The whole conference was effectively about how our libraries are becoming part of a wider community. Our case study demonstrated how proactively collaborating with staff, students and outside agencies and galleries, we effectively showcased and marketed the special collection, and therefore LSAD library, in new ways and to new audiences.
An artist book is a hybrid between a book and art...it’s basically a book that is art! There are many types - altered, zine, photo, pop-up, personal stories, to name a few- and they come in all shapes and sizes (pictured below). We began the collection when an LSAD student donated her end of year project -a beautifully carved artist book- to the library, we had helped her in her research into the genre and thereafter were hooked on it ourselves. We began buying from book fairs, word spread and lecturers and students collected them from far and near. Limerick Independent Publishers Salon (LIPS) was born as a result of a collaboration between LSAD library and the limerick Gallery ‘Ormston House’. We have had two exhibitions there to date, drawing huge crowds and participation from staff and students. There have been many class projects and workshops in LSAD and a huge amount of students creating their own artist books.
To date we have 1,200 artist books (and counting). To be given the opportunity to discuss the collection at the conference was a fabulous experience, and we were quite overwhelmed with the positive response and feedback we received.
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