Karen Attar is the Rare Books Librarian at Senate House Library and a Research Fellow of the Institute of English Studies, both of the University of London. She has published widely on library history and aspects of special collections, is the reviews editor for Library & Information History, and in 2012 edited the treasures volume Senate House Library, University of London.
In an increasingly electronic age, the rare, the special and the
unique in our libraries becomes all the more important and
distinctive. The Directory has become established as a one-stop
compendium of information on such material and a comprehensive
update of Barry Bloomfield's much respected 1997 edition is very
welcome.
*David Pearson*
Consulting the invaluable Directory of Rare Book and Special
Collections in the UK and Republic of Ireland is often a critical
first stage in developing a worthwhile research project in the
humanities. Its thoroughness and comprehensiveness serve both the
scholar and librarian well.
*Simon Eliot*
Together, institutions in the UK and Ireland hold unrivalled
special collections. From our great National Libraries, through
university collections to the smaller collections of specialist
societies, cathedrals, historic homes, and museums we have a
centuries-old tradition of collecting, preserving and giving
access. Scholars from around the world and across disciplinary
differences rely on the treasures held by libraries listed in the
Directory to pursue their research and help us make sense of the
world in which we live.
*David Prosser*
The new edition of the Directory of Rare Book and Special
Collections is a long-awaited reference work which will help
researchers identify the UK and Republic of Ireland’s great
collections of research materials. It provides detailed and
authoritative information and is a must for all serious
researchers.
*Richard Ovenden*
To dedicated bibliographers, the present edition will make
excellent bedtime reading;there are plenty of out-of-the-way
collections to discover ... congratulations are in order to the
Group, the publisher, and, above all, to the editor for a well
accomplished job.
*Alexandria*
The new Directory lists 873 libraries, summarising their holdings
of pre-1900 imprints with references to key sources of further
information. Historical researchers of all kinds can quarry this to
find out where large and small libraries are located and how
relevant they may be; where collections with particular strengths
in folklore, or Napoleon, or playbills, or anything else, can be
found (the index of subjects runs to fourteen pages); and what is,
and is not, discoverable online.
*Library & Information History*
...reveals the treasures to be found in the rare books and special
collections in the UK and the Republic of Ireland...Attar’s
organizational achievement is phenomenal...Internet links are
ephemeral and dependent on those who host them; this printed book
gives us some guarantee of permanence.
*Times Literary Supplement*
The endless work of the ‘harmless drudge,’ the editor, and that of
her team cannot be underestimated;producing a reference work of
this nature is a labour of love and inevitably the resulting
information will vary depending on information supplied and
available. Researchers will be glad of this work and it will indeed
help those needing to know where to find their research
material.
*Archives and Records*
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