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THE ART OF BOOKS FROM THE REAL TO THE VIRTUAL:

Jessica Lacher-FeldmanCurator of Rare Books and Special Collections& Associate ProfessorThe University of Alabama

The Artistic, Cultural, and

Historical Significance

of American

Decorated Publishers'

Bindings

To be covered…

• So, what is a publishers’ binding??• The IMLS grant-funded project – concept, ideas and

deliverables• The process –a little bit of how the project came

together • The database – functionality and fun• The value-added materials and components – all of

the extras that make PBO what it is• Next steps: Where do we go from here?

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What is a Publishers’ Binding?

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•Roughly 1834-1930•Styles range greatly•Key points:

•Process of binding done in “bulk”•Process of bindings done by the publisher – no longer being done at a separate bindery.

What is a Publishers’ Binding?

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•Through PBO, a greater understanding of the publishers’ binding – both in the broadest sense, and in a very granular way – single books, details, and issues, as well as the ability to compare side by side.

The PBO Project

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Overview: The PBO Project

• IMLS-funded National Leadership Grant (awarded 2003 and ended in 2008)

• Model collaborative digital project• An opportunity to highlight collections and

present them innovatively• Building beyond core grant deliverables and

originally projected outcomes

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Deliverables for the PBO Project

• Providing “Up to 10,000 images from up to 5,000 book bindings”

– fully populated database now has 5297 books and 12,892 images!

• Images and metadata available in a free, online full-text searchable database

• Develop a broad range of value-added materials to benefit end users of all kinds

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Audience/Users: Use and interest from many different disciplines:

Book artists Art historians Graphic designers Librarians archivists

Conservators Literary scholars students American Studies faculty Historians Advertising & Communications professionals Marketing scholars K-12 students Teachers Scholars Collectors Readers General public enthusiasts

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The Project Scope• Date range: 1815 – 1930

• Geographic range: American plus…

• Languages: English plus….

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Goals for the PBO Project• Provide access to a large collection of 19th and early 20th

c. bindings from two (plus!) locations• As an outreach tool, promoting collections and awareness• Appeal to a broad audience• Scholarly and popular use• Practical, beautiful,

functional, educational• Room to grow…• A model for other projects

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Access: Bringing collections together in one virtual location

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Outreach: Giving something to the world that is useful, fun, educational, cool, and beautiful!

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The Participants: A Model for Collaboration

The University of Alabama – Lead Institution -- Project managed at UA – Reporting, publicity, research, value-added materials, website,

outreach

The University of Wisconsin-Madison– Technical Expertise – SiteSearch database, metadata capture

mechanism, etc…

Advisory Committee, consultants, and others– Individuals with broad range of knowledge providing expertise

and advise in various areas – all welcome and needed! 13

The Process

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Metadata: The Core of the Project

Fundamental question:What are we describing?

Book as bibliographic entity

or

as “art object” ?15

BUT:

Bibliographicinformation is included in the metadata

How PBO Works: Metadata at the Core of the Project

What we describe In PBO =

book as objectobject

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Metadata: Example Record

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Metadata: Dublin Core RecordSubject terms

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Developing a Controlled Vocabulary

• Needed terms that described art objects• Librarians worked closely w/ content specialists to develop list

• Format• Library of Congress Subject Headings• Getty Art and Architecture Thesaurus• Some local terms

• Controlled vocabulary list evolved with project• Positive: Allowed for continuity between institutions and for future

collaboration• Negative: Previously created records may lack newly added, relevant

terms; increased cost to add new terms to older records

• Controlled vocabulary is the foundation of all teaching, search, and research tools

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Metadata: Developing a Controlled Vocabulary

The controlled vocabulary on its own serves as aninvaluable tool for understanding 19th c. bindings and 19th c. American culture as a whole – a window into the past!– Architecture--Houses – Bookbinding--Edge treatment--All gilt – Transportation--Mechanized—Automobiles – Clothing/Accessories--Shoes – Cooking/Culinary--Kitchens – Creatures/Supernatural beings--Demons – Decoration/Ornament--Trees/Plants – Industry--Factories – Landscape/Nature--Celestial/Space – Travel/Exploration--Africa – Weaponry--Guns/Rifles

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Earliest version of themes/”controlled vocabulary” form – we now have over 1800 terms

