2026 CalRBS Handbook
NOTE: This page is a living document and the authoritative record of CalRBS communications for organizing and programming during your courses.
Dear California Rare Book School Faculty and Participants,
What a joy it is to welcome you all to the 2025 summer season of California Rare Book School (CalRBS). It is a milestone year for CalRBS given that we are celebrating 20 years of continuous operation! The list of former directors, staff, faculty, and students is impressive, and our hope is that CalRBS is making a positive mark on the future trajectories of bibliography, librarianship, archives, museum studies, and data studies.
The schedule of courses this year is an exciting one for us this year. We hope that you enjoy both the breadth of these offerings and the deep dives into the unique and diverse areas of book and library studies these courses offer. As usual, CalRBS staff and faculty have worked hard to ensure that our courses are intellectually rigorous, creative, and beneficial to your professional lives. This year has been made possible by the generous support of many institutions, but special thanks to: the UCLA Department of Information Studies; the UCLA School of Education and Information Studies; UCLA Library Special Collections; the William Andrews Clark Memorial Library; UCLA Data X; Huntington Library; Getty Center; USC Libraries; California State University, Northridge; Loyola Marymount Special Collections; the Academy Museum; LA County Library; Los Angeles Public Library; and many others. In the several weeks that CalRBS is in full operation, we become a hub connecting some of the greatest institutions this country has to offer, and we’re proud of that!
The strength of the rare book and library community comes from the partnerships that we forge with each other – and by this metric, the field is as robust as can be as we expand it in exciting ways. Additional support has come from academic and research libraries and antiquarian booksellers of California and beyond. Scholarships and events have been made possible through the CalRBS Annual Fund, the Martin and Bernard Breslauer endowment, the Mellon Foundation, and the Ahmanson Foundation, along with many individual donations that keep CalRBS moving forward with great strength, including a bequest on behalf of William P. Barlow, Jr. We are especially proud to announce the establishment of CalRBS’s first endowment to support student scholarships: The Max J. Adjarian Fund for the California Rare Book School.
Please, as always, keep an eye on our offerings for next year’s courses, events, and initiatives, such as future CalRBS International courses and deeper partnerships with world-renowned institutions.
All best,
Robert D. Montoya, M.F.A., M.L.I.S., Ph.D.
Martin and Bernard Breslauer Professor in Bibliography
Chair & Associate Professor of UCLA Information Studies
Director, California Rare Book School
CalRBS 2026 Information
Please note that this schedule is primarily for CalRBS classes held in Los Angeles, and is an example of the weekly schedule. Courses held in other cities or modalities are likely to use a different schedule, and your instructor will know what that schedule will be.
| Times | Monday | Tuesday | Wednesday | Thursday | Friday |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 8:00am – 9:00am | Arrive to site Director’s Welcome & Communal Breakfast | CalRBS Breakfast | CalRBS Breakfast | CalRBS Breakfast | CalRBS Breakfast |
| 9:00am – 10:30am | Session 1 | Session 1 | Session 1 | Session 1 | Session 1 |
| 10:30am – 11:00am | Break | Break | Break | Break | Break |
| 11:00am – 12:30pm | Session 2 | Session 2 | Session 2 | Session 2 | Session 2 |
| 12:30pm – 1:30pm | CalRBS Communal Lunch | Lunch Break | Lunch Break | Lunch Break | Lunch Break |
| 1:30pm – 3:00pm | Session 3 | Session 3 | Session 3 | Session 3 | Session 3 |
| 3:00pm – 3:30pm | Break | Break | Break | Break | Break |
| 3:30pm – 5:00pm | Session 4 | Session 4 | Session 4 | Session 4 | Evaluations |
| After Hours | CalRBS Keynote Lecture | Special Events |
Below are the anticipated general course locations for each CalRBS course offered this summer. For day-to-day information about where your course meets, please be in contact with your instructors.
This section will update frequently, but the best place to ask for questions about your day-to-day course activities is your instructor.
