Emma M. Sarconi  is a rare book librarian and book historian specializing in the printed book after 1800. After receiving her B.A. in Book and Media Studies (with minors in English Literature and Literary Studies) from University of Toronto in 2012, Sarconi worked in publishing before pursuing a dual masters degree in Library Science with a concentration in Rare Books and Special Collections from Long Island University (graduated spring 2017) and English Literature from New York University (graduated in spring 2018). During this time, she completed coursework in topics including library collection development, rare book reference, introduction to book history and readers and reading in early America, approaching each with an interdisciplinary or holistic lens in an effort to understand a books contents, but also its context and significance as an object. Sarconi's final thesis project at NYU (written under the advisement of Lisa Gittelman) explored the printing history of the 19th century American gift book The May Flower for 1855 to open up questions of bibliographic value across the sometimes overlapping, sometimes divergent realms of the personal and commercial.

In addition to coursework, she has worked in the public services departments across several East Coast libraries including the Providence Public Library, the library for the Institute for the Study of the Ancient World, and the Brooklyn Historical Society. Emma was the Hemingway in Idaho Fellow at the Community Library in Ketchum, Idaho for the summer of 2017, proposing and performing a bibliographic analysis of the book collection at the Ernest Hemingway homestead that included producing a finding aid, inventory and statistical analysis of the collection, copy for posters and promotional documents, and a public lecture (viewable here); in the summer of 2018, she presented a paper on the friendship between Ernest Hemingway and Archibald MacLeish inspired by on her work in Idaho at the bi-annual Hemingway Society Conference in Paris, France.

Currently employed as the Reference Professional for Special Collections at Princeton University, Sarconi is continuing her public service work in a rare book library setting through reference, involvement in the Teach With Collections initiative, library projects and events, while also working on projects aimed at telling stories of the women represented in the objects found in Princeton’s Special Collections. See the projects page for more information. Emma is motivated every day by the potential for rare book libraries to serve as centers for learning, justice, reflection and inspiration to all patron populations. 

"Through interpretation, understanding; through understanding, appreciation; through appreciation protection" - Freeman Tilden, Interpreting our Heritage