The first of two articles discusses the need for a cooperative approach by the curator and conservator to the physical conservation and preservation of meaning of rare books. The second paper considers issues in special collections security and describes some major library thefts of the last 25 years. (MES)

The first of two articles provides an introduction to this issue. The second article discusses the key issues in rare book librarianship over the past 50 years, including acquisition, care, handling, storage, preservation, cataloging, classifying, processing, circulation, security, and training. Both references and a 77-item bibliography are…