California Rare Book School

CalRBS course Data Ethics and Activism in Practice, taught by Stacy Wood, will be held online this summer! Data Ethics is a broadly understood and broadly interpreted set of tools and concepts that calls attention to the consequences, impact, design, implementation and rhetoric around data and its uses. This course will focus on topics that are both urgent and practical, foregrounding real-world examples and highlighting the work of activists that use and/or push against the use of data in their work. This course will provide basic literacies around understanding, using and managing data but focuses primarily on understanding complex data ecosystems. For more info and to apply: https://www.calrbs.org//data-ethics-and-activism-in-pract/

CalRBS course Exhibiting Rare Books and Ephemera: Physically & Digitally, taught by Marianne Lamonaca, will be held online this summer! This course offers those interested in the practice of organizing exhibitions of books, objects, and ephemera the opportunity to explore principal concepts of theory and practice in an environment that facilitates interaction among members of the class through presentations, readings, practical exercises, and personal feedback. In addition to developing a checklist and narrative structure for a physical exhibition, participants will also have the opportunity to develop a plan for an online exhibition using an open source platform, such as Word Press. For more info and to apply: https://www.calrbs.org//exhibiting-rare-books-and-ephemera/

CalRBS course Communications and Grant-Writing for Libraries and Special Collections, taught by Snowden Becker, will be held online this summer! This workshop explores the wide range of tools and methods that libraries and special collections use to communicate to external audiences, with a particular focus on grant-writing and social media strategytwo areas where taking time to craft the message really makes a difference. Participants in the class will learn how to tell their organizational story more coherently and compellingly through data and analytics, written narratives, photos, videos even memes! For more info and to apply: https://www.calrbs.org//communications-and-grant-writing-/

CalRBS course Global Histories of the Book: Asia/Europe, taught by Devin Fitzgerald, will be held online this summer! In this course, students will be introduced to the history of the book in East Asia (with a focus on China) and Western Europe. By pursuing an integrated approach to the comparative history of the book, participants will not only be introduced important moments in the history of printing, but we will also discuss the historical and intellectual baggage associa...ted with terms like print, paper, and information. The course will culminate in discussions of how to integrate more capacious and inclusive methods in teaching and researching printed materials. By the end of the course, students will be able to globally contextualize Gutenberg’s inventions and appreciate Chinese contributions to the emergence of modern forms of the codex. For more info and to apply: https://www.calrbs.org//comparative-histories-of-the-book/

CalRBS course Donors and Libraries, taught by Susan M. Allen & William P. Barlow, Jr, will be held online this summer! This course is particularly aimed at early career rare book and special collections librarians who would like to increase their level of knowledge about and activity with donors. Topics covered include: Needs and opportunities as illustrated by the American tradition of gifts to libraries, the privileges and responsibilities of donors and libraries, and deal...ing with bureaucracies. The institutional framework and how its realities such as changing priorities and staff changes impact seeking gifts. Building working library-donor relations, negotiating gifts, fulfilling obligations, and doing donor/donee research. Understanding tax and legal matters and how they may be incentives for giving, including deeds of gift, gift/purchase arrangements, gift vs. deposit, appraisals, and institutional record keeping. For more info and to apply: https://www.calrbs.org/program/courses/donors/