The Stacks
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Introducing the Capping Project…
“The required capping exercise for the MLIS degree at the University of Alberta School of Library & Information Studies (SLIS) is an ePortfolio representing examples of the student’s course work, leadership and innovation potential, communication skills, and involvement in professional life”…
Here’s our Head Alien’s…
The Eclectic Abecedarium
So if you’re a regular patron of the Butterflies & Aliens Library, you probably know that I have a particular fondness for alphabet books and also miniature books.
Well imagine my delight at discovering that Bruce Peel Special Collections has as part of its collection a miniature edition of The Eclectic Abecedarium by Edward Gorey…
Meet Alex Melton!
It’s Wednesday, which means BALLER Profile day, where we get to introduce you to some of the authors, publishing professionals, library people, readers, and more in our neighbourhood.
This week we are making our first visit to Library School to meet Alex Melton…
Time Travelling with Rare Print Materials
So back in January my fellow student staffer at Bruce Peel Special Collections, Michaela Morrow, and I had the privilege and delight to lead a Peel Workshop of our own design, titled Time Travelling with Rare Print Materials. Basically it was a chance for us to pull an absolute treasure trove of materials from the collection, share them with friends and patrons, and – perhaps the biggest bonus to me – spend some extra time studying them ourselves.
And what a trove it was…
Ready or not, here I come…
Ray Bradbury once said “You don't have to burn books to destroy a culture. Just get people to stop reading them.” As a book nerd, student librarian, and global citizen, I think about that quote almost daily.
And as a student librarian, I’m learning that there is yet another tactic – make the books unfindable…
A Book of Centuries
Hey there, Head Alien here, just casually walking around with an almost-600-year-old book for Fridays at the Peel…
Arranging Furniture
Okay, yes I’m posting this on a Saturday, but the important point here is that Fridays at the Peel are back!
To share today, a book called Arranging Furniture, created by Jason Dewinetz at his fine press “small publishing concern” based in the Okanagan Valley, British Columbia, Canada, Greenboathouse Press…
Publishing and librarianship in the news, and at school
So following in the tradition of The Catalogue Projects here at the Butterflies & Aliens Library of Literary Eccentricities & Rarities, the convergence of school and not-school for our Head Alien continues apace…
Puck's Arena
My introduction to artist’s books, and altered books in particular, started with an undergraduate field trip to the Bruce Peel Special Collections at the University of Alberta, and one work in particular.
At first glance, it seems innocuous enough, perhaps even a bit boring or common? But if there was ever a time to apply the broader advice to not judge a book by its cover, this would be it.
It had a blue cover…
A quick post about a recent acquisition that will in particular tickle the funny bone of librarians and booksellers… A Library of Misremembered Books by artist Marina Luz…
Immersed in book culture…
The present moment has brought an interesting alignment between my personal, professional, and student lives… everything focussed on book culture, print culture, reading culture…
Loved to pieces
In the digital world, lack of attention is what often gets a website “deaccessioned” or “weeded” from the world wide web. But ironically, in our equally beloved world of physical books, a lack of attention, of a certain kind, is actually better for a book’s longevity…
