Upstate public library one of few to house rare book collection; Spectrum News 1, July 7, 2026

 VIKTORIA HALLIKAAR , Spectrum News 1; Upstate public library one of few to house rare book collection

"The resources you can find at public libraries seem to be ever-growing. One collection is keeping an eye on the future by preserving the past.

Deep in the stacks of the Buffalo & Erie County Public Library is a massive collection of books.

“We're contemporary. We're of the moment,” explained Heather Gring, the rare book curator for Buffalo & Erie County Public Library.

But these books aren’t your standard page-turners.

“The oldest thing in our collection is 4,000 years old, and the most contemporary is local press that has been made this year,” said Gring.

Spectrum News 1 was given a rare look inside the rare book vaults.

“The difference between an old book and a rare book is who wants to buy it,” Gring explained.

Cameras, locks and key codes are trying to not repeat the mistakes of the past.

“This collection is worth, collectively, millions of dollars,” said Gring. "The way the Rare Books department was even started was because of a theft in the 1930s. [...] They worked with the FBI, and they did successfully retrieve almost all of the books that had been stolen.”

Keeping these treasures safe doesn’t mean keeping them hidden. This is one of only about 25 rare book departments in the country to be housed in a public library."

Lost copy of seventh-century poem in Old English discovered at Rome library; The Guardian, April 29, 2026

 Rory Carroll , The Guardian; Lost copy of seventh-century poem in Old English discovered at Rome library

"“This discovery is a testament to the power of libraries to facilitate new research by digitising their collections and making them freely available online,” she said.

Andrea Cappa, head of manuscripts and rare books at the Rome library, said the institution was digitising holdings from Italy’s National Centre for the Study of the Manuscript, which will give researchers access to more than 40m images.

Riccardo Fangarezzi, head of archives at the abbey in Nonantola, said he looked forward to further discoveries. “The present times may be rather dark, yet such intellectual contributions are genuine rays of sunlight: the continent is less isolated,” he said.

The poet Paul Muldoon translated Caedmon’s Hymn into contemporary English in a 2016 anthology of British poetry. The opening lines read:

“Now we must praise to the skies, the Keeper of the heavenly kingdom,

The might of the Measurer, all he has in mind,

The work of the Father of Glory, of all manner of marvel.”"