With well over 2500 Asia-themed cookbooks in the library collections, it won't be hard for you to find items of relevance to display. The challenge, as laid out in the opening text of this guide, is to find a mix of items that represent well both the themes that you wish to highlight and the physical qualities of the books that fit that theme, with enough variety to represent a range of subthemes and regional representation--and to be eye-catching as well!
Our advice is to cast the net widely, create a breadth of possibilities for yourself, and then see how materials look together and work together physically and thematically. Although your selections of potential items will be made individually, in the end the items must look good and work well together. To evaluate this, lay the items out on top of the cases in the Kroch Asia corridor, or a similar 2' by 5' space. Doing so will reveal potential problems. For example, if you pick only large items, you will have trouble fitting many in a case. If all small items, the case will be dense and intimidating. If you select all text, the display will not be dynamic or eye-catching.
Layout is part of selection. Try to arrange your materials to create a clear starting point for the eye (typically top left for Americans,) and so that the items lead one into the next. A staggered layout will always be more dynamic than straight lines. When you find a layout that is appealing, sketch it on a piece of paper, noting which item is which, or numbering your items with paper strips, and noting those numbers on your blueprint.
We have created a reserved cart in the Kroch Asia offices hallway (outside of Room 180, which is on the side closest to the books stacks) where you can temporarily store books that you are considering for the exhibition..
Please place new items on the top ("to be checked out") shelf, and we will move them to the lower shelves once they are checked out with the Kroch Asia Reference card so that users will know that they are not available in the stacks. If you reject something and wish to return it to the stacks, put it in the box beside the cart so that we can release it from the Kroch Asia card.
Please note that if left on the cart there, materials will only be available from roughly 8 AM-6 PM on weekdays. If you want to use the books in the evenings or on weekends, it is better to check them out to yourself and transfer them to the Kroch Asia card at least 10 days before the exhibition installation, unless you are doing your own mountings.
Note: If you do request materials from other CUL libraries, you can talk to Carole Atkinson in room 180 about transferring them from your account to the Kroch Asia card. It will be necessary to check the book out in your name initially, however (unless you ask Carole to make the initial request.)