Some people get excited when researching in certain sections of
the UCLA libraries ““ more excited than is usually expected in
a place filled with books.
Librarian Julie Graham from the Arts Library Special Collections
section said people reading in the collections sometimes jump up in
excitement when they make a connection in their research that leads
to a breakthrough.
“You almost have to be here to see them, the expression on
their face. People just get incredibly excited,” she
said.
Special collections are sections in several libraries on campus
containing rare and unique materials and are open to all students
and the general public.
The holdings of special collections can be as conventional as
books and manuscripts, or as unusual as children’s board
games in the Young Research Library, antiquated surgical equipment
in the biomedical library, or transcripts of interviews with
’50s jazz musicians in the Music library.
Graham, who works in the Arts Library Special Collections, said
people researching there are often studying subjects that
don’t initially seem at all related to its holdings: primary
source materials in film, television, theater, radio and visual
arts.
But students and other scholars often find that their research
in areas such as history or literature relates to the scripts,
photos, movie or art found in Arts Special Collections, she said.
“All of these things connect. It’s like connecting the
dots.”
Students may find themselves in special collections because they
find an item while searching the catalogue online or because a
class requires it.
For example, Honors Collegium 124, a history course on
midwifery, requires students to use the Biomedical Special
Collections.
Graham said students often tell her they never knew about
special collections and adds that she recommends a visit to anyone,
both students and non-students.
Victoria Steele, the head of the Research Library Special
Collections, agreed that anyone could enhance their education by
visiting special collections.
“We’re very welcoming of students. In fact one of my
goals for the department is to really provide as responsive service
as possible to students, faculty and people from other
universities,” she said.
Steele describes special collections as a cross between a
library and a museum because of the objects that complement the
collection of books and manuscripts.
There is research value in many unconventional objects, such as
what board games tell society about the emerging role of children
and their education, she said.
Unlike traditional libraries, special collections is not
self-service and requires assistance in accessing and duplicating
materials. Steele said accessibility is an important part of their
mission.
Preservation of rare items should not mean they are
inaccessible, said Russell Johnson, an archivist in the Biomedical
Library Special Collections. “There’s a sense that
something is so precious it can’t be used. We’re
charged with preserving it, but it has to be used. If not
you’re just dead storage.”
Johnson recommends an appointment, but said anyone is welcome to
see the library’s holdings, which include the first modern
study of anatomy, work on midwifery with paper dolls for practicing
childbirth, and objects such as a sculpture with eyeholes used to
practice eye surgery.
“”˜Special’ has all sorts of
connotations,” he said, referring to the variety of unique
objects.
Johnson often shows students a pocket-sized book of aphorisms by
18th century Greek physician Hippocrates that was loaned to a
former UCLA student because it was small and not too rare or
expensive.
The former student, Anna Fisher, took it on a space mission in
1984.
“This book is special because of where it went,” he
said, adding that students always look at the book more carefully
after hearing it had been to space.
Kathy Donahue, head of the Biomedical Special Collections
division, added that one can look at a reprint of a book and get
the same text info, but original sources have additional value.
“It’s never quite the same to hand people a book and
say, “˜Here’s a facsimile of a book that was very
important,'” she said.
Not only do copies of old books not scan as well, but original
books can reflect a book’s influence in its time, and notes
left by an original reader can reflect its original readership.
Visitors to the Music Library Special Collections can benefit
from similar aspects of original sources.
Performers may go study an original musical score in order to
perform it in an authentic manner, said Gordon Theil, head of the
Arts and Music Libraries and acting head of Music Special
Collections.
The extensive collection of popular sheet music, recordings from
film and TV music, and photos of Southern California jazz musicians
are examples of objects Theil said have educational and research
value to scholars, performers, conductors and composers.
Theil said the library is open by appointment only, but
individuals with appointments have access to the whole collection,
and duplications can be made as long as they are not prohibited by
copyright law or by fragility of the materials.
The materials in special collections allow people to see the
creative process that we usually take for granted, he said.
“You start to see the vast diversity of creativity and how
much effort and time has gone into creating the culture we all
partake in and benefit from,” he said.