Two Cornellians have won honors in a national book collecting contest, the second year in a row that students from Cornell have been among the competition's finalists.

Diane Looser and Brent Morris, who tied for first prize in the graduate student division of the 2007 Cornell University Library and Library Advisory Council Book Collection Contest, were awarded second place and an honorable mention, respectively, in the Collegiate Book-Collecting Championship, sponsored by Fine Books & Collections magazine. Last year Cornell graduate students Daniel McKee '06 and David Rando '06 garnered first and third prizes in the contest.

Looser's collection, "Dramatic Oceania Literature, c. 1970-Present," consists of plays from Hawaii, Aotearoa (New Zealand), Fiji and Rotuma, Papua New Guinea, American and Western Samoa, Tonga, Niue, Vanuatu and the Solomon Islands. Some of the items have been formally published, but many of the collection's pieces are simply typed manuscripts, complete with dog-eared pages and notes in the margins.

"I was really surprised. I have a lot of faith in the archive but wasn't sure it would translate in this context," said Looser, a doctoral candidate in theater studies from New Zealand. "It is a very utilitarian collection, not rare or pretty. It's designed to be used."

"The Abolitionist Mind," the collection by Brent Morris, a Ph.D. student in history, traces the ideological developments of the American abolitionist movement in the mid-19th century and includes many original works and first editions. The collection, Morris said, is "meant to offer a reader the opportunity to share the same intellectual experiences of the abolitionists themselves" through "volumes published in the reformers' lifetimes, written by and about the most prominent abolitionists and their crusade to bring freedom to America's four million enslaved men and women."

Introduced in 2003, Cornell's book collection contest continues the tradition of the Arthur H. Dean and Mary Marden Dean Book Collection Contest, held in Uris Library for undergraduate students from 1966 to 1987.

"One of the things we've learned from our book collecting contest is that books still matter to Cornell students. Many of them are quite passionate about their reading and collecting," said Lance Heidig, coordinator of Cornell's competition and a librarian in the Department of Collections, Reference, Instruction and Outreach. "These students are actively visiting bookstores and searching the Web for specific items to add to their collections."

For details about the national competition, visit http://www.finebooksmagazine.com/contest/. For more information about Cornell's contest, go to http://www.library.cornell.edu/bookcontest.