Archiving and the Cleveland Botanical Garden
In my visit to the Cleveland Botanical Gardens, I learned the value of rare books and the manner of maintaining them in order to preserve the nature of these books. Also, I learned that this library is one of six special libraries in the nation that circulate books. Finally, the speaker went on and talked about the current projects that he is conducting at the library, in order to improve the ability of the library to share the information with people interested in the books contained in the library.
Gary Esmonde, the speaker at the Botanical Gardens, told us about a book that he had in his collection that was easily worth over 10 million dollars. He then explained how this book is kept in this special room where only he has the code to enter the room in order to preserve the books condition. Also, the room was locked so that no one is allowed to see or touch these books. This surprised me, because I never thought that a value of a book could become this high, let alone become more valuable than the price the book cost to originally buy. But rare books tend to increase drastically in their value, more so, than any other item. Esmonde wants to open up a section so the general public can view these rare books.
The speaker then elaborated on the importance of these books, and how these books are important to the work that the botanists do. He described how people from all over the nation come to the library in order to obtain books for use, because they have some of the rarest botany books in the world. He explained about the policy for interlibrary loans, clarifying about the cost of loaning books. He continued on to explain how the Cleveland Botanical Gardens library is one of six special libraries in the nation to actually circulate books. This is extremely important, because it allows anyone to get their hands on the material in the library.
He also explained about all the writing that he did dealing with the library. He does all the writing, from organizing the books into an on-line catalog to writing the signs that are displayed around the library to improve the ability to find books. He also talked about how he is writing a book on the preservation of rare books, and maintaining rare books. He told us that almost all of his work is writing and that he spends most of his time during each day doing some form of writing. By organizing his library and by creating an on-line catalog, Esmonde improves the libraries ability to disseminate information to interested researchers.
Finally, he explained about the projects that he is currently working on at the library. As of now, he is working on archiving all the material that is in storage, so it is readily accessible. He explained how this is being mainly done by volunteers. Also, he explained about his idea to expand the rare books section into a room that is open to the general public. By doing this he allows them to go in and use the books, as long as they are under his supervision. Finally, he explained his current project that he has to finish by December 1, 2007. The project he is currently working on is an on-line catalog of the books in the library. He then has to open up the catalog, so anyone in the world can access the list of books owned by the library.
The visit to the Cleveland Botanical Gardens really helped me to better understand the value of books and the importance of writing in maintaining a collection of books. Through archiving, the library will be able to share even more information than they currently can, increasing their ability to share information with the world.
Comments