The Central Library of Edinburgh: A Library Ahead of Its Time

Entrance to the Central Library and our lovely guide Vesna Rajacic

                            

This was such a treat to see.  Of all the libraries that we visited I have to say that this was my favorite one.  This library has everything that I would love to have in a public library. I was surprised, not to mention impressed, by their technological advances in the library.  It was delightful to see and really got me excited about all that a library can do.  The Central Library have goals that they want to reach such as their online presence.  They are driven.  They are compassionate.  They genuinely enjoy what they do.  You sense their excitement and it was wonderful to be able to witness it.

                              

 General Details on the Edinburgh Central Library

• As the sign above says they are a part of UNESCO City of Literature; a great honor . http://www.unesco.org/new/en/culture/themes/creativity/creative-industries/creative-cities-network/literature/
• Andrew Carnagie donated the equivalent of 45 million dollars today to build the library.  The library opened in 1890; the main Central Library

• There are 28 total libraries in the system throughout the city.

•  George Washington Brown was the architect of the library.  The original design used to be three main rooms; reference, lending and newspapers.

• They provide mobile library services to hospitals, prisons, etc

• They recently went to self-service with the addition of RFID tagging.  They outsourced the initial transition in tagging materials.  The whole effort took about a year to do.  All new tagging is done in-house at this point.

• They receive about 200 book requests a week.  The shelves for arrived book requests are accessible to library patrons to retrieve on their own.

• The library has taken a ‘computerized library’ route.  LCD TVs are located throughout the library displaying library events.  They also have a large interactive directory/map terminal in the entrance.

• They rely mostly on government funding.

• They rightfully have the most comprehensive collection on all things Edinburgh and Scotland in the United Kingdom.

• They still maintain the old style card catalog for the Scotland collection.

• The music and children’s libraries are located in a building next door.

Inside a Reading Room

Strides in Technology

We were fortunate enough to have a member of the Digital Information Team speak with us;  Alison Stoddart .  Formed about two and a half years ago, the team has made tremendous strides in making the Central Library a strong presence online.

• They now have a mobile app that allows library users to renew items online.  They are the first in the U.K to create such an app.

• They provide various online tutorials such as language, driving instruction, etc.  They have found that the public prefers tutorials such as those instead of informative database.  People want to learn something and gain something from it.

• They began providing eBooks about a year ago via OverDrive.  It is popular but would be even more popular if Kindle owners were able to use the services.

• In the future they will be providing e-magazines.  It will be introduced soon.

• I was quite impressed by the addition of e-magazines into their online collection.  I think they are correct in determining that the public will be very pleased with the new addition.  I was tremendously impressed by the digital team.  They are clearly ahead of their time in regard to online services to the community.  They are for sure an example to lead for all public libraries around the world. 

Original tile re-purposed as a wall decoration

Reading Champion Project

The Reading Champion Project is a fantastic program that hopes to bring a love for reading to troubled youth in residential care homes.  Workers provide library access to children that are experiencing oppression, are being stigmatized and ostracized from society.  They focus on reading for pleasure rather than reading for literacy.  They are correct in assuming that along with reading for pleasure follows improvement in literacy.  It is a noble task that those involved are undertaking.  I whole-heartedly admire their valiant efforts at working with troubled youth and striving to instill a love of literature suitable to their interests.   I was very glad that they provided us with this presentation because it was the only one of its kind that we saw throughout our trip.  The demographic benefiting from the Reading Champion Project is often a demographic falling on the back burner for librarians.  However, the Edinburgh Central Library still maintains a strong hand in the admirable endeavor with the hard work and compassion of Niall Walker.

