Author: Sara Belasco
Sara Belasco is currently a student at the Pratt Institute School of Information, working towards earning a Masters in Library and Information Science and an Advanced Certificate in Archives. She previously earned a BA with Honors in History of Art from Skidmore College with a Minor in Studio Art. Sara has taken numerous bookbinding and printing workshops, as well as courses from Rare Book School. After spending four years in library conservation, Sara is committed to continuing to work with rare books and special collections. Her other interests include historic book structures, the transition from manuscript to print culture, and how to navigate bringing rare book scholarship into the digital age without compromising the information their physical properties divulge.
Rare book cataloging backlogs create an uneven level of access. I argue it causes problems for physical and digitized collections. Past literature and methods developed to reduce the backlog are discussed.