| Day | Date | Depart | Return | Course | Site |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| We. | July 22 | 10:00am | 5:00pm | Libro antiguo mexicano: historia, bibliotecas y acceso digital | Biblioteca del Museo Nacional de Antropología e Historia and Archivo de la Catedral Metropolitana |
| We. | August 5 | 10:30am | 4:00pm | History of the Book in America, 1700-1900 | Huntington Library |
| We. | August 5 | 11:30am | 2:15pm | Beyond the Book | Margaret Herrick Library |
| We. | August 5 | 9:00am | 11:15am | Beyond the Book | Private Library: Jim Heimann |
| Th. | August 6 | 8:00am | 2:00pm | English Paleography | The Huntington Library |
| Mo. | August 10 | 10:00am | 5:00pm | The Greek Book in the Renaissance | YRL Special Collections Ahmanson-Murphy Room |
| Mo. | August 10 | 2:15pm | 4:15pm | Bibliography and Black American Print Culture | Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture – To Uncover and Reveal to the World 15 Malcolm X Blvd, New York, NY 10037 |
| Mo. | August 10 | 2:15pm | 4:15pm | Bibliography and Black American Culture | Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture. 15 Malcolm X Blvd, New York, NY 10037. Barrye Brown |
| Tu. | August 11 | 9:00am | 5:00pm | The Greek Book in the Renaissance | The Huntington Library |
| Tu. | August 11 | 1:00pm | 4:30pm | The Critical Praxis of Special Collections Librarianship | Autry Museum of the American West-James R. Parks Library and Archives |
| Tu. | August 11 | 3:30pm | 4:30pm | Rare Book Cataloging | William Andrews Clark Memorial Library |
| We. | August 12 | 10:00am | 3:00pm | The Greek Book in the Renaissance | YRL Special Collections Ahmanson-Murphy Room |
| We. | August 12 | 9:00am | 7:00pm | Descriptive Bibliography | William Andrews Clark Memorial Library |
| We. | August 12 | 10:45am | 1:15pm | The Critical Praxis of Special Collections Librarianship | UCLA, Special Collections, Charles E. Young Research Library Los Angeles, CA 90095-1575, Lizeth Ramirez |
| Th. | August 13 | 10:00am | 1:15pm | The Critical Praxis of Special Collections Librarianship | Center for the Study of Political Graphics, 3916 Sepulveda Blvd, Suite 103 Culver City, CA, Emily Sulzer |
| Th. | August 13 | 9:00am | 10:30am | Rare Book Cataloging | William Andrews Clark Memorial Library |
| Th. | August 13 | 3:10pm | 4:45pm | Bibliography and Black American Print Culture | The Lit.Bar Bookstore 131 Alexander Ave, Bronx, NY 10454 |
| Fr. | August 14 | 11:00am | 5:00pm | Artists’ Books at the Front | Interference Archive, 314 7th St, Brooklyn, NY 11215, Monica Johnson |
| Fr. | August 14 | 9:45am | 11:05am | Bibliography and Black American Print Culture | Poster House – Act Black: Posters from Black American Stage & Screen 119 W 23rd St, New York, NY 10011 |
July 20–24, 2026
August 3–7, 2026
Monday, August 3, 2026, 8:30am–9:00am
Director’s Welcome and Continental Breakfast
Location: UCLA at SEIS Building First Floor Information Studies Library Room 102
Description: Prof. Rob Montoya and the CalRBS staff will welcome you and hand your personalized name tags and CalRBS tote bags.
Monday, August 3, 2026, 12:30pm–1:30am
CalRBS Group Luncheon
Location: UCLA at SEIS Building, Second Floor Salon
Catering: Provided by Sunnin Lebanese Café, Westwood
Tuesday, August 4, 2026, 5:15pm–7:15pm
CalRBS Printed Games Community Night
Location: UCLA at SEIS Building, Room 111
Description: Come play with a variety of printed games
Wednesday, August 5, 2026, 4:30pm–7:00pm
Private CalRBS event – Invitation Only
Keynote Lectures by Sean Pessin and Liza Mardoyan at 4:30 pm at the Willam Andrews Clark Memorial Library
Location: UCLA at SEIS Building, Room 111
Post-lecture Reception Catering: Provided by Fundamental.
Friday, August 7, 2026, 4:45pm–6:45pm
Conclusory Social Mixer
Location: *
Catering: Provided by *
August 10–14, 2026
Monday, August 10, 2026, 8:30am–9:00am
Director’s Welcome and Continental Breakfast
Location: UCLA at SEIS Building First Floor Information Studies Library Room 102
Description: Prof. Rob Montoya and the CalRBS staff will welcome you and hand your personalized name tags and CalRBS tote bags.
Monday, August 10, 2026, 12:30pm–1:30am
CalRBS Group Luncheon
Location: UCLA at SEIS Building, Second Floor Salon
Catering: Provided by Sunnin Lebanese Café, Westwood
Tuesday, August 11, 2026, 5:15pm–7:15pm
CalRBS Printed Games Community Night
Location: UCLA at SEIS Building, Room 111
Description: Come play with a variety of printed games
Wednesday, August 12, 2026, 4:30pm–7:00pm
Private CalRBS event – Invitation Only
Keynote Lecture by Guillermo Morales at 4:30 pm at the Willam Andrews Clark Memorial Library
Location: UCLA at SEIS Building, Room 111
Post-lecture Reception Catering: Provided by Fundamental.
Friday, August 14, 2026, 4:45pm–6:45pm
Conclusory Social Mixer
Location: *
Catering: Provided by *
- Maps of UCLA
This interactive map includes layers for accessibility, emergencies, food and drink, gender inclusive restrooms, hydration stations, lactation rooms, and parking. Printable maps are available here:
General CalRBS Information
Grades
There are no grades given at CalRBS. Each student who attends each session of their course will receive a certificate of completion from California Rare Book School.
