Rare Books and Fine Arts LibrarianMaria Burke with Jamie Thome

On September 24, 2020, we talked with the ever-fascinating Librarian Maria Burke! 

Maria has been called an Entropy Fighter and a Professional Googler. In other words, she works as a librarian, which means (depending on whom you ask) she is either "someone [who] has integrity and pluck and has read a great many books in the hope of repairing the world," or a "hideous creature of unimaginable power." Perhaps both. Unable to do just one thing, Maria holds dual roles at the Milwaukee Public Library as both the Rare Books Librarian and the Fine Arts Librarian. What led to this double position? An abundance of education and experience, plus being in the right place at the right time.  

Maria has earned three degrees, each of which explored books from different vantage points: the book as content (a BA in English), as form (an MFA in Book & Paper Arts from Columbia College Chicago), as information (an MLIS focused in archives). Each degree was interdisciplinary, drawing connections between an assortment of subjects, fitting a desire to connect with a variety of people and ideas. She supplemented her course work through several hands-on experiences, primarily in museums, libraries, and archives. Specifically, these cultural institutions included the Harley-Davidson Museum, the Smithsonian, the National Archives, The Newberry, the Art Institute of Chicago, the Milwaukee Art Museum, and the Milwaukee Public Museum.  

As a librarian, Maria gets to answer questions regarding just about any topic and decide which art books to buy for the library’s collection. When it’s not a pandemic, she gives tours of the 1898 historic building and the more recently-added green roof. She develops library programs to introduce visitors to primary sources and books older than our country; these days focusing on virtual programming highlighting digital collections. The worst days involve cleaning up mold from infected books. The best days are focused on getting to meet with students from local colleges and other community organizations to show them the coolest books in the library. 

Please join us as we pepper Maria with questions about librarianship, how to build an artist's book collection and a "regular" book collection (and what the difference is between the two), and what to do when one runs out of things to read.

If you would like to view previous Quarantours, please visit the Evanston Bound page on the Artists Book House website or our youtube channel.    

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Thanks for watching!