I’d like to dedicate this first post to the institution that gave me my Big Break in the library world — the Oberlin College Library’s Special Collections division. My time as an employee there was marked by such unfathomably cool activities as helping staff photographer Marsha Bansberg photograph and digitize this enormous facsimile map of Pre-Revolutionary America (with French and British possessions painstakingly denoted in tiny, delicate script).
Heads up to any Oberlin students (or potential Obies) who might come across this post: Ed Vermue, the Special Collections librarian, is a phenomenal boss and one of the smartest people you’ll ever meet. His current project involves expanding Special Collections influence from its home on the 4th floor down to the lower levels of the library, where he is currently assembling a letterpress studio for labs, lectures, and (hopefully) entire classes. Get in on it if you can.
