Bodleian Library, Oxford: "Silence, Please"

The city of Oxford, like Stratford-upon-Avon, is such a change from the sheer chaos that is London. Don't get me wrong, though - I love the sheer chaos. The city life is definitely for me. Oxford is still quite populated, and there were a lot of tourists there (although I'm not sure if that's mainly a summer thing), but it was actually smaller than I expected. Oxford's beauty is full of history - I could see it in the architecture, and in imagining some of the great, classic authors strolling about the streets.

I was incredibly excited to see the Bodleian Library, but I didn't know much about its history. My group's tour guide was Rita from Rome, Italy. She was a very thorough guide, and quite informative, particularly about the architecture of the buildings, but I felt that I didn't get a real "librarian" spin from the tour (I think I've just been spoiled by the special librarian tours). Nevertheless, the Bodleian is steeped in history, and is very impressive.
Today, the Bodleian is one of six copyright libraries in the UK, which means, of course, that the library receives a copy of everything that is printed in the UK. It is also the biggest university library in Europe, and hosts over 8 million books. The Bodleian is also the second largest library in the UK, falling only behind the British Library.

However, the library actually dates back to c. 1320 as a small chained library funded by Thomas de Cobham, Bishop of Worcester. When Humphrey, Duke of Gloucester, donated many rare manuscripts in 1435, a new building was erected to house them (finished in 1488), and this building above today's Divinity School is still known as Duke Humphrey's library (and is the oldest building at the Bodleian). The library did not fare so well throughout the years, however, and much of the collection had to be sold.

The Bodleian as we know it began in 1602 when Thomas Bodley saved the library from its perilous lack of funding by donating funds and several of his own books, stating that he wanted the library to be open for the students' use. He had quite diverse tastes and did not simply want books in only European languages and Latin; he also wanted books in languages such as Chinese. Bodley went on to devote even more time and money to the library; he built new buildings throughout the years, and hosted parties in the hopes of getting people to donate funds. The Bodelian was truly Thomas Bodley's.

"I hereby undertake not to remove from the Library, nor to mark, deface, or injure in any way, any volume, document or other object belonging to it or in its custody; not to bring into the Library, or kindle therein, any fire or flame, and not to smoke in the Library; and I promise to obey all rules of the Library." This is the Bodelian Oath translated from Latin to English, which is traditionally oral; it is now given in letter form, but ceremonies performing the oath still occur.

Instead of having a chained library, a student or researcher must now request a book, and have someone retrieve it for them; they can peruse it in the reading rooms, but not check it out. They have an underground conveyor system, similar to the British Library, which we actually got to see, but I do not think it is currently in use. The system in place at the Bodleian is much like the other reference libraries we've visited; however, I'm not sure I've ever visited an academic reference library. I've taken it for granted how I can browse the majority of the stacks at the academic libraries I've used (the majority of the Bodleian's collections are closed access), and how I can take books off of the shelf and take them home with me to do my research. Of course, the students at Oxford has access to several other libraries, a list of which blew my mind, and hopefully some of these have lending access.
In addition to its copyright depository and academic collections, the Bodelian has extensive special collections, which are divided into five main groups (information here). The rare works that I most want to see, in the category of Literary Manuscripts (next time, perhaps!) include:

• Percy Bysshe Shelley and Mary Shelley's manuscripts!
• Lovelace-Byron papers
• W.B. Yeats letters
• the only complete surviving autograph of John Donne

The Bodleian also has a place in current pop culture which has nothing to do with its amazing collection; the room we began our tour in, the Divinity School (seen above, taken by yours truly), plays the infirmary in Harry Potter movies.

There are, I'm certain, a million more things to know about the Bodleian, so I may have to read a book to learn them all. It is always fascinating to learn how such important libraries came to be.

Bodleian website: http://www.ouls.ox.ac.uk/bodley
Top picture: Radcliffe Camera (by me)
Second picture from Time/Oxford Picture Library
Third picture from Libgig

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After the Bodleian, I perused "An Artful Craft," an exhibit which featured masterful bookbindings of the 20th century.

