Opening Artists’ Books to the User: An Example with Potential Approaches

Abstract

Artists’ books are an increasingly popular collecting area both for art libraries and for special collections. Their experimentation with the book form and emphasis on hand techniques for production dovetail nicely with early printed book collections, highlighting modern approaches to bookmaking techniques that have been used for hundreds of years. The 2010 OCLC Research Survey Taking Our Pulse identified artists’ books as “the specific area most frequently named” for new collecting in special collections.² In this paper we will discuss a specimen artist’s book and various issues and approaches to cataloging it.

Artists’ books pose particular challenges to special collections . . .