Remembering the Basics
The library is only able to purchase 10 to 15 percent of new poetry volumes written each year, so the curator must be abreast of publishing trends and new poets, while keeping the perspective of what the library will want to have in its collection for posterity.
It takes a unique individual to combine the duties of a curator and a practitioner of poetry, Haviaras' colleagues say.
"He's a perfect example of a scholar-librarian," says Director of the Harvard University Library and Pforzheimer University Professor Sidney Verba '53. "He's both a curator and a distinguished author, both in poetry and as a novelist. That's a wonderful combination."