ABSTRACT
Rare book librarianship is that branch of the profession which is concerned with the custodianship and exploitation of collections which are accorded special treatment on such grounds as age, fragility, value or rarity. Many of the trends affecting librarianship as a whole therefore apply to rare book librarianship by way of cataloguing, collection management and use. Cataloguing was a significant professional issue for rare book librarians generally during the 1990s, as a number of developments took place around standards and the move from manual to automated platforms. Rare book collections are not, or should not, be static things and acquisitions work is a regular component of the professional activity of many rare book librarians, depending on the sums available from the parent body. Many books and manuscripts found new institutional homes in special collections departments during the 1990s, fuelled by the equally regular activities of book dealers, auction houses and private collectors.
