2015 Worst Book Contest
The Preservation Standing Commitee's 2015 Worst Book Contest Winner is Law Library of Louisiana. Their entry, The Second Part of the Parellele or Conference of the Civil Law, the Canon Law, and the Common Law of this Realme of England from 1618, was submitted by Sara V. Pic, Reference Librarian.
Sara writes "The book was found in the basement of our previous building sometime in the 90s or early aughts. It was brought to the attention of a previous director who was not sure what to do with it so it was just wrapped in plastic and left in someone’s office. It was then moved to our new building with the rest of the collection in 2004 and was placed in a corner of the Technical Services office, along with many other rare books wrapped in plastic so that someone could investigate it. Well, eleven years go by and no one had ever looked into what exactly this book was and whether it was important in any way or should just be tossed. A former archivist at LSU helpfully offered to volunteer for us and go through all of these books. This was the worst-looking she found – and, as it turns out, very rare."
Other 2015 Entries
Scroll down to see the other 2015 contest entries from:
- University of Iowa College of Law
- Sacramento County Public Law Library
- County Law Library of Lubbock Texas
- University of Oregon (2 entries)
University of Iowa College of Law – Submitted by Noëlle Sinclair, Head of Special Collections
"This is The National Bank Act as amended and other laws relating to national banks, United States Printing Office, 1927. It was attacked by mice—the picture of the fore edge shows the tooth marks."
Sacramento County Public Law Library – Submitted by Jean L. Willis, Assistant Director for Support Services
"This is the Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary, 11th Edition. Merriam-Webster, Inc., 2003. Although the Internet is fast-becoming the Go-To place to look up words and phrases, our Library's patrons still enjoy using print dictionaries both legal and general. As you can see in the photos, it was well-used."
County Law Library of Lubbock Texas – Sara Campbell, part-time employee and Dual degree student at UNT Law School
"After effects of a flood."
University of Oregon (1st entry) – Submitted by Stephanie Midkiff, Reference Librarian
"The World of Fighting Dogs by Dr. Carl Semencic (1984): A faculty member’s dog took a liking to this book, or else he felt threatened by it, and Devouring Frida: The Art History and Popular Celebrity of Frida Kahlo by Margaret A. Lindauer (1999): A patron's dog decided to chew on this subject for a bit."
University of Oregon (2nd entry) – Submitted by Stephanie Midkiff, Reference Librarian
"A volume of The Statutes at Large of England and of Great-Britain: from Magna Carta to the Union of the Kingdoms of Great Britain and Ireland (1811) and A Concise History of the Common Law by Theodore Frank Thomas Plucknett (1956): A law student taking an English Legal History course decided to annotate the volumes with sticky notes and occasional underlining."
