Third Annual Focus on the Book: A Lecture by and for Bibliophiles
Featuring Susan M. Allen, PhD
Director, California Rare Book School
The Other Book:
The Ames Almanack Opens a Window on Colonial America
Tuesday, December 8, 2015
5 p.m. reception, 6 p.m. program
Newberry Library, 60 West Walton Street, Chicago, IL
Focus on the Book
In this age of e-books and e-readers, the word “book” has taken on new meanings. Yet the book in its printed form endures and is highly sought after by the general public, libraries, and book collectors. This lecture series has been created to celebrate the book in print, its form, function, and beauty, its historical importance and lasting nature. Come celebrate with us a “technology” that has been around since Johannes Gutenberg.
Susan M. Allen became director of California Rare Book School in March 2011. From 1999 to her retirement in 2011, she was associate director and chief librarian of the Getty Research Institute. She was head of the Department of Special Collections, Young Research Library, UCLA, from January 1997 to 1999; and director of Libraries and Media Services at Kalamazoo College from 1993 to 1997. Prior to 1993, she held several posts in the Libraries of the Claremont Colleges, including head of Special Collections.
Currently, Dr. Allen serves on the board of the Zamorano Club of Los Angeles, of which she is president. She is a member of the California Preservation Program Steering Committee. In the past, she has been chair of both the Rare Books and Manuscripts Standing Committee of the International Federation of Library Associations and the Rare Books and Manuscripts Section of the American Library Association. She has also served on the Council of the Bibliographical Society of America; the board of the American Printing History Association; the Board of Visitors and Governors of St. John’s College; and the board of The Book Club of California. She has spoken often and published on history of the book topics, undergraduate use of rare books and manuscripts, the future of research libraries, rare book theft, and library security. She teaches two courses, “History of the Book” and “Donors and Libraries,” regularly at California Rare Book School.
Dr. Allen received her bachelor’s and master’s degrees from the University of Wisconsin, Madison, a further master’s from St. John’s College in New Mexico, and her Ph.D. in Library and Information Science from UCLA.
This event is co-sponsored by the Newberry Library.
Photo courtesy of Schenck Images.
