California Rare Book School Goes Global
By Joanie Harmon
November 14, 2025
UCLA’s signature program for rare book professionals turns 20, providing cross-cultural exchange and comparative learning.
From Oaxaca to Los Angeles to archives across the globe, the California Rare Book School (CalRBS) at UCLA is shaping how the world studies and preserves the written word. Now in its 20th year, CalRBS has become a global hub for scholars, librarians, conservators, and artists dedicated to exploring the history and future of the book and archival preservation. CalRBS fosters connections from libraries and archives worldwide looking at material history, social justice, and the evolving ethics of preservation. Through its courses and alumni, CalRBS’ reach now extends far beyond UCLA, creating international exchanges that illuminate how books, archives, and print cultures link communities across borders.
Robert D. Montoya, executive director of California Rare Book School, associate professor and chair of the UCLA Department of Information Studies, and the Martin and Bernard Breslauer Endowed Professor in Bibliography at UCLA, reflects on the program’s reach:
“Over two decades, CalRBS has trained hundreds of library professionals, academics, artists, and others, whose work continues to shape practices in libraries, archives, museums, and nonprofits worldwide,” says Montoya. “I, too, was one of these students when I was an MLIS student at UCLA. That CalRBS has moved onto the global stage is a significant step toward the expansion of the program in new and exciting directions—and something I have long wished to facilitate.”
Hands-On Learning and Local Engagement
A cornerstone of the CalRBS experience is in situ learning. Students engage directly with collections and libraries in the cities they visit, gaining first-hand insight into how cultural institutions function as both scholarly resources and civic anchors. In Los Angeles, CalRBS students benefit from UCLA’s world-class resources, including the Louise M. Darling Biomedical Library, the Fowler Museum, the William Andrews Clark Memorial Library, and UCLA Library Special Collections at the Charles E. Young Research Library.
These experiences immerse students in the challenges and opportunities of public-facing libraries versus rarefied research collections.
Global and Comparative Perspectives
Since 2022, CalRBS has expanded its international presence, offering participants the opportunity to study in Italy and Mexico. Visits have included state and university libraries, private collections, print museums, paper manufacturing plants, rare booksellers, and conservator labs. Sean Pessin, CalRBS co-project manager, emphasizes the value of this interdisciplinary approach.
“This mix encourages dialogue between theory and practice, between traditional and emerging approaches to the book and the archive, among specialists and amateurs,” he says.
The 2025 summer program exemplified this global focus. Courses explored East Asian and Western European printing histories, the political and material life of radical publishing in Latin America, and the ethical responsibilities of curating cultural heritage collections within institutions shaped by structural inequities. Workshops in digital humanities, cartography, primary source literacy, typography, children’s literature, comics, copyright law, and special collections pedagogy equipped students to integrate rare materials into both teaching and research.
“This summer, we had students from Canada, Colombia, India, Italy, Mexico, Netherlands, United Kingdom, in addition to students from across the U.S.,” says Pessin.
“There is a need to create a network of international cultural heritage workers interested in the pedagogical dimensions of book history, print culture, and librarianship,” he says, describing CalRBS’ dedication to fostering cross-cultural exchanges and comparative learning.
“For some years now, the trend in book history has been to widen our gaze, to understand how different temporalities, geographies, and cultures, reshape the way we understand traditional, linear Western-centric notions of historical and material work,” says Professor Montoya.
“Bibliography and book history is networked and complex; messy and difficult to untangle. Global work must be done with care, with respect to our host cities and institutions, and, most importantly, engage and benefit local practitioners. It’s taken many years to sharpen the model of CalRBS International, but I’m pleased at where we are at the moment, and we are continually working to improve these experiences. CalRBS is proud of the work we have accomplished thus far and have much in store for the future.”
Professional Development and Alumni Networks
CalRBS students represent a broad and diverse range of expertise, with participants from libraries, archives, museums, and special collections, as well as graduate students, faculty, booksellers, conservators, digital humanists, collectors, printers, publishers, and artists. “This interdisciplinary mix is one of CalRBS’s greatest strengths — it encourages dialogue between theory and practice, between traditional and emerging approaches to the book and the archive among specialists and amateurs,” says Pessin.
Liza Mardoyan, CalRBS co-project manager, and Pessin have both experienced CalRBS as students. A UCLA alumna, Mardoyan achieved her MLIS in 2020, specializing in rare books, print, and visual culture. She is currently pursuing her PhD in history of the book at UCLA and is a Mellon Foundation Fellow.
Mardoyan credits CalRBS with leading her to graduate school at UCLA.
“Susan Allen (retired director of CalRBS and of UCLA Library Special Collections) was the person I first connected with when exploring the CalRBS program, and her encouragement led me to pursue graduate studies in library and information science,” she says.
“CalRBS allows you to expand your horizons by engaging with a network of scholars and experts,” says Mardoyan. “You learn about areas such as bookselling and donor relations at libraries — things I might not have encountered otherwise. The program also complements the coursework offered in our department and across departments at UCLA, including English Paleography, Introduction to Medieval Manuscripts, and Rare Book Cataloging. It’s called professional development for a reason.”
“I was fortunate to attend CalRBS before becoming involved as a collaborator and instructor,” says Pessin, who is a Mellon Foundation Fellow in the UCLA Library, Justice, and Ethics Lab. “The experience was foundational: studying with Susan Allen, Dan Slive, Michaela Ullman, and Rob Montoya deepened my understanding of book history, material culture, and the professional networks that sustain the field. More importantly, it gave me a model for community-based learning — how rigorous, hands-on education can create a sense of shared stewardship across institutions.”
