty Research Library

    12. The Grolier Club

    13. Hagley Museum & Library

    14. Harvard University Library Resources
      1. The Harvard/Radcliffe Digital Finding Aids Project (manuscripts)
      2. Harvard Law School Manuscripts and Archives
      3. Schlesinger Library on the History of Women in America

    15. Special Collections, Magill Library, Haverford College

    16. The Huntington Library, Art Collections, & Botanical Gardens

    17. Indiana University, The Lilly Library

    18. Lehigh University

    19. The Library Company of Philadelphia

    20. The Library of Congress
      1. Rare Book and Special Collections Reading Room
      2. Rare Books and Special Collections: An Illustrated Guide
      3. Special Collections in the Library of Congress
      4. National Union Catalog/Manuscript Collections--Guide
      5. Prints and Photographs--Guide
      6. LC's American Memory: Historical Collections for the National Digital Library

    21. Linda Hall Library

    22. McGill University Library
      1. Bibliotheca Canadiana: A Historical Survey of Canadian Bibliography (a McGill University Library exhibition)
      2. Osler Library of the History of Medicine

    23. Massachusetts Historical Society

    24. The Pierpont Morgan Library
        CORSAIR (the Morgan online catalogue)

    25. National Archives.
      1. NARA's National Archival Information Locator (NAIL) service
      2. National Historical Publications and Records Commission (NHPRC)
      3. NARA's Reference at Your Desk service

    26. National Library of Canada / Bibliothèque nationale de Canada
      1. AMICUS, the Library's online catalogue, is located at http://www.nlc-bnc.ca/7/2/index-e.html
      2. The National Library of Canada maintains a source for information about Canadian special collections: The Directory of Special Collections of Research Value in Canadian Libraries

    27. The New York Public Library
      1. NYPL Digital Library Collections

    28. Northwestern University Library

    29. Princeton University
      1. general catalog
      2. Department of Rare Books and Special Collections
      3. Cotsen Children's Library
      4. See also the Guide to Selected Special Collections of Printed Books and Other Materials in the Princeton University Library
      5. The Portfolio of prints available for reproduction from the Department is also of interest.

    30. Smithsonian Institution Libraries
      1. Smithsonian Institution Libraries Special Collections

    31. Special Collections, Syracuse University Library

    32. Temple University Libraries
      1. Charles Blockson Collection--a major African-American collection at Temple University
      2. Special Collections Department, Temple University Libraries
      3. Urban Archives
      4. George D. Brightbill and Colleen Byrne, PACSCL Photograph Directory and Index: Eastern Pennsylvania, Southern New Jersey, Delaware (accessed from the Urban Archives home page)

    33. University of California
      1. at Berkeley
        1. Bancroft Library
        2. Bancroft Library's incunables
      2. at Los Angeles (UCLA)
      3. William Andrews Clark Memorial Library, UCLA
      4. UCLA Center for 17th- and 18th-Century Studies

    34. University of Kansas Kenneth Spencer Research Library
      1. "He who destroyes a good Booke, kills reason it selfe" (a website revival of an exhibition originally produced during the McCarthy years of banned books)
      2. See, generally, Spencer's exhibitions

    35. University of Rochester (Department of Rare Books and Special Collections)

    36. University of Texas at Austin. General Libraries
      1. Harry Ransom Humanities Research Center, University of Texas at Austin

    37. The Thomas Fisher Rare Book Library, University of Toronto

    38. University of Virginia, Alderman Library, Special Collections
      1. The Department of Special Collections has mounted an introductory exhibition intended to display its treasures and its range

    39. The Common Wealth: Treasures from the Collections of The Library of Virginia

    40. Wisconsin State Historical Society

    41. Yale University Library
      1. Art of the Book Collection
      2. Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library
      3. Center for British Art
      4. Lewis Walpole Library (Farmington, CT)
      5. and the Manuscripts and Archives Library


    2. European library links

    1. "Treasures from Europe's National Libraries" is a web-based exhibition now accessible from several servers:

