RBMS 2019 Conference

Sponsored by Arthur Fournier Fine & Rare, LLC

In 1972, researchers from MIT published The Limits to Growth, sharing results of computer simulations predicting outcomes for the earth’s resources related to population and economic growth. If growth continued unchecked, they predicted “overshoot and collapse” of global systems by the late 21st century, but that a “sustainable world” was possible if growth patterns altered. Now a touchstone in the environmental movement, it sparked conversations about sustainability that continue today.

For decades, archives and special collections have measured progress by rate of collection growth and prestige by size of collections. While colleagues in the circulating library have developed sophisticated collective collection strategies as an alternative to building comprehensive collections, the growth imperative has gone relatively unexamined in special collections. This panel will explore our responsibilities related to resource allocation and collection growth in the age of climate change, imagine what it might look like to alter our growth patterns, and consider what we might lose or gain in the process.