The one-liner, 'Have you heard what happens when a printer meets a librarian?' may sound like a bad pub joke, but this meeting proved that similarities can exceed the differences, when two groups from different but like-minded backgrounds come together.
Accompanied by fellow print-tragic, Stephanus Peters (print consultant and active member of the Penrith Museum of Printing), we were on a mission to explore ways in which institutions, such as Sydney's historic State Library, can work, in various ways, with the printing industry.
We all know from our school days that libraries are scary places. Memories come flooding back of that nasty Miss Throgmorton, who took delight in fining you threepence, just because you were a bit late in returning that book you'd borrowed six months earlier.
I'm sure we all carry horror stories like that, and so it was a pleasure to meet two librarians (curators, if you want to get technical), who were charming, helpful, informative - and who both share a passionate interest in books. In fact, it was this latter quality which brought us all together.
I am, of course, referring to Anni Turnbull and Sarah Morley, both curators at Sydney's State Library. And what on earth were we doing there?
Well may you ask, as there has been virtually no formal interaction between ‘them’ and 'us' - which is strange when you consider that the gentle art of printing lies at the heart of both our respective professions.
After all, a cheeky headline-writer could easily encapsulate our common ground in relation to our respective love of books, as 'We print 'em - you store 'em!' - while clumsy, it does summarise our shared interest in preserving, promoting (and dare I say, printing) books!
But what prompted my sudden interest in the role of libraries was my attendance last month, at a seminar on William Morris, held at ... the same State Library! In case you didn't know (I hadn't heard of him either) William Morris was a prolific author, poet, illustrator, back in the 1890s - but more importantly he founded the idea of the ''limited edition'' press, by hand-printing and publishing numerous lavishly-engraved, embellished and illuminated works - all of which are collector's items these days.
What followed after the seminar was a discussion on contemporary limited-edition book-publishing, in which the importance of collaboration was stressed between the author, the illustrator, the photographer, the book designer, the book-binder, the editor and the publisher.
Who’s missing from this picture? Only the silly bugger who has to print the damn thing! During the Q&A session which followed, I made a few points about how the printing industry may have traditionally been ''the last cab off the rank'' but these days we're much more proactive in reaching out and working with the creatives (stakeholders) as part of the process. And the printing industry has never been in a better position in terms of offering a whole range of special processes and effects to budding authors and book designers - if only we're given the opportunity.
It seemed to hit a chord as I was subsequently approached by one of the curators, who also saw merit in some kind of collaboration between those who store, and those who print, books.
And that is the true story, of how Stephanus and I came to meet with Anni and Sarah!
After viewing some of the incredibly rare books in their care, we got down to business, and these were some of the topics discussed:
- the idea of inviting the PIAA to hold a board meeting on-site at the Library and be taken on a tour of some of their archival collections - on that point, our new CEO, Andrew Macaulay (who was invited but couldn't make it to today's meeting), being a self-confessed bibliophile, would probably love the idea of strengthening ties between 'those who store 'em and those who print 'em';
- visits by various print industry associations (eg, the LIA and the Old Friends) - actual numbers and dates to be decided;
- encouraging the print industry to participate in State Library workshops (similar to the William Morris one) which may be aimed at improving book ''production values'' by promoting a better understanding of what our industry can do for all those who want to produce 'better books' (ie, more 'collaboration'!);
- how the State Library may provide advice to our industry on how we may better store/preserve/protect/curate the various ad hoc book collections which we have, including the big-daddy of them all, the PIAA's rare book collection which includes the extremely valuable Gutenberg bible reprint, plus an original of the Nuremburg chronicles - plus over 150 other valuable books; and
- how the State Library may interact with the Penrith Museum of Printing - including using it as an outsourced workshop for those State Library members keen to learn more about the letterpress process - or who are simply interested in learning more about the history of print, in this country.
In a world where traditional lines of demarcation are breaking down, it makes sense that various institutions that otherwise may not have interacted, reach out to work together.
Stephanus and I believe we convinced Anni and Sarah that those of us in the printing industry are not just a bunch of bland, wishy-washy characters (well, we are) but lurking deep within there is a passion and a desire to preserve the heritage, not found in all industries.
Only good can come from our industry reaching out to other sectors of the community - and reminding people that print is a part of everyday life!
PS: Anni and Sarah also referred to a social history project they are conducting, involving interviews with people from different professional/trade vocations, which would be audio-visually recorded and archived. What better way to help preserve the heritage? Calling for volunteers!