    2. CCFR: Catalogue collectif de France

    3. Bibliothèque nationale de France
      1. Treasures of the Bibliothèque nationale
      2. Le Monde's report on La Bibliothèque François-Mitterand
    4. A useful source of information about French libraries generally is Jack Kessler's FYI France
    5. Archives scientifique (Patrimoine, histoire et mémoire du CNRS)

    6. Bibliothèque de Lyon

    7. German Libraries Online (Hochschulbibliothekszentrum of North Rhine-Westfalia [HBZ], Cologne)

    8. KVK: Karlsruhe Virtual Catalog (from Karlsruhe University Library)

    9. Österreichische NationalBibliothek

    10. Gabriel, "the offical information server for Europe's National Libraries"

    11. Bayerische Staatsbibliothek, München (choose: Start HTML-Version, then press START-button)

    12. Niedersächsische Staats- und Universitätsbibliothek Göttingen

    13. Patrimonio Nacional (Spain) links to many Spanish libraries and archives

    14. COPAC is a union database for some of the largest libraries in the United Kingdom and the Republic of Ireland (Cambridge, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Leeds, Oxford, and Trinity College, Dublin; records from a further twelve university library catalogs will be added in due course, and expectations include the addition of material from further libraries in the future)

    15. Portico is The British Library general information source.
      1. Gabriel provides access to Europe's national libraries
      2. The British Library's online catalog is reachable via the web at http://blpc.bl.uk/
      3. Early Printed Collections: British Library Reader Services and Collection Development

    16. The Bodleian Library, Oxford University; and another Bodleian address

    17. Cambridge University Library

    18. St. Bride Printing Library (London); and a basic informational site for the same library

    19. The [English] Cathedral Libraries Project (located at the University of Kent)

    20. The University of Liverpool Library
      1. The Art of the Book: Rare Printed Books from the University of Liverpool Library

    21. University of London Library
      1. The Eliot-Phelips Collection of publications printed in or relating to Spain (largely Spanish hand-press period materials)

    22. Special Collections, The John Rylands University Library of Manchester (formed in 1972 by the merger of the formerly independent John Rylands Library with Manchester University Library)

    23. The National Art Library (a research and reference library based at the Victoria and Albert Museum, London)

    24. The Edward Clark Collection, Napier University Library (Edinburgh)

    25. Library, University of Edinburgh

    26. National Library of Scotland

    27. National Library of Wales

    28. Marsh's Library (Dublin)

    29. Royal Library (Copenhagen, Denmark); see its online exhibition, Treasures of the Royal Library

    30. Uni. Konstanz (a useful German (and German-language) online catalog (with an English-language version)

    31. The Warburg Institute (University of London)

    32. University Library, Katholieke Universiteit Leuven (Belgium)


    3. Library links in other geographical areas

    1. National Library of Australia

    2. Rare Books, Monash University (Clayton, Victoria, Australia)

    3. National Library of New Zealand


    4. Library organizations and lists

    1. Rare Books and Manuscripts Section (of the Association of College and Research Libraries/ALA); and, relatedly, ExLibris (which -- occasional appearances to the contrary notwithstanding -- is not equivalent to RBMS, which has its own e-list up and running). Although distinct, RBMS and ExLibris nonetheless have in fact considerable overlap; this site archives many of ExLibris's past messages.
        To subscribe to either ExLibris or RBMS, the RBMS e-list, you can check for subscription information (ExLibris only) here or (RBMS only) here, or you can send a message to listproc@library.berkeley.edu leaving the subject line empty and reading "subscribe exlibris [or subscribe rbms] [yourfirstname yourlastname, institution]".

    2. lis-rarebooks (a U.K. e-list for special collections, rare book, and manuscript librarians)

    3. See the RBMS Bibliographic Standards Committee Resources for the Rare Materials Cataloger web page for an example of the kinds of things RBMS can do for you with respect both to technical matters and for "peer-reviewed" general informational resources. This is an important resource; it will continue to grow.

    4. Relatedly, see also ARCHIVES or ARCHIVES, two different addresses for sites that (among other things) archive communications concerning archives and manuscripts libraries and archival and manuscript work.