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Description form

Developing a Controlled Vocabulary

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Title: Odds and ends : poems and memoirs of William Robert Moore Author: Moore, William Robert, 1830-1909 Date: 1903 Place/Time: United States Publisher: Memphis, Tennessee: Press of Eyre Brothers Description: Orange ungrained cloth. Black stamping on front and spine. No decoration on back. Inscribed by the author. Subjects: Decoration/Ornament--Arabesque / Decoration/Ornament--Cartouche/Emblem / Decoration/Ornament--Floral--Lilies / Music--Instruments--Lutes / Creatures/Supernatural beings--Cupid / People--Men / People--Women / Symbols--Hearts / Religious--Symbols--Devil / Creatures/Supernatural beings--Demons / Profession/Trade--Fools/Jesters / Weaponry--Bows/Arrows / Book-cloth--Color--Orange / Book-cloth--Ungrained / Bookbinding--Techniques--Black stamping Language: English Type: Stillimage Format: Height: 19 cm.; Width: 15 cm.; Depth: 3 cm. Call Number: PS2430.M7 O5 1903x Is Part Of: Publishers' Bindings Online, 1815-1930: The Art of Books Rights: Collection may be protected under Title 17 of the U.S. Copyright Law. Terms: To obtain permission to publish or reproduce, please contact the University of Alabama's W. S. Hoole Special Collections Library at archives@bama.ua.edu. Submitter: University of Alabama Libraries. W.S. Hoole Special Collections Library, Alabama Collection. Local Identifier: PBO.pba01277.bib

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• Each institution responsible for scanning• Typically, two scans*

taken from each book; two to five scans per book – Front cover*– Spine*– Back cover– End papers– Other views

Image Reformatting/Digitization

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Image Reformatting: Standards• Master files: 300 or 600 dpi uncompressed

TIFs in 24-bit color (UA=600, UW=300)• Black background for visual consistency

and to minimize light reflection and glare• Filters (such as sharpening) off• Very little image enhancement,

other than tight cropping• All books presented in “as is” condition• Many books are (or were!) located in

circulating collections – call numbers written on spines or tagged on covers, etc.

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PBO: The Database

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The DatabaseCustomized SiteSearch

Database originally developedby OCLC, with great

functionality:

• Image behaviors like Gallery and multi-image view

• Email records function• Export records as XML function• Fully searchable • Hyperlinked subject terms to

allow for fluid searching29

“Simple Search” Fully keyword searchable

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Search Results: Brief view

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Search results: Record View

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Multi-Image View (1)

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The Database: Multi-Image View (2)

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The Database: Gallery View

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Gallery view: side by side comparisons!

The Database: Email Records/Images; Export as XML

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Export or email records

The Database: Save Image

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Saving images is easy – Right-click enabled

The Database: Guided Search

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Typical advanced search interface – boolean operators

The Database: Full Descriptions

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The Database: “Clickable” Subject Headings

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Database as a foundation • Searching and browsing

shows trends and themes

• Researchers can and do uncover things for their own work through PBO

• Donors can find new homes…

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From pba02426 to a new ribbon embossed cloth discovery!

43Vashti manuscript

PBO: Value-added materials and components… Subject specialization!

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Value-added resources on PBO: Mining the database & giving things back • Web-based exhibits• From virtual to real – exhibiting the books in

“the flesh”• Presentations and classroom lectures• Podcasts/Vodcasts• Galleries and essays • Adapting content of PBO for use by many

different disciplines45

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Original website design

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Current website design

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Exhibits

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Lectures, events, tie-ins

Value-Added Components:For scholars and students of the book

• Development of a searchable glossary of related terminology for publishers’ bindings-related description

• Development of a comprehensive and growing bibliography that includes both print and digital resources

• Potentially making available out-of-print and limited access resources relating to 19th century bindings – stay tuned!

• “Galleries” – essays, images, and additional information in a broad range of areas

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Glossary of bindings-related terms

456 glossary terms included – from Adhesive Binding to Yawning Boards

• Terms defined using ten authorities:

– Glaister’s Encyclopaedia of the Book – Diehl’s Bookbinding: Its Background and Technique – Carter’s ABC for Book Collectors– Gaskell’s A New Introduction to Bibliography– Gascoigne’s How to Identify Prints…– Gettens’s Painting Materials…– APPA’s Dictionary of Paper– The Oxford Companion to the Decorative Arts– Hunter’s Papermaking: The History and Technique…– Roberts/Etherington’s Bookbinding & the Conservation of Books 51

Value-Added Components: Galleries and Essays

• Galleries expand upon holdings in the database

• Narrative essays expand value of the project by providing both context and content

• Over 30 galleries available to date

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Artistic,Historical, &Literary Galleries

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Galleries

Value-Added Components: Galleries on Collections

• Max Kade Institute (University of Wisconsin-Madison)

• Wade Hall Collection (University of Alabama)

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Value-Added Components: Galleries on Artistic Styles & Movements

• Arts and Crafts• Art Nouveau• Eastlake Style• Poster Style• Neoclassical• Japonisme,

etc.56

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From the gallery, view examples!

Value-Added Components: Aesthetics and Artistic Styles,

Visual Literacy and Artistic Techniques

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Value-Added Components: Historical Galleries

• Historical events, places & movements– Civil War (includes

sub-galleries on Abraham Lincoln and Heroes of the “Lost Cause”)

– Cult of Domesticity/ Women’s Rights

– Industrial Revolution– The American West – New Orleans 59

Value-Added Components: Literary Galleries

• Literature: books and authors– Lafcadio Hearn– Paul Lawrence Dunbar– Louisa May Alcott– Mark Twain– Uncle Tom’s Cabin– Ellen Glasgow– etc.