Take a close look at a great library:  www.edinburgh.gov.uk/libraries/

Stratford Upon Avon: You Have Entered Shakespeare Land

I was fortunate enough to have visited the lovely little Shakespearean town of Stratford-Upon-Avon.  Admittedly I am not a huge fan of Shakespeare as those close to me know.  However, not even I was able to escape the town’s charm.  It was really neat to see the birthplace of Shakespeare but I was disappointed by the stone lot where he spent his last days.  I am surprised that they have not yet recreated the house in order to present something visual for tourist.  I really enjoyed visiting The Holy Trinity Church where Shakespeare is entombed.  The church is really beautiful and I even felt inspired to donate a bit to the stained glass window preservation fund.  If they succeed and acquire all the funds needed to restore the windows to the previous brilliance the church will be even more a fantastic sight to see.  Later in the evening we joined everyone else for a Shakespearean play; a modern interpretation of Twelfth Night.  I was pleased that the Royal Shakespeare Company performed modern interpretation.  I was amused by many of the scenes; primarily the yellow stockings and the drunk getting his pants pulled off.  I think it is safe to assume that losing the pants was not in the script!  I am not familiar with the original rendition of Twelfth Night but it does seem like a rather interesting play.  However I will be honest and say that I truly do not see me ever picking up for pleasure reading! I will not deny that fact. 
                               

Shakespeare's "Death" Lot

                                      

Royal Shakespeare Company Theater  Getting Ready for "Twelfth Night"
Check out the Royal Shakespeare Company because they are awesome, dedicated performers.
http://www.rsc.org.uk/about-us/

                                     

Trinity Church

Also I will mention that we were fortunate enough to see a drunken British man wondering the streets of Stratford aimlessly and scaring children along the way at 1 in the afternoon.  It was quite a hilarious site that I felt necessary to immortalize in a photo.

British Museum Archives

 This was a simple and wonderful tour.  I appreciated that Stephanie Clark was so organized and efficient in showing us what the British Museum Archives are all about.  Being mindful of cramming us all into such a small confined space, Stephanie had our tour broken down into stations; with each station representing an aspect of the archive collection.  It was really surprising to discover that before Stephanie there was no specially trained archivist, no budget and that she works alone amongst a huge collection.    Stephanie has built up the collection. She has made it more organized and presentable to the public, has worked hard to further preserve everything by ensuring that all necessary items are placed in acid free boxes in order to properly preserve everything. I admire Stephanie for all the progress that she has made in making the archives such a prominent collection so that more people are becoming aware of as a result of her vast efforts. I would love to be able to follow a similar career path; to make a difference in the archiving field.

•     The archive collection contains materials ranging from 1753- to the present

•     The archive collection contains six to seven thousand photographs

•     One of the items in the collection is an incendiary shell case that actually fell into the museum and blew up during the Blitz in WWII (also the most interesting piece in my opinion).  My mouth hit the floor when she pulled it out the box and explained what it was.  Such an interesting piece of history that really brought the Blitz to life.

•     Items from the museum collection were relocated first to underground tube stations and then to stone quarries in Wales in order to save the items in the museum

•     The museum was still open to the public during WWII with pieces that were not as valuable as other popular, priceless pieces.  These pieces became known as the suicide collection.

•     In 1854 Roger Fenton became the first employed photographer.  The photos he took were down in stereoscopic view which is an early form of 3-D.  We were able to view such pictures with a device allowing us to get the stereoscopic effect.  This was really cool!

•     The most successful exhibit of all time was the 1972 King Tutankhamun exhibit

•     We were able to view the record books of users.  In order to gain access to the Reading Room an individual would have to submit a a letter containing a letter of recommendation along with an explanation of what they wanted to view.  Such records include: Beatrix Potter, Virginia Woolf, Charles Dickens, and E.M Forrester

•     Money has finally been allocated in order to construct an online catalog of the central archives.

After our visit with Stephanie, I wondered around the Egyptian collections. I have always heard what a great Egyptian exhibit the British Museum has.  I am so happy that I actually got to explore it and see it for myself.  I have to say that I never in a million years thought I would be able to lay eyes on it but it happened. Despite the disruption experienced in the mummy exhibit by a group of noisy school children it was very interesting and exciting to see everything!  It was amusing to watch all the children clamor about...but I must say the chaperones were a bit exhausted!  I did venture over the Parthenon which was really awesome to see.  I was quite impressed by its presence.  It did not seem realistic to have such an enormous piece of history right before me.  I thought to myself again pinch me is this real?  

Pieces of the Parthenon

                              

                              

Mummies!

                                

                              

Wow that's the Rosetta Stone above.

