[DCRM-L] Directory of Rare Books and Special Collections in the UK and Republic of Ireland, 3rd edition

[Karen Attar]

Dear all,

We all know that rare books are international and travel, so that researchers might need to travel too. A major source to find out about rare book and special collection strengths in the British Isles is the following:

Barry Bloomfield with Karen Potts, _Directory of Rare and Special Collections in the United Kingdom and the Republic of Ireland_, 2nd edition (1997).

This comprehensive book describes British and Irish library holdings in general terms and then provides brief descriptions of named special collections, with pointers to more detailed information, to enable researchers to locate book strengths in their area of interest. The volume has provided an invaluable overview, but much has happened between 1997 and the present to render an update essential, in particular as collections have been both acquired and disposed of. I am therefore writing to ask whether in principle your organisation would be interested in buying a new hard-copy edition of the Directory (guestimated cost: perhaps £75-100; = $US 114-152 at a recent reckoning).

Replies are in no way binding: this query is purely an attempt to establish the feasibility of producing a new printed edition of the Directory.

If you think your institution might buy a copy, please could you let me know off-list at k.attar2010[at]btinternet.com by the end of Friday, 19 April?

Also: I realise that this query is more for curators than cataloguers, but that list members are more likely to be cataloguers than curators. Please could you pass the query on to those who make purchasing decisions as relevant?

Many thanks,
Karen

Dr Karen Attar
Publications Officer, CILIP Rare Books and Special Collections Group

Dr Karen Attar
Rare Books Librarian
Senate House Library, University of London
Senate House
Malet St
London
WC1E 7HU
Tel. 020 7862 8472
http://research.sas.ac.uk/search/fellow/516/dr-karen-attar/

The University of London is an exempt charity in England and Wales and a charity registered in Scotland (reg. no. SC041194)



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