Certificates
CalRBS currently offers two Professional Certificates: one in Rare Books and Manuscripts, and another in Critical Librarianship, Activism, and Justice.
Certificates are awarded after completion of five courses (25 total instruction days) in CalRBS and/or the Department of Information Studies at UCLA/SEIS that meet certificate requirements. While certificates require some core offerings, they are designed to allow flexibility through elective courses so that participants can emphasize learning in specific, self-designed concentrations.
Certificates are conceived of as professional certificates and are not academic degrees from UCLA. Completion of the five courses for each Certificate, usually within a 56 year period, is the only requirement for the Certificates. Courses used as credit for one certificate may not be used as credit for another. The certificate program is subject to the oversight of an Information Studies faculty committee.
United States of America
CARSON, CALIFORNIA
The International Printing Museum
The International Printing Museum is a dynamic museum devoted to bringing the history of printing and books to life for diverse audiences. The Museum is home to one of the world’s largest and most comprehensive collections of antique printing machinery and graphic arts equipment. Their mission is to interpret and present the collection for a contemporary audience through demonstrations of working machinery, historic reenactments, and hands-on workshops.
SAN FRANCISCO, CALIFORNIA
The Book Club of California
The Book Club of California is a non-profit, membership-based organization founded in 1912. The club supports book making, fine printing, design, typography, illustration, literature, and scholarship through a dynamic series of publications, public programs, and exhibitions related to the history and literature of California and the West.
Letterform Archive
https://letterformarchive.org/
Letterform Archive is a nonprofit special collections library, museum, and center for inspiration, education, publishing, and community dedicated to collecting materials on the history of lettering, typography, printing, and graphic design.
The Grabhorn Institute
https://www.arionpress.com/grabhornabout
The Grabhorn Institute was formed to preserve and perpetuate the use of two unique San Francisco businesses with roots more than one-hundred years old as a living museum and educational center: M & H Type, established in 1915, which is now one of the oldest and largest continuously operating type foundries in America, and Arion Press, founded in 1974, publisher of limited-edition artist books printed by letterpress and bound by hand. Designated an “irreplaceable cultural treasure” by the National Trust for Historic Preservation, the Institute houses an extensive and historically significant collection of metal typefaces and associated ornamental cuts, and supports the only paid apprenticeship program in typecasting, letterpress printing and bookbinding in the country. The small staff of M & H Type and Arion Press are all graduates of the apprenticeship program. The Institute also sponsors a series of free public talks, demonstrations, and exhibits, in addition to weekly tours of the Press.
The San Francisco Center for the Book
The San Francisco Center for the Book is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization that fosters the joy of books and bookmaking, the history, artistry, and continuing presence of books in our culture and enduring importance as a medium of self-expression. Over 300 workshops annually offer learning at all levels: from introductory to focused advanced courses spanning traditional bookbinding, cutting-edge printing techniques and experimental book forms. Exhibitions are designed to inform and inspire visitors. The Center also offers nonacademic certificates in Letterpress Printing and Hand Bookbinding. Courses meet from 16 times. Tuition covers the cost of the workshop and materials and can range from $70–550 depending on the length of the workshop and materials required. Contact: (Enable Javascript to see the email address)
COLORADO SPRINGS, COLORADO
Colorado Antiquarian Book Seminar
The Colorado Antiquarian Book Seminar is held annually at Colorado College, Colorado Springs. “Specialists share their expertise with booksellers, librarians, and collectors in a comprehensive survey of the rare book market, both antiquarian and modern. Basic procedures and problems are discussed both formally and informally through a series of lectures, discussions, demonstrations and practical hands-on workshops with emphasis on the internet, computers and internet book selling, as well as traditional methods.”
IOWA CITY, IOWA
Iowa Graduate College Center for the Book
A distinctive degree-granting program that integrates training in book arts practice and technique with research into the history and culture of books through bookbinding, letterpress printing, papermaking, lettering arts, artists books, book design, and historical & cultural book studies.
WORCESTER, MASSACHUSETTS
Program in the History of the Book in American Culture
https://www.americanantiquarian.org/historyofthebook
AAS established the Program in the History of the Book in American Culture (PHBAC) in 1983 in order to focus its resources on promoting an emerging field of interdisciplinary inquiry. Through the Program, AAS draws not only on its traditional resources as a center of bibliographical research and as a matchless repository of early American printed materials, but also on recent intellectual currents that look at the history of books and other printed objects in their full economic, social, and cultural context. In providing intellectual leadership of this field, the Program has sponsored conferences, publications, seminars, and research fellowships.