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Through galleries, book titles are linked to full text when available/

appropriate via Project Gutenberg, Bartleby –allowing researcher to

extend move from binding to electronic version of actual text.

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Value-Added Components: Gallery Links

• Gallery essays include links from important terms to educational sites that provide more information

• Linked sites adhere to specific standards

• Often linked sites include PBS, Library of Congress, National Park Service, universities, museums, and educational organizations 62

Value-Added Components: Gallery Links

• Canned searches take visitors from the galleries to related material in the PBO database

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Value-Added Materials: Sample Lesson Plans

• Civil War literature • Industrial Revolution • Louisa May Alcott• Uncle Tom’s Cabin • Women’s History • Women Writers of the

19th c. • New Orleans• Mark Twain--Adaptable to K-12 curricula

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Value-Added Components: Research Tools/Galleries on aspects ofBindings and book binding techniques

• Binding tools• Book Cloth • Confederate

Imprints• Gold &

Silver/White Metal Stamping

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Value-Added Components: Signed & Designer Bindings

• Engaged in the ongoing development of a new resource for signed or designer book bindings

• Bios and canned searches for 144 identified designers and design firms, as well as canned searches and descriptions of 64 currently unknown designers with more to come –

• Development of this resource has brought us new contacts from other repositories and scholars, and the potential for more growth – feedback and help is encouraged and is coming from all over to make this resource even better!

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Building on scholarship and bringing information together for users of all kinds

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A growing resource that explores binding designers and links directly to our database. Comments and assistance welcome!

There are2123 publishers included in PBO

to date – this map takes

users to acomplete

list of publishersby region!

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Publishers’ Map --huge potential for growth in scholarship – making sense of a lot of data!

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Publishers Across the Land

Collaboration with Teaching Faculty:Expanding scholarship through bindings

Indians, the Frontier, and the West in American Bookbindings

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The PBO Project: University-level Teaching and Research

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College-level use of PBO in Art History and American Studies courses, etc.

New Participants Sustainability and Growth

• Louisiana State University “test”• Additional institutions in

contact regarding PBO participation• The Richard Minsky Collection• Individual scholars and collectors• What’s next?

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New Participants: Growth & Progress

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• The Minsky Collection

New Participants: Growth & Progress

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• LSU Test Project

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One virtual location

Value-Added Components: For Librarians/Archivists/Digital Programs

• Development of tutorials and help pages to assist users

• Development of a comprehensive online project manual for this as well as future digital projects and as a potential resource for others

• Documenting outcomes – providing models for other cultural institutions

• New scholarship on collaboration, etc.77

Scholarly Impact• Collaboration is bringing teaching faculty and other

scholars to special collections resources in new ways

• New research and teaching tools based solely on the PBO project helps make the project more viable

• Bringing to the forefront new and under-researched areas of scholarship and interest relating to special collections librarianship

• Promoting the use of Special Collections materials in the classroom using digital resources

• Creating awareness for publishers’ bindings to new audiences

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Outreach: Future Collaboration & Cooperation

• Interested parties of all kinds have contributed knowledge and ideas --- Reaching beyond the our own expertise and getting input is a measure of our success

• Experts and input help this project to expand, improve, and grow…

• We are always seeking & accepting advice! Feedback and criticism brings growth

• Getting the word out and actively promoting the project is an important component of the project

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Yes, it’s the PBO wiki!

PBO: Publicity and Outreach

• Academic & community presentations

• Articles, reviews & podcasts

• Exhibits

• References & Links

• Everything documented on PBO site

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Marketing & Promoting DigitalProjects: PBO as case study

• Part of our PBO deliverables

• Understanding and documenting every step we take -- if we are to provide leadership and guidance in the realm of digital projects – as national leadership grant recipients and more…

• If we build it, they will come – not really true – how do we make sure? 82

Scholarly Impact

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Journal article on PBO as a model for…

PBO informational poster

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PBO giveaway calendar

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• Potential future contribution from other repositories in the US and abroad…

• Potential future collaboration is limitless• With additional collections, the database and the

project will only grow stronger• Potential as a web portal, clearinghouse, or

consortium• Additional potential funding opportunities,

scholarship, and ways to highlight collections, resources, knowledge, and abilities

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Looking beyond the grant: So much room to Grow

• Collection assessment of circulating collections – not for content but for their covers – artistic expression

• Defining and addressing these “medium rare books”

• Rethinking collection policies to accommodate these important cultural artifacts

• Deputizing staff to identify publishers’ bindings for evaluation and possible location/status change

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Publishers’ Bindings and Art Libraries and Librarians

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Final thoughts…•The virtual can truly further the analog – digital access creates new awareness, scholarship, excitement, etc. •Publishers’ bindings offer us a world to explore and share with our users – beauty in the ordinary!

The database and website is free and open to all – We welcome and encourage comments and thoughts!

Thank you!

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Accessing PBO ---

http://bindings.lib.ua.edu