Tuesday 23 August 2016

The beginning

I have arrived in Kent after three flights over one very long and extended August 22nd! It is a lovely warm day, and students are starting to arrive on the Kent State University campus in readiness for the new university year which will start in September.

I was met at the Akron/Canton airport by Michelle Baldini, the librarian who looks after the collection, and I have just met with Marianne Martens, the director of the Reinberger Children' s Library Centre where the Marantz collection resides. They are lovely people and very welcoming.

I am starting today with all of the Spanish-English dual language picturebooks in the collection, as this is the largest proportion of dual language books. Brianna, a student assistant in the collection, has got them all out for me.

I have pictures to insert into this blog, but for some reason they're not uploading. I will try and fix this a little later tonight, but for now a beautiful set of picturebooks are spread across a table awaiting my attention!

2 comments:

  1. Exciting to be there at the start of their school year! How many books are in the collection? What an immersive experience :)

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  2. Thanks for your comment Dianne. Funny you should ask, I just founf out yesterday that the collection started at 22,000 books but has received more donations since and is now closer to 28,000 books. It is a beautiful little space, with lots of original illustration art work (another bequest) hung above the books.

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