    5. The Fictional World of Archives is an odd site supplementary to the addresses immediately above.

    6. English and American Literature Section of ACRL/ALA.

    7. Association for Library Collections & Technical Services (ALA)

    8. American Library Association

    9. The Library Association (UK)

    10. Society of American Archivists

    11. American law libraries can be accessed through AALLNET.

    12. Athenaeum: A Free Virtual Library ("this site . . . [monitors] online library projects")

    13. CERL--Consortium of European Research Libraries

    14. LIBER: Ligue des Bibliothèques Européennes de Recherche

    15. International Federation of Library Organizations

    16. PACSCL, the Philadelphia Area Consortium of Special Collections Libraries


    5. Preservation

    Why does preservation matter? I owe this answer (one of many possible answers that come to mind) to Michèle Kohler, who did not claim any originality for it: "I overheard a guide at the Metropolitan Museum of Art commenting on the Gilbert Stuart portrait of George Washington: 'This may not be what George Washington looked like then, but this is what he looks like now.'"

    For preservation-related matters:

    1. Columbia University Libraries Preservation Division

    2. Syracuse University Library, Department of Preservation

    3. COOL: Conservation OnLine

    4. Northeast Document Conservation Center

    5. ECPA (European Commission for Preservation & Access)

    6. Susanne Dodson and Johanna Wellheiser, Bibliography of Standards and Selected References Related to Preservation in Libraries (from the National Library of Canada)

    7. A guide to simple book repair is available online from Dartmouth

    8. Jack Kessler, Preservation in a Digital Age (a provisional bibliography)

    9. Commission on Preservation and Access


    6. Copyright

    Copyright matters often concern both library staff and library users. Relevant resources include, inter alia:

    1. WATCH: Writers, Artists, and Their Copyright Holders (University of Texas / University of Reading)

    2. Copyright and Fair Use

    3. ARL's copyright resources ("ARL" = Association of Research Libraries)

    4. The Copyright Website

    5. Oppedahl & Larson Patent Law Web Server

    6. The Elvis Home Page (copyright issues and the Net)

    7. 10 Big Myths About Copyright Explained


    7. Some other specialized resources

    1. For library history, see, e.g.:

      1. Library History Round Table Links

      2. Library History (PICK Quality Internet Rersources); see also the site created by the Library Association (UK) Library History Group

      3. IFLANET Round Table on Library History

      4. Library History -- the British Isles -- to 1850

      5. Libraries and Culture

    2. Repositories of Primary Sources (a general list)

    3. Resources for the Rare Materials Cataloger

    4. The Latin Place Names File, Graesse, and the Cathedral Libraries project are all sources for variant forms of imprint place names

    5. Ecole Nationale Supérieure des Sciences de l'Information et de la Bibliothèque (ENSSIB) (Lyon, France)

    6. Virtual Exhibits on the World Wide Web

    7. Association for Information and Image Management (No, Virginia, "image management" does not get you to a spin doctor)

    8. LIBRES: Library and Information Science Research Electronic Journal

    9. Bulletin des Bibliothèques de France ("Professionnels et spécialistes de l'information y discutent de toutes les questions concernant la politique et le développement des bibliothèques et des centres de documentation: évolution par secteur, grands projets, informatisation, technologies de l'information, écrits électroniques, réseaux, coopération, formation, gestion, patrimoine, usagers et publics, livre et lecture")

    10. H. W. Wilson, a library publisher

    11. Some resources on a hot-button topic for librarians, CENSORSHIP:

      1. Project Censored (Sonoma State University)

      2. Sex, Censorship, and the Internet

    12. Another hot-button topic is THEFT, so the Antiquarian Booksellers Association of America (ABAA) theft reporting information is an unfortunately important resource for librarians; see also SECURMA: The Museum Security Network (English-language version)

    13. Internet Archive

    14. Traister's own history of books and printing links are sometimes relevant to searches that might also find this page of use


    8. Libraries in the news and other miscellanea

    1. Boston University's Howard Gotlieb

    2. a review of a new edition of Michael H. Harris's history of libraries


You can send Traister e-mail concerning this page at traister@pobox.upenn.edu.

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