2008 RBMS Preconference

The 49th RBMS Preconference, Rare and Special Bytes: Special Collections in the Digital Age, will be held from Tuesday, June 24 to Friday, June 27, 2008, in Los Angeles, California, a short distance away from Anaheim, the site of the ALA Annual Conference.

Digitization is a hot topic in all libraries, but has unique implications for special collections repositories. There is increasing pressure to provide digital objects for the classroom and for researchers in distant locations, yet mass digitization is generally not an option. The recognition among directors of Association of Research Libraries institutions that it is their special collections holdings that distinguish them one from another puts rare book and manuscript collections in a position to be the focal point of high-profile projects. The goals of the Preconference will be to explore the role of special collections in an increasingly digital world, focusing on some of the questions that both excite and vex special collections librarians and archivists. Five plenary sessions will address various aspects of special collections in the digital environment, including intellectual property issues, using digital special collections in the classroom, and mass digitization. The final plenary will be a wrap-up of the entire conference. In addition to the plenary sessions, there will be eight seminars on topics ranging from cataloging rare books to digitizing photographs, and from collecting materials of cultural communities to blogs. Two full-day workshops, to be held on Tuesday, June 24, will also be offered. The Southern California Chapter of the Antiquarian Booksellers’ Association of America (ABAA) will host a bookseller’s showcase from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. in the registration area.

A highlight of the Preconference will be a day spent at The Getty, with time to explore the many delights it has to offer in addition to plenary and seminar sessions.