Join us for a second August Brown Bag Lunch as we explore the vital role of collegial interaction between rare book dealers and scholarly conferences, with a focus on the RBMS community.
Edit: a recording of this event is now available on our YouTube channel...
Join us for a second August Brown Bag Lunch as we explore the vital role of collegial interaction between rare book dealers and scholarly conferences, with a focus on the RBMS community. Our panelists will share insights on how dealers can partner with libraries to curate and acquire more diverse materials. Discussion topics will include strategies for building inclusive collections, fostering productive collaborations between the trade and institutions, and examining the broader role of booksellers in advancing equity within special collections.
Building Bridges: Rare Book Dealers and Scholarly Conferences
Aug 26, 2025 02:00 PM ET
Panelists:
Rebecca Baumann, Lilly Library, University of Indiana
Rebecca Baumann is the Head of Curatorial Services and Curator of Modern Books at the Lilly Library, the rare book and manuscript library of Indiana University. They also teach courses on book history and rare book librarianship for the Department of Information and Library Science at IU. Their research and writing focuses on the history of the mass market paperback with special emphasis on genre fiction and queer smut, and you can find highlights from their research on their Substack, “Nympho Librarian.”
Nora Gabor, Bruce McKittrick Rare Books
Nora has been a bookseller at Bruce McKittrick Rare Books, Inc. since 2023. Prior to working in the trade, she was a rare books librarian at DePaul University in Chicago.
Kim Schwenk, Lux Mentis, Booksellers
Kim Schwenk is a rare and antiquarian bookseller with Lux Mentis, Booksellers. She has a specialization in American, European, and Latin American witchcraft history, history of early printed occult texts, and bibliographic studies of early magical curses using plants and objects. She is also active in the occult sciences and the occult book community, both as a researcher and a practitioner.
Kendall Spencer, DeWolfe & Wood Rare Books
Kendall Spencer is a young bookseller at DeWolfe & Wood Rare Books located in Alfred, Maine. A long time history scholar, Kendall discovered the rare book world while studying the libraries of Thomas Jefferson and Frederick Douglass during law school. Since passing the bar, he continues his dedication to the book trade having completed both the CABS and YABS book seminars. As a dealer, he's taken a special interest in black studies across the diaspora, education, and Scottish enlightenment.
Juli McLoone, RBMS 2026 Conference Local Arrangements Committee Co-Chair
Juli McLoone is a Curator in the University of Michigan Library's Special Collections Research Center, where she builds collections and provides instruction & outreach for a wide range of 18th to 20th century print and archival materials, including the Janice Bluestein Longone Culinary Archive. Previously, she was the Rare Books Librarian at the University of Texas at San Antonio (2009-2015). She has served in various capacities in the Rare Books and Manuscripts Section (RBMS) of ALA and is currently Secretary for the Section. She holds an MA in Library and Information Science and an MA in Cultural Anthropology, both from the University of Iowa, as well as a Graduate Certificate from the University of Iowa Center for the Book.
Building Bridges: Rare Book Dealers and Scholarly Conferences
Aug 26, 2025 02:00 PM ET