Forgotten treasures turn up in U of T rare book library inventory

Just in time for a new crop of students, the University of Toronto's Thomas Fisher Rare Book Library is completingan inventory of itsbooks, scrolls and manuscripts and encountering some forgotten treasures in the process.

Opening the boxes that hold the libraries rarest materials has yielded some surprises, said Pearce Carefoote, interim head of rare books and special collections, in an interview on Metro Morning.

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"In the old days, wedidn't necessarily catalogue things down to the very last description," he said Tuesday, explaining that the last inventory performed 40 years ago left some details out, for example, the materials out of which a book is made.

The current inventory has turned up books bound with silver and gold thread, elaborate embroideryand silver filigree, now searchablefor any library user.

"You're thinking, 'Isn't this wonderful information to add?" Carefootesaid.

The library, attached to the larger Robarts Library, houses materials that ranges in age from a 4,000-year-old cuneiform tablet to papers and manuscripts from Leonard Cohen and Margaret Atwood.

It's a big job to go through every piece of the collection, but Carefoote saidit's something that he and his staff looked forward to doing.

They've been cheered to find that, by and large, their organization system works well books are turning up where they are supposed to be.

"That makes us very happy," Carefootesaid.

In the last few years, the collection was threatened by moisture that seepedin through concrete walls.

Last winter, the exterior of the library was clad in a special foam to keep the books safe and dry.