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Author: Erin Rushing

Erin Clements Rushing is the Outreach Librarian for Smithsonian Libraries and Archives. She enjoys sharing the Libraries and Archives' treasures with new audiences and telling the stories from the stacks through various outreach efforts. She coordinates social media and the blog (Unbound), plans tours and manages the internship program. She also handles rights and reproductions for library collection images and acts as point person for copyright concerns. Erin holds an M.L.S from the University of Maryland, as well as a B.A. in History and Art History.

Poet and Art Maker, Vito Acconci, visits Hirshhorn Museum Library

Acconci1This post was written by Anna Brooke, librarian at the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden Library.

“I hate the word ‘artist.’” said Vito Acconci in an interview with Milena Kalinovska posted on the Hirshhorn Museum web page. Vito was in Washington D.C. for a Meet the Artist public program the evening of January 17, 2013 at the Hirshhorn Museum.  During the day, Vito prepared his presentation in the Hirshhorn Museum Library, using a carrel and examining our artist file on him. He is one of our most distinguished visitors. In addition to his writing and art activities, he was named Designer of the Year in 2012 by Design Miami.

Welcome back, Tatum!

tatum_editThe following post was written by Development intern Tatum Lindsay. Tatum first joined us last summer and explains why she was eager to come back to the Libraries and build on that experience.

A lot of people ask me why I chose to come back to the Smithsonian as an intern. Isn’t once enough? Don’t I need more diverse experience for my infant college resume? What is the point of doing the same internship over again? The truth is there is no better place to be than the Smithsonian. Well, the Smithsonian Libraries, to be exact.

An Artist’s Book in a Trade Book’s Clothing

RichterThis post was written by Jaclyn Peterson. Jaclyn interned at the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden Library this past spring, working to identify Artists’ Books in the collection and making them more accessible in the library catalog.

Before I began working on a cataloging project with the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden Library (HMSG) , I naively thought I was able to spot an artist’s book out of a regular collection a mile away. In my mind, they were supposed to be visually stunning items, handcrafted with mixed media, and having book-like or “book-ish” qualities. All of the artists’ books I had seen in my limited experience were flashy and intricately designed objects created in limited editions, and they seemed to be more art than book. Going through HMSG’s collection and making decisions about which books to tag in the catalog as being ‘Artists’ Books Specimens,’ I discovered a side of artists’ books I had not encountered before: the artist’s book in a trade book’s clothing, or in other words, an artist’s book that looks like a regular book.

Botany, Horticulture and Biodiversity for Intern Adriana Marroquin

adriana01This post was written by Adriana Marroquin, intern in the Botany-Horticulture Library as well as the Biodiversity Heritage Library.

I’ve been an intern at the Smithsonian Botany-Horticulture library since February and am a little over halfway done with my time here. A Maryland native, I hold a Bachelors of Fine Arts in writing, literature and publishing from Emerson College, and recently earned an Masters of Library Science from the University of Maryland. Previously, I worked as a research assistant at the Harvard Forest paleoecology lab, a library assistant at the Harvard Botany Libraries, and a bibliographic data intern at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Central Library.