Photo by Chris Meyer Lilly Library staff member Ben Graves helps secure one of the many vitrines which protect the collection of pop-up books on display. More photos

Becky Cape's message to Lilly Library visitors is simple: Pop-up books are for everyone.

"People tend to be impressed by them. We hear people say 'Oh wow, I had that one when I was a child.' There's a certain nostalgia element," said Cape, describing the library's collection of wildly colorful and cleverly animated pop-up and moveable books.

As head of reference and public services at the Lilly Library, Cape is the creative mind behind the current main gallery exhibit Not Just for Children: Pop-up and Movable Books. The exhibit continues through Aug. 27 at the Bloomington campus library.

All of the books on display were culled from the library's catalog. Cape has spent the past year selecting books for the exhibit, completing research for the display. "It was really just a matter of seeing what we have--what categories-and then making the selections."

The most difficult part of creating the exhibit was choosing which pages of each individual book to display. "That was hard. Basically, I went through each one, and I had two criteria; one, that I really liked it; and that it showed something spectacular. I was somewhat limited by the display cases. It's tough to display a 12-inch pop-up in a five-inch case," said Cape.

The current exhibit is largely based on a similar exhibit featured a couple of years ago at the Lilly Library showcasing miniature books.

The pop-ups from the Lilly Library collection represent various time periods ranging from the 15th to the 21st centuries, and a portion of the display is dedicated to explaining how the paper mechanics work. Work by paper engineer Dick Dudley gives visitors an inside peek into a pop-up book's "skeleton."

"The books you see at Border's, that are marketed toward children, usually feature mechanics that tend to be the most simple...there's not a lot of variety. For more sophisticated mechanics, look at old Hallmark and Random House designs. Those would have lifts, pop-ups, wheels-just a wide variety," she said describing the scope of styles represented in the exhibit.

As for Cape, her enthusiasm for pop-up books extends beyond her professional life at the library. About three years ago, she began collecting pop-up books personally. She is a regular visitor to online auction sites in her pursuit of rare and collectible pop-ups.

Cape lists the work of John Strejan, Keith Moseley and Robert Subuda as her favorite paper artists.

Cape hopes fans of pop-up books take a few minutes to stop by the Lilly Library before the exhibit ends. Since all of the books belong to the library's collection, enthusiasts that miss the exhibit can locate the books by using the online catalog (IUCAT). Cape suggests doing a search by using the terms "toy" and "moveable," make a request and then view the books in the Lilly Library reading room.

Editor's note: Becky Cape has compiled a list of Web sites that coincides with the Lilly Library "Not Just for Children: Pop-up & Movable Books" exhibit.

Cape recommends the following pop-up book Web sites:

Movable Book Society: http://www.rci.rutgers.edu/~montanar/mbs.html

The Wonderful World of Pop-ups: http://popupbooks.net

Keith Moseley: http://www.pop-upworld.com

Robert Subuda: http://www.robertsabuda.com

More photos from the exhibition