Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library’s Pop-Up Book Collection

*All photographs taken by the author at Beinecke Rare Book & Manuscript Library

To apply the weekly theme Order Media’s “Innumerable Species” I went to the Beinecke Rare Book & Manuscript Library and used their catalogue to locate a collection of pop-up books to conduct research on.  The Beinecke Library itself is not your typical library.  It was built in 1963 by Pritzker Prize-winning architect  Gordon Bunshaft and is the largest building in the world reserved exclusively for the preservation of rare books and manuscripts. (Wikipedia) Upon entering the building you’re first welcomed by several stories of glass bookshelves containing old books located in the middle of the interior. The first two floors are open to the public and exhibit a curated collection of books and prints.  The current featured exhibit is Permanent Markers: Aspects of the History of Printing.  The first two floors feel like a museum instead of a library because of the exhibition and limited access to books and manuscripts.

To access the library’s collections one must visit the Reading Room, which is located on the lower level of the Beinecke Library.  In the Reading Room one can view books that have been pre-selected from Beinecke’s online catalogue, yet this is another process.  First you must register with the Beinecke Library online and create a profile.  From there you can look up books and select a viewing date.  When you arrive at the reading room all bags, purses, pens, and loose clothing must be left in a locker.   A librarian will check two forms of id and then proceed to look up your online account and bring your selected books to you.  No material can leave the reading room.  To make sure nothing leaves the library a guard checks you before you can exit.  In this sense the library acts more like an archive than a library.  The only major difference compared to the archive is that the Beinecke Library uses a differing classification system.  The contents of the library are in a sense easier to find.

The reason security is more rigorous than in the past at the Beinecke Library is because it was the victim of theft in 2005.  Edward Smiley III was a well known and trusted antique dealer at the time when he was caught cutting maps from rare books with an x-acto blade.  The Beinecke Library now operates under a closed stack system.(Wikipedia)

What’s classified?

Roy Boyne says, “…classification analysis is used to identify structured groups within data.”  The techniques of cluster and classification analysis are used in a variety of fields including Library Science.  The Library of Congress has it’s own set of vocabulary for classification, described in detail throughout the article, “What is the FRBR? A Conceptual Model for the Bibliographic Universe” written by Barbara Tillett.  Examples of some of the language they are looking to standardize include the use of words like work, edition, item, manifestation and book.  Entities are considered the subjects of works, which can be concepts, objects, events, places and any of the italicized words mentioned before.  Most classification is based off of subjects.

*Photographs of the book, “Poem to Celebrate the Spring & Diane Rothenberg’s Birthday” Author, Jerome Rothenberg

The Beinecke Library houses books, manuscripts, and ephemera relating to American literature.  The pop-up books I researched came from various collections within the library, as was indicated by their call number.  Though when searching for a collection of pop-up books using ORBIS the library’s online catalogue database I was able to search by keywords, and used the word “pop-up” as my main reference when searching for the books.  The majority of books that resulted from my search where from the children’s collection.  Other books, like the book, “Poem to Celebrate the Spring & Diane Rothenberg’s Birthday” for example was located in the off-site poetry collection.  The library based on its contents could not classify it as a children’s book.

How is it classified?

Roy Boyne uses the work of Georges Perec to make sense of classification and its sociological implications.  Perec had a utopian outlook in terms of classification.  He envisioned a universal law that would “…reign over the totality of phenomena: two hemispheres, five continents, masculine and feminine, animal and vegetable, etc.”  Both the Platonic and Cartesian methods follow a similar binary system that can be adapted to the techniques of classification.  Yet Perec understands and talks about how his idea of the universal did not and will never work.  Catalogue classification is based on a hierarchy of subjects not a splitting of atoms.  My personal classification of the pop-up book went against the grain of how the Beinecke Library classifies pop-up books.  My natural reaction is to classify the pop-up book as it’s own genre, like a work of fiction or biography.  Yet the pop-up book is classified by another subject pertaining to its contents.  The content of the pop-up book is of higher hierarchical stature than the physical nature of the book.  The library’s hierarchy goes against my own personal logic.