NEW YORK, NEW YORK
BOOKLYN
Booklyn’s mission is to promote artists’ books as art and research material and to assist artists and organizations in documenting, exhibiting, and distributing their artwork and archives within the academic market. We specifically assist artists and organizations committed to environmental and social justice. We work towards our mission by documenting, exhibiting, promoting, and distributing their work within educational institutions worldwide. We envision a world in which art and bookmaking are tools for education, personal agency, community engagement, and activism.
The Center for Book Arts
https://centerforbookarts.org/
Center for Book Arts promotes active explorations of artistic practices related to the BOOK as ART. As the oldest nonprofit dedicated to uplifting the book arts, they support the field through education, preservation, exhibitions, studio access, and community building.
San Gemini Preservation Studies
https://www.sangeministudies.info
San Gemini Preservation Studies is a summer field school, now in its 25th year, that organizes lectures, research, fieldwork, workshops and field trips in the disciplines of historic preservation, restoration and conservation. It is located in Central Italy in the city of San Gemini.
COLLEGE STATION, TEXAS
The Book History Workshop at Texas A&M University
https://library.tamu.edu/bookhistory
This five-day workshop, limited to 20 students, provides an intensive, hands-on introduction to the history of books and printing. The workshop is intended for librarians, archivists, students, teachers, collectors, and private individuals who have an interest in the first three and a half centuries of the printed book. The course consists of a unique combination of labs and seminars designed to provide students with practical experience, as well as a broad historical survey of the field.
CHARLOTTESVILLE, VIRGINIA
Rare Book School
Rare Book School (RBS) is an independent, nonprofit institute supporting the study of the history of books and printing and related subjects. Founded in 1983 at Columbia University, it moved to its present home at the University of Virginia in 1992. In addition to CalRBS, RBS offers about 30 five-day, noncredit courses of distinction on topics concerning old and rare books, manuscripts, and special collections. Courses are almost always limited to 12 or fewer students, who make a fulltime commitment to any course they attend, from 8:30 am to 5 pm, Monday through Friday. The majority of courses take place during the summer in Charlottesville, VA, but courses are also offered throughout the year in different locations such as New York City, Philadelphia, Washington, DC, Princeton, Yale, and Indiana.
United Kingdom
LONDON, UK
London Rare Book School
https://ies.sas.ac.uk/londonrarebooksschool
The London Rare Book School is a series of five-day intensive courses on a variety of book-related subjects taught in and around Senate, University of London through the School of Advanced Studies. The courses are taught by internationally renowned scholars using the unrivaled library and museum resources of London, including the Victoria and Albert Museum, Senate House Libraries and many more.
Italy
CORNUDA (TREVISO)
TIPOTECA
Tipoteca preserves, Tipoteca shows, Tipoteca does. Thanks to visits, workshops, temporary exhibitions and meetings, Tipoteca encourages the dialogue between past and present and focuses on the foremost cultural revolution of the last five centuries: printing. Not just a museum, but also an archive, library, print shop, gallery and auditorium — all are ways Tipoteca offers visitors the chance to discover and experience the beauty of letterpress.
Susan M. Allen
CalRBS, Director, Retired
Terry Belanger
Founding Director
Rare Book School, University of Virginia
David Brafman
Curator of Rare Books, Getty Research Institute
Lynda Claassen
Director, Mandeville Special Collections Library, University of California, San Diego
Anna Chen
Head Librarian, William Andrews Clark Library/ Center for 17th and 18th Century Studies, University of California, Los Angeles
Emily Drabinski
Interim Chief Librarian, The Graduate Center, City University of New York
President of the American Library Association for 2023–24
Tamar Evangelestia-Dougherty
David Faulds
Curator, Rare Books and Literary Manuscripts, The Bancroft Library
Tom Hyry
Florence Fearrington Librarian of Houghton Library, Harvard University
Russell Johnson
Curator, History & Special Collections for the Sciences, University of California, Los Angeles
Ken Karmiole
Bookseller, Kenneth Karmiole, Bookseller, Inc.
Beverly P. Lynch
Founding Director, California Rare Book School, University of California, Los Angeles, Emerita
Mark Roosa
Dean of Libraries, Pepperdine University
Howard Rootenberg
Bookseller, B. & L. Rootenberg Rare Books
Judy Harvey Sahak
Director, Ella Strong Denison Library, Emerita Scripps College
Carol Sandberg
Bookseller, Michael R. Thompson Rare Books
Nina Schneider
Head Cataloger, William Andrews Clark Library/ Center for 17th and 18th Century Studies, University of California, Los Angeles
Gary E. Strong
University Librarian, Emeritus, University of California, Los Angeles
Lee Walcott
Ahmanson Foundation, Emeritus
David S. Zeidberg
Avery Director of the Library, The Huntington Library, Retired
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Please note, a printable version of the handbook will be available after July 24.