January 28, 2004

UCSD Libraries To Celebrate 3 Millionth Volume Acquisition

By Dolores Davies

The University of California, San Diego Libraries, the second largest research library system in Southern California, will celebrate the acquisition of its three millionth volume at a campus ceremony on Monday, Feb. 9 from 4:30 to 6 p.m.

The keynote speaker at the event will be Alice Prochaska, university librarian at Yale University.

The Libraries’ three millionth volume, The Shepherd of Banbury’s Rules to Judge of the Changes of the Weather, is a small volume of 64 pages by John Claridge, published in London in 1744. The book, donated by Kenneth and Dorothy Hill, contains wise old sayings about the weather and its changes, often written in rhyming form and including a good deal of folk wisdom, such as “A swarm of bees in May/Is worth a load of hay.”

The Shepherd of Banbury’s Rules was the last volume added to Hill’s outstanding early meteorology collection. Hill, a world-renowned book collector who died in 2001, was one of UCSD’s most generous and passionate library donors. Best known for his collection of books about early voyages of exploration and discovery in the Pacific, which he gave to the UCSD Libraries in 1974, Hill was also an avid collector in the areas of California history, ornithology, geology, and meteorology. The Shepherd of Banbury’s Rules is part of the Hill Meteorology Collection donated to UCSD by Dorothy Hill in late 2003.

“We are very excited about reaching the three millionth volume mark,” said Brian E.C. Schottlaender, University Librarian for the UCSD Libraries. “This is a significant milestone for us as an institution, and we are very pleased to be celebrating it with this outstanding and generous gift from Dorothy and Kenneth Hill, who have made such enormous contributions to UCSD and its libraries throughout its history.”

In addition to The Shepherd of Banbury’s Rules, the library staff selected two other volumes for the celebration that represent particular strengths in the UCSD Library holdings. Historia Fucorum, the first scientific treatise devoted to marine botany, was published in Latin in 1767 by Samuel Gottlieb Gmelin and includes elaborate illustrations of seaweed and marine algae on folded leaves. The other volume selected is from the series Blast, a series of artists “books” in the avant-garde Fluxus tradition. Like many artists books, this work is not presented in the traditional book format, but rather as boxes with various items contributed by a number of different artists around a central theme. The editor of Blast, Jordon Crandall, is a UCSD professor in the visual arts department. The Blast editorial council includes many well-known and influential artists including Jenny Holzer, Joseph Kosuth, and Laurie Anderson.

According to Schottlaender, these two additional selections reflect the Libraries’ significant strengths in oceanography as well as artists books. The Scripps Institution of Oceanography Library, which predates the establishment of UCSD, is world renowned and regarded as one of the top oceanography libraries in the world. Less well known is the fact that UCSD Libraries holds one of the largest collections of artists books on the West Coast, second only to UCLA.

The three volumes will be on display at the three millionth volume celebration on Feb. 9. which will be held on campus in the auditorium of the Institute of the Americas. Members of the public are welcome to attend the celebration but reservations should be made in advance due to limited seating. To make reservations please contact Michelle Mittrach at (858) 594-1235 or mmittrac@ucsd.edu

Media Contact: Dolores Davies, (858) 534-5994