Community Conversations: A Look Inside Rare Books and Manuscripts

Get a peek inside the ASU Library’s vast collection of more than 40,000 rare items spanning centuries – everything from Chaucer to Star Wars.

You are invited to join our conversation with Julie Tanaka, Curator of Rare Books and Manuscripts at the ASU Library and the Interim Head of Distinctive Collections, and Bob Beard, Communication and Public Engagement Strategist for the Center for Science and the Imagination, as they explore what makes a “rare book” rare. 

Julie and Bob will take questions from the audience near the end of the discussion.

This is the second in a series of virtual events featuring a library expert in conversation with community members seeking to gain a deeper understanding of the resources and wide array of services available to them at the ASU Library.

Among many other items, the ASU Library is home to the Doris and Marc Patten Herbal Collection, a collection of books with illustrations documenting the history of plant medicinal use from 1485-1935; the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood Collection, featuring every book published by the Kelmscott Press; the Book Arts and Fine Printing Collection and the Civic Classics Collection.

Julie Tanaka spent 8 years as a Curator of Special Collections and Western European History Librarian at the University of Notre Dame. Furthering her work there, she brings to ASU’s Distinctive Collections not a gatekeeper but a generous spirit of an educator who wishes everyone to learn and to benefit from the collections. 

A Marine Corps veteran and double alumnus of ASU, Bob Beard produces multimedia content, public programming, exhibitions and experiences at the intersection of science, engineering and the humanities for the Center for Science and the Imagination. With two decades of hands-on media experience, paired with research in fandoms and other communities of practice, Bob’s work focuses on creating spaces for intellectual curiosity, accessibility and collaboration.