Some scenes from the move of our archives and special collections: empty shelves contrasted with full book trays on their way to offsite storage. My library will be undergoing a massive renovation early this coming year, and I am the one managing the logistics involved in moving our collections to offsite storage and other points […]
Don’t look down! This library has metal grating instead of a solid floor. So you can see all the way to the bottom, three stories down! But hey, there’s complimentary flip flops so you don’t have to walk on the grating in bare feet. This is the University of Yangon Library in Myanmar. And the […]
I was able to visit the famous Ludu Library and Archive, which is located in Mandalay, Myanmar. One of the library staff knew I was going to visiting, so he showed me this Burmese-language bookbinding manual when I arrived. You have no idea how excited I was to look through this book!
1936. Book Repairs at the Urbana Free Library Works Progress Administration Photographic File. Pictures from the Urbana Daily Courier, Champaign County Historical Archives, Urbana Free Library. [x]
Back in 1977, one of our library staff literally stapled some replacement pages into this book. It got the job done, but the results are not that ideal, as it makes it hard to read those pages and could tear the original pages they are stapled to. But this was way before my library had […]
Library propaganda! by Suzy Via Flickr: TGIF! Also, for those curious: the original poster was created by Albert Dorne in 1942 for the US Government Printing Office (which therefore makes it public domain). You can find more great WW2 propaganda posters on Northwestern University’s repository. [The above image is from the Northwestern University repository database of […]
A card catalog with a modern flair to it, probably from the 1970′s or so.
Awwwww, poor little book!
Paper curls from cleaning the spine of an old, big book in the conservation lab. I usually start out my spine cleaning by using a special dull knife to scrape away as much of the paper lining as I can, until I get down to the crash/mull/super fabric lining underneath. That’s when I switch to […]
Check out this gold stamped anteater on the cover of this book! This is a 1914 edition of “Through the Brazilian wilderness” by Theodore Roosevelt, currently in our general collections. You can also read it online on the HathiTrust website, for free!