I seriously encourage you to take a look at all the British Museum has to offer.  It's absolutely insane how much history is in there!  

http://www.britishmuseum.org/ 

Victoria and Albert Museum: The National Art Library

Our tour guides were Sally Williams and Francis Willis.  Both are wonderful ladies and Francis especially was very generous in allowing us to touch and handle items from the special collections. It was a great gesture!  The fact that I can truthfully say that I have carefully flipped through the pages of a tortoise shell bound Bible in which only 20 are known to be in existence is an awesome honor.  It was amusing to see the artist books; once I had reach a full understanding of what they are.  I can say that I have turned the pages of an original Charles Dickens manuscript.  How many people can say they have done that?  Fan or no fan of Charles Dickens, that is just incredible.  No one can deny the great footprint that he has made in literature. I have never actually seen anything of the sort before.  I especially enjoyed the creativity in the 'Dirt Book'.  The pages were so original, tangible and colorful.  The 'Book of Nails' was just utterly amusing.  Some may think that something like that is not art but they would be gravely mistaken.  That is just plain creative and I could easily argue that the said person is jealous that they did not think up the idea themselves first.   The visit was just great and the National Art Library is in great hands with Sally and Francis. It is obvious that they enjoy what they do each and every minute of every day.  I really appreciated the hands on aspect that came along with this visit.  I was greatly surprised that we were allowed to touch everything they showed us.  These were classic, historical pieces.  I was allowed to touch the pages; to flip through them.  Wow.  

 http://www.google.com/imgres?q=national+art+library&um=1&hl=en&client=firefox-a&sa=N&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&biw=1600&bih=728&tbm=isch&tbnid=E5jSEjQkHETo6M:&imgrefurl=http://black-swans-pond.blogspot.com/2011_10_01_archive.html&docid=jbgnD1IipEtd3M&imgurl=https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg00c29w3TSWZh_lQb9ehM8FI1UGEZ4duMKYqyfolXxI2M-vCzW16egyJolvP4mVjy5t5othjN11viML9H8UKcDuV1DvnaEA4elpOkhmEOX8FnQCtEuPcdjygT0XH8TTz6TqhnjqIATiqWD/s1600/IMG_6447.JPG&w=1600&h=1067&ei=WmEgUKrrFI_RqAGLrIGYBA&zoom=1&iact=hc&vpx=622&vpy=418&dur=22&hovh=183&hovw=275&tx=171&ty=99&sig=105963636565624026405&page=1&tbnh=118&tbnw=166&start=0&ndsp=35&ved=1t:429,r:21,s:0,i:140

The National Art Library serves a dual purpose as a public reference library and curatorial department for the actual museum.  One of the more impressive materials in the special collections belongs to the Forster Collection.  The most famous part of the collection is original manuscripts of nearly all of Charles Dickens books.  I was fortunate enough to be able to flip through the pages of Bleak House; corrected proofs.  Dickens and Forster were great friends and Dickens relied on Forster’s input in regard to his writing; thus the manuscripts being in his possession.  Great care and efforts were made in order to preserve the condition of the manuscripts.  This link will take you to a description of the Forster Collection accessed through the National Art Library Online Catalog. 

I must say that the National Art Library Online Catalog is very, very impressive.  I would have to say that it is the best one I have ever used personally.  I also like that the fact that articles and other libraries are linked to the catalog as well.  The online catalog available to the public would not be possible without the National Art Library Heritage Project. 

The following link does a great job at providing a comprehensive description of the library’s overall collection.  It is quite vast and I would never come close to giving it justice with a simple description.  http://www.vam.ac.uk/content/articles/n/national-art-library-book-collections/

General Bits of Information

•     About 1 million books are in the collection

•     No items are ever weeded out of the collection

•     The library is teamed up with the Painting and Drawing collections making them the largest department in the museum

•     A large portion of the collection acquisitions are gifts/donations. For example the well-known Forster Collection which includes Charles Dickens’ manuscripts. 

•     60% of the collection is foreign language

•     The special collection ranges from medieval items to the present and consists of about 4,000 'art books' meaning books that are created by actual artists meaning them to be pieces of art

•     The Forster Collection of 18,000 items was donated.  Several Charles Dickens original manuscripts were part of the collection.  Most of these items are prized possessions of the library.

•     The library was built in 1884. The physical building mostly has not changed.  There are still the original shelves.

