Meet Edric Mesmer, Cataloging Librarian

by EDRIC MESMER AND DENISE WOLFE

In a recent conversation with Edric Mesmer, a few themes kept returning: how books and words have been a type of life compass for him, how much of his work centers on community and connection, and how unexpected discoveries fuel his curiosity. As a cataloging librarian on the UB Libraries' Discovery Team, Edric sat down to talk about what drew him to the work and what keeps him here.

You grew up near UB. Did you know about The Poetry Collection? 

Not at all! I remember the glow from the stadium lights as a kid, but I had no idea there was a world-renowned Poetry Collection right here in Buffalo. Imagine my surprise when I eventually discovered it.

What first sparked your interest in poetry? 

In high school, I was flipping through a textbook and the pages fell open to a poem by the modernist poet H.D. I instantly knew I had to read more. Later I learned that countless readers have had that same experience. There's a kind of invitation in her work. The poet Robert Duncan, whose papers are held here at UB, placed her work at the center of his study of modern poetry, which he called The H.D. Book.

How did you find your way to UB Libraries?

 I majored in English at SUNY Geneseo, where a librarian named Paula Henry encouraged me to consider library school. Before pursuing my MLS at UB, I worked for a publishing house in New York and completed a graduate program in gender studies at the University of Manchester. I sometimes think my life has been guided by books. Since high school, I've worked in numerous bookstores and interned at a small poetry publishing house. 

I began at UB as a graduate student worker, in a position named for Mary Barnard, the first curator of the Poetry Collection. I had been running a small, stapled magazine and gotten to know Jim Maynard through the poetry scene, and he invited me to interview for the role. Ever since, I've been gazing at the exhaustive mission of the Poetry Collection in amazement.

What are some of your other projects?

I think of myself as a pamphleteer at heart. My first magazine, Yellow Edenwald Field, featured poets, artists and musicians in Buffalo. It eventually evolved into Yellow Field, an international venue with contributors from Vancouver to Japan to the Orkney Islands. I've also edited Among the Neighbors, a pamphlet series on small press histories published by the Poetry Collection. It recently released its 31st issue. And I conduct textual oral histories, interviewing people connected to Buffalo's literary scene. I've spoken with 25 people so far about local institutions ranging from writing groups and experimental theaters to bookstores and indie movie houses.

What does your current role involve?

I work as a cataloging librarian on the Discovery Team, describing the print materials that make up the Poetry Collection. These can be rare, one-of-a-kind artists' books or ephemeral zines never intended to be formally collected. This month I've been going through a collection from a small press that questions the very nature of the book. Titles range from a poem printed on the back of a business card to poems inked on sponge, cotton and industrial cardboard.

What's one thing you wish more people knew about UB Libraries?

How to get to Special Collections! Come find us.

What do you love most about the work? 

There's always something new. Whether something was published a few weeks ago or a few centuries ago, it's often new to me. Just last week I contributed the name of a poetry publisher from the 1930s and '40s to the Library of Congress's name authority file, then traced that author through the publications he helped create. I also love seeing the book carts fill up with researchers' requests. Nothing happens in a vacuum. The works held here, and the stories they tell, are evidence of that.

What do you enjoy outside of work?

My partner Brian and I love being part of an audience, at art galleries, the movies, the Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra. Recent highlights include taking our nephew to The Magic Flute at the Metropolitan Opera and stopping in at Bear Pond Books in Montpelier, Vermont. I'm also a lifelong cat person who is somehow now the delighted roommate of an Italian Greyhound named Dorian. He's nearly 4, but very much still a puppy.