U. of I. Renames Rare Collection Library, Creates Book-Collectors' Club
January 17, 2006
Champaign - The new year has brought two changes for the Library at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign: a name change and the creation of a bibliophiles’ club.
The name change involves a venerable specialty library, the one that houses the rarest treasures of the entire U. of I. Library. As of Jan. 1, 2006, the former Rare Book and Special Collections Library will be known as The Rare Book & Manuscript Library (RB&ML).
One of 38 departmental libraries within the University Library, The Rare Book & Manuscript Library is the principal repository for early manuscripts, rare books and literary archives in the broad fields of art, education, history, literature, the natural sciences, technology and theology. The University Library, with more than 10 million volumes, is the largest public university collection in the world.
The name change better reflects the RB&ML’s collections and allows the university to use the term “special collections” for a wider variety of collections on campus, such as those in the Map Library, the University Archives and the Sousa Collection.
"Our mission and vision remain the same," said Valerie Hotchkiss, the new head of The Rare Book & Manuscript Library, "but the name change describes us better."
Acting on one of her long-standing passions, Hotchkiss has conceived a second change for the U. of I. Library: the establishment of a book collectors' club for "acquisitive book lovers who either have a collection or would like to begin one," she said.
Hotchkiss has dubbed the club "The No. 44 Society," taking its name, she said, from the hero of Mark Twain's last novel, "No. 44, The Mysterious Stranger" – a "fantastical, but little-known Twain story set in a 15th-century print shop." The only requirements for membership to the club are "to have read Twain’s novel (in the definitive University of California edition based on the original manuscript) and to love books."
According to Hotchkiss, the book-club name was inspired by the U. of I. Library's exemplary collection of American wit and humor, including its broad Twain holdings.
"We hope to attract a lively mixture of undergraduates, graduate students, faculty members and local and regional collectors to the club, " said Hotchkiss.
Hotchkiss also reported that the club's activities will include offering advice to beginning collectors; sharing information about dealers and collectors; regaling one another with tales of "the chase"; and formal presentations on members' collections.
source: UIUC News Bureau, Andrea Lynn, Humanities Editor