RBMS Chair's Blog

Last spring, the RBMS Chairs (then Melissa Hubbard, Sarah Horowitz, and Melanie Griffin) wrote two updates on the state of RBMS and the current volunteer environment. The first post laid out the scope of the issue: a steady decline in the number of volunteers RBMS has seen each year since 2020, while membership numbers remained…

At the RBMS Executive Committee Meeting on July 1, the Executive Committee and all in attendance devoted a little over an hour to the discussion of volunteer issues and RBMS organizational structure. We asked everyone to think about actional proposals for both how we can encourage people to volunteer – while respecting their time and…

RBMS organizes, develops programming for, and hosts an annual conference; develops and presents free webinars on a variety of topics throughout the year; creates guidelines on everything from primary source literacy to exhibition loans; develops and approves cataloging rules and vocabularies specifically for rare books and manuscripts; awards scholarships for the annual conference; awards excellence…

Dear Colleagues, These past four months have been incredibly difficult. The disproportionate deaths of Black, Brown, and Indigenous people from COVID-19 delivered the first blow, and now the recent murders of Black people by police officers, adding to the centuries-old terror of state-sanctioned violence against the Black community, magnify this pain. We are sickened by these…

It is with deep respect and sadness that we acknowledge the passing of Dan Leab. The Leabs’ vision and commitment in establishing the Katharine Kyes Leab and Daniel J. Leab American Book Prices Current Exhibitions Awards has enriched the professional lives of the RBMS community in wide-ranging and innumerable ways since its inception. He will…

I am pleased to announce that the response to my first announcement of a matching donation for the RBMS Scholarship Fund was immediately and overwhelmingly successful. In just the first eight days of August, 15 donors combined to give $810, in amounts ranging from $10 to $200. I am grateful to you all. Your generosity…

This is my first post to the RBMS Chair’s Blog, so let me first say thank you for the honor of being asked to serve as Chair. I could not believe more strongly in the work we do in RBMS, and I’m delighted to have the chance to assist in that work. One of the…

Dear Colleagues, A final reminder regarding submissions to serve as the RBMS liaison to IFLA. IFLA Committee Applications Due May 6 Would you like to serve as the RBMS Liaison to the International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions (IFLA) section standing committee? The biennial appointment process to represent ALA/RBMS on the relevant IFLA standing…

Dear Colleagues, The results are in! Please join me in congratulating our newly elected RBMS Section officers. I know we all appreciate their willingness to serve and look forward to working with them in the coming years: Vice-Chair/Chair Elect: Athena Jackson RBMS Member-at-Large: Heather Smedberg Also please join me in offering our whole-hearted thanks and…