Dust off those baby books and bring them along to share with UCLA librarian and archivist Russell Johnson and guests at his lecture on “More Baby Books Than You Can Shake a Rattle At:  Building a New Collection for Research in the History of Infant Development,” from 11 a.m. to noon, May 7 at the UC San Diego Biomedical Library.

Although many university libraries boast collections of books geared toward children, including UC San Diego Libraries with its large Dr. Seuss Collection, very few libraries collect books on babies per se. The UCLA Biomedical Library is collecting 19th–21st century baby books, i.e. memory books in which parents record a child’s activities and developmental milestones as well as place photographs, locks of hair, and other memorabilia.  Many books also track individualized medical information—from height and weight to various childhood ailments.  The collection of more than 500 titles and editions, with more than 1200 different copies, now spans 125 years.

The lecture is free and open to the public, but seating is limited.  For more information and to reserve a spot for the lecture, please contact Vicky Anderson, 858.822.4760 or vkanderson@ucsd.edu.

The UC San Diego Biomedical Library is the largest library of its kind south of Los Angeles and the only library in San Diego to be designated as a National Library of Medicine’s Resource Library.  The Library is an essential intellectual resource for San Diego’s dynamic biotech, life sciences, and healthcare communities and houses the largest collection of biomedical, health, pharmaceutical, and biological sciences print and electronic resources in the region.

The UC San Diego Libraries, ranked among the top 25 public academic research libraries in the nation,  play an integral role in advancing and supporting the university’s research, teaching, patient care, and public service missions. The nine libraries that comprise the UCSD Library system provide access to more than 7 million digital and print volumes, journals, and multimedia materials to meet the knowledge demands of scholars, students, and members of the public.  Each day, more than 7,300 people stream through one of the university’s nine libraries. The Libraries’ vast resources and services are accessed more than 87,500 times each day via the UCSD Libraries’ Web site.