Founded in Los Angeles in 2005, the California Rare Book School (CalRBS) is a non-degree education program dedicated to providing the knowledge and skills required by collectors and professionals working in all aspects of the library, special collection, archives, museums, and rare book community, as well as for students interested in entering the field of justice studies, library ethics, critical librarianship, and rare book conservation and preservation. We offer workshops, lectures, classes, and certificate programs aimed at professionals and members of the public who care about the artifacts of the past, the documents of the present, and their potential to change the course of our future.

CalRBS is a project of the Department of Information Studies at the School of Education and Information Studies at UCLA. CalRBS is supported by an informal consortium of many of the academic and research libraries and antiquarian booksellers of Southern California.

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Introducing CalRBS International!
Kicking off Summer 2022 in Northern Italy

Applications are open. Apply now!

CalRBS International is a one-of-a kind continuing education experience that immerses participants in book and library history through unique itineraries abroad. CalRBS-International is part seminar, historical immersion, hands-on craft-making, and multi-city tours. By immersing participants in international spaces, the intention of CalRBS-International is to enrich historical understandings of book and library history by learning the living, contemporary trends in book and artifact collecting, artisanship, publishing, and institutional programming.

We will visit cities of significant import to the history of books, publishing, and libraries, while also examining how these histories speak through the present by visiting bookbinders, papermakers, library collectors, printers, and the like. Participants can expect tours of sites significant to book and library history, interspersed with seminar-style discussions, hands-on opportunities to participate in local craft-making, and visiting world-renown library and artifact collections. We will bring you, the participant, to living history as it exists outside the boundaries of the classroom.

In Summer of 2022, participants will have the opportunity to explore the historical and contemporary cultures of bookmaking, printing, library collecting, and papermaking in Northern Italy. Sites of particular interest will include Modena, Bologna, Fabriano, Treviso, and. Reggio Emilia. Along the way, we will meet craft-makers, experience lectures by subject specialists, and enjoy the local cuisines and antiquarian marketplaces of these vibrant cities. And above all, you will travel with participants that share an equal fascination and fondness for a uniquely immersive education in what CalRBS knows best: rare books, librarianship, archives, and manuscripts.

Visit our CalRBS International page for more info!

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