Summer 2007 Midwest Book and Manuscript Studies Courses

May 21 - June 1 (Both classes will be held on Saturday, May 26, but not on Monday, May 28)

LIS 590RB Rare Book and Special Collections Librarianship

This course is designed as a practical introduction to rare book and special collections librarianship, to cover for the neophyte as well as the experienced librarian the many issues of these departments' responsibilities, including selection, acquisition, receiving, cataloging, processing, shelving, circulation, inter-library loan, reference, preservation and conservation, security, exhibition, publication, and so forth, including the uses of information technology.

Faculty: Sid Berger, Simmons College
Time: 9:00 a.m. - 12:00 p.m.

LIS 590PM The Manufacture, Description, Uses, and Preservation of Paper in the Scholarly World

This course is an introduction to the world of paper with respect to rare books--their manufacture, materials, properties, uses, decoration, collection, sale, distribution, description, editing, preservation, and conservation, along with the preferred vocabulary of the medium. In this course students will be presented with a large vocabulary, pertaining to the range of surfaces of human communication, from stone to clay to several kinds of proto-papers (papyrus, vellum, bark paper, tapa cloth, and so forth) to the real thing--paper, in its myriad manifestations. The knowledge imparted by this class should be useful for anyone who deals with the medium, who describes it, shelves it, buys or sells it, preserves it, repairs it, or even just admires it.

Faculty: Sid Berger, Simmons College
Time: 1:00 - 4:00 pm

June 4 - June 15

LIS 590AA Arrangement and Description for Archives and Museums

The course will provide seminar discussions and a hands-on processing experience that applies current theories and practices utilized to solve the most common problems that are encountered by today's archivists and curators when arranging and describing historical records, archives, manuscripts, and artifacts. Discussions will focus predominantly on issues of intellectual and physical arrangement, description, and access. The course will introduce students also to the problems that archivists and curators face when responding to the challenges of today's digital technologies for both the preservation and access of archives and special collections.

Faculty: Scott Schwartz, UIUC
Time: 9:00 a.m. - 12:00 p.m.

LIS 590LP History and Techniques of Letterpress Printing

This course explores the history and techniques of fine printing (letterpress), looks at classics of typography and printing in examples from the Rare Book and Manuscript Library, and provides technical instruction in typesetting and press operation. Students will have exposure to the conceptual, intellectual, and aesthetic considerations of printing and printmaking.

Faculty: Steven Kostell, UIUC
Time: 1:00 - 4:00 pm

July 16 - July 20

LIS 590MM Medieval and Early Modern Manuscript Study

The course is an introduction to medieval manuscripts in general, asking such questions as who made manuscripts, how they were written and assembled, who illuminated them (and why), and the ways they were used and how they have survived. It will look at some of the most famous types of illuminated manuscripts, including Bibles, Books of Hours and literary texts. It will explain how to identify texts and fragments, how to read and date medieval scripts, and how to gain access to original manuscripts across the world. It will look at the market for medieval manuscripts, both in the Middle Ages and today, and it will discuss manuscript libraries and collectors. The course will include ample access to original medieval manuscripts and practical work involving actual examples from at least the eleventh century to the renaissance.

Faculty: Christopher de Hamel, Librarian of Corpus Christi, Cambridge
Time: 9:00 a.m. - 5:00 p.m.

Cost

If you are not a GSLIS student, the cost for any of the above courses is $820 per course, for either the credit or non-credit option.

Pre-registration and residence hall housing

Class sizes are limited. Please contact Marianne Steadley if you are interested in pre-registering (credit or non-credit basis) for any of the summer courses and/or need housing information.       steadley@uiuc.edu 217-244-2751

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