*Photographs of the book, “Day at the Zoo: Realistic Pictures of the Birds, Beasts, and Fish”

In the words of Boyne, “What Perec’s work brings us to is the difference between making and using classifications, and thus perhaps the two basic approaches to the history of classification, which is – uncomfortably – already to make and operate a classification system.”  A subject catalogue, which began in the industrial age of the 1900’s, is still used today in many institutions.  The classification system at the Beinecke Library favors the Cutter classification system over the Dewey Decimal System.  Yet, it’s not a pure Cutter classification system they employ.  Their call numbers are a variation of the Cutter classification system and also uses the “Old Yale” scheme.  The first line in a call number uses the “Old Yale” scheme, with “Z” representing, for example, rare books and “a” author.  The second line is the author’s Cutter number, except for in a few exceptions. (Yale Library)  This system stays true to the institution of Yale and also allows the librarians to have a say in what subject newly added books belong to.

A folksonomy is a classification system employed by users who tag content with keywords.  This type of classification is more democratic and takes the authority away from “the man”, as David Weinberger talks about in “Everything is Miscellaneous: Google Tech Talk”.  A folksonomy derives from a method collaboratively creating and managing tags to describe and categorize content. (Wikipedia)  Below I’ve started tagging subjects based on some of the books I took out:

“Goblins” by Brian Froud : Childrens, Dark, Humor, Pop-up

“Doll’s House” by Lothar Meggendorfer : Childrens, Diorama, Antique, Fragile, Pop-up

“Elvis Musical Pop-up” by Rob Burt:  Novelty, Biography, Humor, Music, Pop-up

“Maxfield Parrish Pop-up book”:  Art, Pop-up

“Inside the Personal Computer: An Illustrated Introduction in 3 Dimensions”:  Childrens, Educational, Computers, Pop-up

As standardized as Libraries and institutions try to make their classification systems, there is also going to be an element that is subjective.  An authority, either you, me, or someone else will always have a final say in how to classify.  The system for classifying will evolve as long as we and the content we produce evolve.

“Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library.” Wikipedia: The Free Encyclopedia.  Wikimedia Foundation, Inc., 17 Sept 2013. Web. 28 Sept 2013.

Boyne, Roy.  Theory, Culture & Society.  Sage: Nottingham Trent University.  vol. 23; 21, 2006.

Burt, Rob.  Elvis Musical Pop Up.  New York: Bonanza Pop-Up: Distributed by Crown Publishers, 1985.  Print.

A Day in the Zoo: Realistic Pictures of the Birds, Beasts, and Fishes.  London:  Kestrel Books; New York: Viking Press, 1980.  Print.

“Folksonomy.” Wikipedia: The Free Encyclopedia.  Wikimedia Foundation, Inc., 26 Sept 2013. Web. 28 Sept 2013.

Froud, Brian.  Goblins.  New York, NY: Macmillan Pub. Co., 1983.  Print.

Gallagher, Sharon.  Inside the Personal Computer: An Illustrated Introduction in 3 Dimensions.  New York:  Abbeville Press, 1984.  Print.

Maxfield Parrish Pop-Up Book.  Robnert Park, California: Pomegranate Artbooks, 1994.  Print.

Meggendorfer, Lothar.  Doll’s House: A Reproduction of the Antique.  New York: Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1978.  Print.

Rothenberg, Jerome.  Poem to Celebrate the Spring & Diane Rothenberg’s Birthday, 3/20/75 in Four Parts.  Perry Township, Wisconsin:  Perishable Press, 1975.  Print.

Tillett, Barbara.  What is the FRBR?  A Conceptual Model For the Bibliographic Universe.  Library of Congress Cataloging Distribution Service.

Weinberger, David.  Everything is Miscellaneous.  Google Tech Talks:  10 May 2007. Web.  27 Sept 2013.

Wright, Alex.  Glut:  Mastering Information Through the Ages.  Ithaca, London:  Cornell University Press.

“Yale Collection of American Literature”.  Yale Library.  Yale University Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library, 13 Aug 2013.  Web.  28 Sept 2013.