RMRT (Retired Members Round Table)

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The Retired Members Round Table (RMRT) shall exist to develop programs of particular interest to retired persons from all types of libraries and all forms of library services, including formal opportunities for continued involvement and learning; a variety of leadership training and opportunities for mentoring; lifelong professional involvement and networking; and active engagement in the American Library Association and the profession of librarianship.

Visit the Retired Members Round Table (RMRT) on the ALA website.

  • 1.  new blog posts about library history

    Posted 12 days ago
    Hello friends --
    My research on Pennsylvania libraries continues to uncover interesting stories. Here are the latest blog posts I've written:
    Of all of them, I think the ones about Richard Boss and Picture Postcards/Cat's Meow might be of greatest interest to folks outside of Pennsylvania. 
    Enjoy!
    Bernadette  :)


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    Bernadette Lear
    Education, Behavioral Sciences, and Social Sciences Librarian
    Penn State University Libraries
    She/Her/Hers,Ms.
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  • 2.  RE: new blog posts about library history

    Posted 10 days ago

    Thanks for your post and the links, Bernadette.

    I have a Library Bureau 30-drawer catalog that I bought 30+ years ago from the Auburn Public Library (where I worked).    It is finished on all sides, meant to be stand-alone.  It held an index of names from the New England Genealogical Society.  The library correspondence files were spotty but there was an envelope from the 1920's with card catalog stain samples (from Gaylord, I recall).   

    Not all the follower blocks have the nifty decal. 

    The Pittsburg, KS, Public Library had an entire Library Bureau catalog (the kind you order from, not put cards in <g>).  I wonder if they still have it.

    Everyone reading this post will instantly recognize the three orange Gaylord boxes that I've saved.   Young folks won't!  



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    Nann Hilyard
    Librarian*Quiltmaker*Volunteer
    Winthrop Harbor, Illinois
    https://withstringsattached.blogspot.com
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  • 3.  RE: new blog posts about library history

    Posted 10 days ago
    Thanks for chiming in, Nan!

    It's cool to connect with someone else who collects "librariana." As I mentioned in one of my blog posts, I have about 2000 library postcards. I also have an assortment of items (ceramic plates, silver spoons, etc.) related to Pennsylvania libraries. My prize piece, though, is a 72-drawer Globe Wernicke card catalog that dates from about 1915. My husband and I bought it off a guy's porch, got rid of the varmints that were living inside, and refurbished it. Fun times!

    Does anyone else out there have any library-related collections?

    Bernadette  ��

    Bernadette A. Lear (she/her/Ms.)
    Education, Behavioral Sciences, and Social Sciences Librarian
    Penn State University Libraries
    BAL19@psu.edu | 717-948-6360





    Original Message


  • 4.  RE: new blog posts about library history

    Posted 9 days ago
    Bernadette,  

    Perhaps the most famous (infamous?) collector of librariana was Norman Stevens, longtime director of Libraries at the University of Connecticut. He was witty and wry and our careers overlapped a bit. Every time I got a new job he insisted on getting my latest business card for his *voluminous* collections. His Wikipedia page lists the various locations that collection was archived, along with some publications about it:  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Norman_D._Stevens. He also wrote some very funny satires of well-known library newsletters!

    Sarah Pritchard 


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    Sarah M. Pritchard

    University Librarian Emerita 

    Northwestern University

    Evanston, IL 60208

    spritchard@northwestern.edu

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    Original Message