College and Research Libraries Guest Editorial Rare Books and Manuscripts When he was president of ACRL, David Weber proposed an expansion of the associa- tion's publication program. Among his specific suggestions was a journal directep at rare book and manuscript librarians. This idea attracted immediate attention, in part because it caught in motion, so to speak, an already active movement within the Rare Books and Man- uscripts Section of ACRL to produce just such a journal. Special collections librarians form a relatively large subgroup of ACRL, and their section has an a dive history . Its annual pre- and postconference institutes are about to enter their twenty-sixth year. Papers read at them have frequently appeared in print, sometimes over an ALA imprint, occasionally over the imprint of an independent publisher. RBMS com- mittees engage in projects concerning cataloging standards, security of library materials, professional ethics, and additional topics of immediate concern to special collections and other librarians. They have produced many draft statements and standards that have ap- peared in the pages of C&RL News in recent years. Despite their numbers and energetic activity, special collections librarians have not felt that their communication needs have been adequately served by ACRL' s publication pro- gram, or by other independent journals and publishers. There is, of course, an extensive and international bibliographical press. Codicology, paleography, the study of incunabula, the seventeenth-century American book trade, German romantic book illustration, and setting by formes in late sixteenth-century English printing offices all have their appropri- ate journals, from Scriptorium and the Gutenberg Jahrbuch to The Papers of the Bibliographical Society of America and Publishing History. But librarians whose responsibilities include the care and feeding of books and manu- scripts within the special collections operations of libraries, public and research, private and special, find no journal concerned with the librarianship of special collections librarian- ship. They need a journal through which to communicate their professional co~cerns with one another. Weber's expression of this need was cheered by many within RBMS. But the hard work of translating expressed need into forthcoming reality was a task undertaken by ACRL' s Publications Committee, chaired by Joanne R. Euster. Some particularly arduous prelimi- nary studies were the work of an ad hoc subcommittee chaired by Nicholas Burckel. Two successive editors of C&RL, C. James Schmidt and Charles Martell, provided crucial assist- ance and hospitality for the venture through the good offices-here gratefully utilized-of C&RL. Throughout this entire process, then Executive Director Julie C. Virgo cheerfully extended valuable advice and assistance. And now we are ready to see if there really is a need for such a journal. If its proponents are right, then a substantial amount of material of concern to special collections librarians awaits an outlet for its publication. Moreover, the existence of such an 433 434 College & Research Libraries November 1984 outlet should encourage people in the field to study questions with an eye toward publica- tion of their results rather than toward internal implementation only. What kinds of studies will this journal entertain? Simply put, its planners envisage a C&RL for special collections librarians. From the recruitment and training of special collec- tions personnel, their career patterns, and demographic characteristics, to the planning and mounting of exhibitions, creation of exhibition catalogs, and reports on procedures that advance or retard the physical care of exhibited materials, to basic questions about the provision of reference and supervisory assistance in special collections reading rooms, pat- terns in the use of special collections materials, the architecture, security, and physical en- vironment of special collections facilities, the management of professional and nonprofes- sional special collections staff, and the articulation of collection development policies-without forgetting matters related to donor relations and money-anything that concerns the librarianship of special collections librarianship will be welcomed. But o!her matters remain to be worked out. What sort of columns should the journal con- tain apart from its articles: book reviews (and, if so, of what sorts of books)? personnel announcements? correspondence? institutional acquisitions? What sort of advertising should it accept: antiquarian booksellers? want lists? position announcements? These are open questions. While we hope that the papers by Clifton H. Jones, William Joyce, and Richard C. Berner included in this issue of C&RL will suggest something of what the editor and editorial board will be looking for, any and all suggestions-and any and all potential contributions-will be gratefully received and seriously considered as preparations go for- ward for the appearance of our first issue late in 1985. Please direct communications to Joan M. Friedman, Chair, RBMS Publications Committee, Yale Center for British Art, Box 2120, Yale Station, New Haven, CT 06520. DANIEL TRAISTER Curator, Special Collections, University of Pennsylvania