LHRT NEWS AND NOTES

https://greekreporter.com/2026/05/02/venice-biblioteca-marciana-preserve-greece-soul-fall-constantinople

The American Library in Paris: an experiment in internationalism

https://www2.archivists.org/news/2026/saa-launches-250-for-the-250th

In building towards the 150th Anniversary of ALA, the current issue of American Libraries features several articles on the history of the profession: https://americanlibrariesmagazine.org/

Check out especially Anne Ford’s “A Seat at the Table: Reflections from Eight ALA Trailblazers”: https://americanlibrariesmagazine.org/2026/05/01/a-seat-at-the-table/

Call for Papers for Printing History themed issue: “Printing Across Borders”

“From the aptly named Wynkyn de Worde to creators of Zines, Adam Smyth unspools the story of books by illuminating the lives of eighteen fascinating characters. Entertaining, enlightening, engaging, and alliterative, his book puts a fresh perspective on some familiar names while introducing others you may not be familiar with.”

Find full details and register at: https://caxtonclub.org/event-6625809

The Innovation and Advocacy in Library History Award

The Innovation and Advocacy in Library History Award is presented by the ALA Library History Round Table (LHRT) as a “best of year” achievement award that acknowledges individuals or organizations that have made recent, substantive contributions to LHRT or to the wider library history community. The intention of this non-monetary award is to recognize efforts that are ineligible for other LHRT prizes; thus, nominations which emphasize publication of articles, books, dissertations, or essays will not be considered.

Eligibility and Criteria

Nominations, including self-nominations, are welcomed from all interested parties but must pertain to activities taking place in the past two years. Nominations will be judged on the contributions’ quality, impact, and relevance to LHRT or the library history community. The LHRT is particularly interested in recognizing those who have promoted library history in exceptional or new ways or who have reached audiences that have not been engaged previously. Nominee membership in LHRT is encouraged but not required.

Submissions and Selection

Each nomination must include a brief statement thoroughly explaining the contribution or project and why the nominee is worthy of consideration. It must also include at least two (2) letters of support. Individual nominees must include a CV or resume, while organizational nominees must include a statement indicating the organization’s mission and other background information. Nominators of the same entity may be asked to collaborate to produce stronger applications and reduce duplicative effort. The selection of awardees will be made by an LHRT committee and will be announced in June 2026. Please submit nominations using this form by Friday, May 29, 2026. Contact Jennifer Bartlett, LHRT Chair, at jbartl22@utk.edu for more information.

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The Distinguished Service in Library History Award

The Distinguished Service in Library History Award is presented annually by the ALA Library History Round Table (LHRT) and honors the career of a person who has a lifetime of scholarship and service in the field of library history. This non-monetary award is intended to be given to an individual who has a record of contributions; who demonstrates length, breadth, and depth of involvement in library history; and who has had a significant impact on the work of the ALA Library History Round Table or on the library history community at large.

Eligibility and Criteria

Criteria for the Award include the significance of contributions to library history, such as publications in the field, courses taught in library history, and service to the field through the LHRT or other groups. The intention of the Award is to recognize service; thus, nominations which emphasize research and publication and do not describe service or other activities pertaining to library history will not be considered. Personal membership in the LHRT is encouraged but is not required for an individual to be selected for the Award.

Submissions and Selection

Current LHRT members may submit a letter of nomination. The nomination must include the nominee’s curriculum vitae and at least two (2) letters of support. Nominators of the same individual may be asked to collaborate to produce stronger nominations and to reduce duplicate effort. The selection of the awardee will be made by an LHRT committee and will be announced in June 2026. Please submit nominations using this form by Friday, May 29, 2026. Contact Jennifer Bartlett, LHRT Chair, at jbartl22@utk.edu for more information.

Koepke, Carson. “Manuscript Collecting as Social Prestige in Quattrocento Italy: The Case of Tommaso Spinelli.” The Papers of the Bibliographical Society of America 120.1 (2026): 5–45.

Abstract
“Tommaso Spinelli was a fifteenth-century papal banker and Florentine textile merchant who collected a variety of manuscripts, including works by Cicero, Ovid, Jerome, Petrarch, and Boccaccio. This paper undertakes a codicological investigation of manuscripts in the Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library and documents in the Spinelli Archive to reconstruct a broken codex that once belonged to Spinelli and to reevaluate his reading and collecting habits. 

I argue for a new schema of categorization for Spinelli’s manuscript collection based on three distinct types of edification, demonstrate that his literary interests lay largely in vernacular works, including volgarizzamenti, and ultimately show that his personal library reinforces the notion that the nouveau riche merchant class of Quattrocento Italy used book collecting to enhance their social prestige alongside public endeavors such as ecclesiastical patronage—a relationship that in Spinelli’s case also involved the gifting of manuscripts.”

https://www.aljazeera.com/features/2026/4/27/the-man-guarding-mauritanias-rare-islamic-texts

This looks to be a fascinating lecture!:

“Over this longue durée, the goal is to shed light on the representations—and, at times, the fantasies—that the memory of a lost library can inspire, using the example of the ‘ideal library’ of one of the greatest thinkers and guiding figures of the Western intellectual tradition.”

Get the full details at https://ies.sas.ac.uk/news-events/events/library-saint-augustine-between-history-legend