Meet the Trilemma I was thinking about the oft-cited software designer's "trilemma": fast, cheap, good. The trilemma for the designer's customer is that it is only possible for a project to be: fast and cheap - can't be good good and cheap - can't be fast good and fast - can't be cheap The qualities contradict each other: … Continue reading Beware the Trilemma!
Tag: Exhibitions
If you’ve got it …
... Flaunt it! Exhibitions of special collections are a wonderful way to reach audiences who might never think or wish to use them in a reading room setting. However, it isn't easy to create exhibitions and most of us struggle with limited funding and space problems. Speakers at the 2011 CILIP Rare Books and Special … Continue reading If you’ve got it …
52 Fantastic Bindings – what next?
Special Collections at the University of St Andrews have been running a weekly series: 52 Weeks of Fantastic Bindings, highlighting the gorgeous bindings of their rare books and manuscripts. I mentioned this great series before, but, now that the 52 Weeks are over, I think it's time to mention it again! The series is worth … Continue reading 52 Fantastic Bindings – what next?
Exhibiting the Written Word
A new report, Exhibiting the Written Word, makes the excellent point that "there has been little reflection on the challenges of displaying the written word and how such displays differ from the display of art and museum artefacts". The report outlines the challenges e.g. book formats were not (usually) created to be shown in glass … Continue reading Exhibiting the Written Word
The Special Collections Handbook 