Rare at Clare

Recently I attended CILIP Rare Books and Special Collections Group Conference, held at Clare College Cambridge, 9-11 September.  This was a very enjoyable and thought-provoking conference, in a beautiful and convenient location.  The conference was about the links between the antiquarian bookselling trade and rare books librarians.   Libraries are the source of many of the books circulating in the trade, legally as withdrawn stock, or illegally if stolen.  We discussed how we can work together to improve security, and the ethics of withdrawing stock, particularly the thinking behind certain high profile deaccessions.  The conference will be written up more fully in the Group’s newsletter in due course!