Wednesday, October 13, 2010

Gary Frost, Conservator, University of Iowa Libraries, has been given the Lifetime Achievement Award for 2010 by the Guild of Book Workers. The Guild, founded in 1906, is focused on service to the hand bookbinding community. Frost joins other Awards recipients Bernard Middleton, Hedi Kyle, Don Etherington and Michael Wilcox. He is cited for contributions to conservation education and bookbinding studies. The Award will be presented this week during the “Standards of Excellence Seminar” in Tucson, Arizona, October 14-16.

The GBW article citing Gary’s achievments notes that Gary was a “key player during the pivotal period in the ’70s when the bookbinding field turned its attention from the traditional focus on the decoration of the book to the new fascination with the structure of the book.” The article talks about Gary’s fine drawings detailing book structures and his thought-provoking website http://futureofthebook.com/. The article concludes that “Gary is a rare bird who over four decades has become a monumental personality in the book world.” For entire article see http://guildofbookworkers.org/awards

What the article doesn’t note is Gary’s tendency to make up words when he can’t find one to describe something. Those of us who work with Gary have caught on to his unique use of words and have even started using some of his words and phrases. So much so that when we write something for public consumption, we have someone else read the text for “Garyisms” so we can re-write into plain English!

Congratulations, Gary, it’s an honor to have worked with you these past 10 years.