For my 700th IHEC Blog post I thought I would talk a little about my Bury Book International Education Library and Archive. From time to time I mention my personal international education library in posts here on IHEC Blog as I'm proud of the literature I have collected over the years. As you can see in the photos embedded with this post, the physical hard copy materials of my Bury Book International Education Library and Archive fit onto two book shelves at my home office and make nice stack of boxes in the corner of my office at The University of Chicago where I work as Senior Adviser for International Initiatives in The College. My electronic collection of international education materials is quite extensive and currently stands at 8,693 pieces (3.81 GB of space). I have not stepped foot in a library to obtain any piece literature for any of my graduate program courses or dissertation work.
So why did I come up with the name Bury Book International Education Library and Archive? Well, I got the name from my daughter. My daughter is a voracious reader and has been that way since she was very young. When she was two years old she had to sleep with all of the books read to her at night and the pile of books in her bed continued to grow and grow until they would fall on top of her in the middle of the night. She's been creating her own books since age three and that practice continues to this day (she is now nine). About three years ago we were having a conversation about all of her books she said she wanted to create a library for children who didn't have books to read at home and that she would call it the Bury Book Library because you "bury your nose in a book when you read it." I liked where she was going with her library idea and how she came up with the name so I asked her if I could adapt the name Bury Book into the name of my international education library and she thought that would be a good idea.
In the last three weeks I have received inquiries/requests for access to my Bury Book International Education Library and Archive (it's been a bit busy and I haven't responded yet but I will soon. Sorry!). Access is possible but it will take some coordination as the majority of my collection is in my home office as well as on the laptop I use for my International Higher Education Consulting side business and related work.
I have received three significant donations from senior international educators and researchers and it is some of these donations that constitute the archive portion of my library. For instance I have several boxes of personal notes, communications and other materials from a former NAFSA Region V chair of the early 1990's. This same person is now working to gather similar materials from her/his days as chair of SECUSSA of NAFSA do donate to my collection. For a person like me who enjoys researching the historical side of the field these NAFSA Region V documents were a most welcomed addition to my collection. Perhaps this will be the topic of a future IHEC Blog post but if any readers would like to make a donation (non-tax deductible [U.S.]) of any or all international education related materials in their personal collection please know that I will treat them well and will do my best to make them as available as possible to others. Please feel free to contact me at international.ed.consulting@gmail.com about potential donations or with any questions.
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