•     The original library itself was first at Somerset house

•     The conception of the library originated from the Great Exhibition at Hyde Park in 1852

• The library houses a large collection of children’s books dating back to the 16^th century.  These number about 100,000 books.  The Renier Collection comprises over 80,000 books.  The collection contains major authors and artists along with various genres. 

• The National Art Library has the world’s largest collection of Beatrix Potter drawings, manuscripts, correspondence and photographs.  A large portion of the collection was generously given to the V & A by Leslie Linder; a Beatrix Potter scholar. 

 After our tour, I was able to wonder around the museum.  Having a huge interest in everything fashion, I went through the fashion exhibit.  I could look at dresses all day long and be happy.  If only the ball gown exhibit was free. I did visit the History of Jewelry Exhibit extensively.  It was very interesting and awesome to see such great examples of jewelry throughout history.  As most people know I love fashion especially jewelry so I was very much a kid in a candy store.  The displays ranged from necklaces, rings, pendants, crowns, bracelets and much more.  The way everything was displayed was like a timeline so it was really neat seeing the evolution of jewelry.  The link will lead you to a description of the exhibit I saw along with photos of jewelry that I was lucky enough to see! The article is quite fascinating and does a great job illustrating what I saw in the exhibit.  It was actually great reading through it.  It took me back to when I was actually looking at it all!  http://www.vam.ac.uk/content/articles/h/jewellery-through-the-ages/

I can’t stress it enough.  The V & A is rich is history; especially the library.  I was very surprised by what the National Art Library was in possession of.  I honestly believe that if I were to begin working there I would just roam around for days in absolute awe of all the items in the collection.  They are housing some of the greatest representation of literary history.  This library is a perfect example of a library greatly benefiting from the generous donations of others.  

Also one last addition.  I do have to mention that the food trays in the food court area (which closely resembled fine dining) were really pretty.  I never would have thought I would actually describe a food tray as lovely and delicate but apparently the V & A can even make a food tray a piece of art! If only they were a free token of my visit to the museum. 

My Daily Routine

Most of our class visits take place in the morning.  Since we all know that I am a heavy coffee drinker, I was bound and determined to find good coffee near where I am staying.  I refuse to do anything 'American' while I am here so no Starbucks, no McDonalds, no Burger King....it is ridiculous that they are even here!  So I have discovered the best latte ever at a little truck stand across from Waterloo Station called Tyrerion Coffee (I actaully think I am spelling that wrong so correction will come in the future).  He is a kind gentleman and really knows how to make some darn good coffee!

Also there are bakerys and food stands everywhere and today for instance I had a fantastic chocolate crossiant.  Think I may have to get another one tomorrow it was so fresh and soft and full of dark chocalate goodness my mouth is drooling right now just thinking about it. 

So I wake about an hour before we leave go run some errands and get my coffee.  Unfortunatly my guy is only there at the end of the week so I replace him with Ro Mo which is second best.  We board the tube for our destination.  8 am is absolutely the worst time to travel the tube. One morning we packed in like sardines on the Bakerloo line but luckily that has only happened once really so no complaints.  It could be worse.  We could be packing in like sardines on the metro in Paris where every smells nasty all day long!  More on Paris later it is a bit of a sore subject. 

My absolutely favorite place to eat in /London is Pret.  It is a natural food cafe that is a chain which works out great for me because they are EVERY WHERE! It is mainly a sandwhich place but they have coffee, soups, salads, fruit, and some breakfast food.  I have ate there numerous times in several different locations and they have not disappointed me once.  I have had many different yummy sandwhiches and I have loved every bite.  I have also discovered sea salt and cider vinegar 'crisps' and cannot stop craving them.  The States better have some variation of them or my stomach will be very upset and disappointed.

London Library: God Bless You for Having a Book Written by Henry the VIII

The London Library was an interesting place to visit.  I can honestly say that I have never been to a library like the London Library.  The London Library is strictly a subscription library.  It is extremely private library institution but membership is open to everyone.  A factor that makes it unique is the construction of the building.  The original library was housed in a London townhouse.  As the library has grown overtime expansion has been needed.  Expansion has occurred several times since it was founded.  About eighteen months ago expansion and construction was completed and which allows for 25 more years of growth and a new conservation studio.    

The library houses over a million books.  These books range from 16^th century to present day.  One of the stands out pieces from their 16^th century special collection was Assertio Septem Sacramentorum written by Henry VIII and published in 1521.  The title roughly translates into “Defense of the Seven Sacraments”.  The purpose of the book was to defend the seven sacraments of the Catholic faith against Martin Luther and the Protestant Reformation.   In recognition of his efforts the Pope declared Henry VIII the Defender of the Faith.  Soon after Henry VIII was looking for a divorce from Catherine of Aragon his first wife.  When he was not getting the results he wanted he broke from the Pope and become head of the English Church; also marrying Anne Boleyn.  

                   

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·         The London Library was founded in 1841 and is now the largest private lending library in the world.

·         They are an independent library and entirely self-supported

·         There are about 7,000 registered members

·         The collection ranges from the 16th century to present day

·         There are about one million books in the collection and 15 miles of shelves

·         97% of the collection is available for loan

·         There are about thirty thousand rare books within the collection

·         2,500 periodical titles

·         There are roughly 8,000 new books a year added to the collection

·         Having a policy of ‘books do not become redundant just because they are old’ means that no books are ever weeded from the collection

·         They have created their own cataloging and shelving procedures

  

 Previous London Library members include

§  Sir Arthur Conan Doyle

§  Bram Stoker

§  T.S Elliot (also president of the library from 1952-1964)

§  Virginia Woolf (listed her occupation on her application as ‘spinster’

§  Agatha Christie

§  Winston Churchill

§  Henry James

§  Charles Darwin

§  Charles Dickens

Exhibit at the Greenwich Maritime Museum

               

 Welcome to Greenwich!

The Royal River: Power, Pageantry and the Thames were the fascinating exhibit I viewed at the Greenwich National Maritime Museum; the basis of this exhibit the River Thames and past monarchies.  In celebration of the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee the royal river procession in which a barge of boats sail down the River Thames.  This used to be a Lord Mayor Celebration feature but ended with the 1856 river procession.  The Queen’s 2012 jubilee brought back for the special occasion.  I made that connection when I saw the painting of the last Lord Mayor of London River Procession.  It was great exhibit and I was happy to visit Greenwich even though parts of it were off limits due to the Olympics. 

My favorite features of this exhibit were:

•    Anne Boleyn’s Book of Hours.  The book was opened up to a page in which she had handwritten this passage in regard to Henry VIII ‘ Be daly prove you shall me fynd/ To be to you both movygne and kynde.’

                

 http://www.google.com/imgres?hl=en&client=firefox-a&hs=lBV&sa=X&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&biw=784&bih=712&tbm=isch&prmd=imvnso&tbnid=PB9VFVMloP6b0M:&imgrefurl=http://onthetudortrail.com/Blog/anne-boleyn/anne-boleyns-books-of-hours/&docid=Czf23bGf4vmvjM&imgurl=http://onthetudortrail.com/Blog/wp-content/uploads/2010/11/Bookofhourscrown.jpg&w=600&h=504&ei=NfMeULfOApSHyQHt94GIBw&zoom=1&iact=rc&dur=501&sig=105963636565624026405&page=1&tbnh=168&tbnw=200&start=0&ndsp=10&ved=1t:429,r:0,s:0,i:76&tx=143&ty=4   

•         George III’s astronomical clock.  The clock was made by his own design and was said to be one of the finest designs of the period.  There are dials on all four sides that show the time, position of the planets, moon phases and the tide at various ports.

•         An 1846 painting of Albert Edward Prince of Wales (son of Queen Victoria and Prince Albert).  In this painting he is wearing a sailor outfit.  This is what launched the fashion for children’s sailor suits.

                                      

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•         Charter of Worshipful Company of Clockmakers.  Charles I established in 1631 the Clockmaker’s Company or Masters Wardens and Fellowship of the Art or Mystery of Clockmaking City of London. This charter allowed the company to regulate clock trade within the city.

•         ‘Range all thy swan fair Thames together in a rank/ And place them duly one by one upon thy stately bank.’  I can’t really remember exactly where this came from but it was written on a display and I thought it was really neat and well said.  It shows how much the river Thames means to the people of London past, present and future.

In order to gain a lasting impression of this great exhibit visit the following link:  

http://www.rmg.co.uk/visit/events/royal-river