Next, Cassie, Jenn, and I wanted to see some of Oxford's sights, so we walked and took the Hop On Hop Off bus around town. We saw Alice's Shop, where Alice Liddell, the "real" Alice in Wonderland, used to buy candy (it is now a touristy Alice in Wonderland merchandise shop). We also stopped off for a drink at the Eagle and Child Pub, where J.R.R. Tolkien and C.S. Lewis met for years as part of the Inklings, an Oxford writers' group. We walked around Christ Church, but didn't want to pay to get in. Finally, we met up with my friend M.B., who was doing a summer program at Oxford, and she took us to the indoor market, where we got the best milkshakes in town. All in all, a lovely, literary day.

National Art Library at Victoria and Albert Museum: "The object of art is to give life a shape"

The Victoria and Albert Museum is by far the quirkiest, most entertaining museum I've been to so far in London, so it wasn't a shock that I found the National Art Library housed within to be quite impressive. The main room itself is very aesthetically pleasing; there are high ceilings, floods of natural light, and clear windows overlooking a lovely courtyard with a fountain. The walls of the reading rooms are lined with rows of books with perfect spines. The atmosphere is very soothing.

The library was founded in 1837, even though the V & A museum was founded in 1852. They were separate entities, and the National Art Library began as the Art and Design academic library at Somerset House. However, the library and museum joined in 1857, and the library receives its funding from the museum's budget.

Jennifer Reeves, my group's tour guide, was very incredibly informative and helpful. She gave us a tour of the entire library, including the stacks and staff offices. Upon first glance, the library looks a lot smaller than it actually is; the part the public sees consists of two reading rooms, aptly named the silent room, and the centre room, respectively. The centre room has computers for readers to use. There is an invigilation desk at which to request special collections material; the rest of the material can be requested in the centre room. Like many of the libraries we've visited thus far, the library is a reference, non-lending institution, so readers must search the catalogue and fill out a slip about the items they wish to view; the librarians have a system in place to organize the requests and fetch the items.

The library has a very large collection, and Jennifer mentioned having space issues, in spite of the many huge stack rooms we were allowed to view. The collection itself has a broad, yet still narrow focus: the subject is art, in any form, from many different countries and time periods. The National Art Library website gives a comprehensive overview of the collection: "[materials] central to the work of the Victoria and Albert Museum (V&A) and its collections, including: prints, drawings and paintings; furniture and woodwork; textiles, dress and fashion; ceramics and glass; metalwork; sculpture; art and design of the Far East, India and South East Asia; history of the art, craft and design of the book. The Library is also an excellent source for information about artists." They estimate their overall collection to be over 2 million items (which grows day by day); their periodical collection alone consists of 8,000 individual titles, 2,000 of which are current! They do not weed their collection, except for out-of-date reference materials. Furthermore, the library subscribes to several art databases, a few of which can only be accessed on site, but anyone can become a reader, and it is free. Because space is such an issue in the library, only their reference books are classified in Dewey - the books in the stacks are actually classified by size (which I've actually never seen before, but I understand why it is necessary!).

Learning about the library and seeing the wealth of material in the collections was wonderful, but some of my happiest geeky moments from the entire trip so far occurred when Bernadette Archer (and Francis Warrell, who chose the material) allowed us to view and touch some of their rare, special collections material. Ms. Archer first gave us the history of the materials, and then we were free to peruse it ourselves. She explained that many of their rare books consist of books that are art in and of themselves, where the content did not necessarily matter to them. However, they also had some rare gems from famous Brits.The highlights of these books, for me personally:
--a 1623 first folio of Shakespeare (that I touched!)
--a Keats poem written in his own hand (that I touched!)
--a Dickens manuscript that he made marks and comments on (that I touched!)I also enjoyed the books where artists toyed with the expectations of a book as physical object, thus making the book itself an art piece. I didn't get the artist's name, but I loved the piece that looked like a book on the outside, but inside was a piece of plastic which made the book "sigh" as you closed it.The National Art Library is amazing, and I feel so fortunate to have had the opportunity to receive the tour and to view and touch the rare books (which I suspect very few people will be able to do in the future). There are so many treasures in libraries and museums worldwide that I had absolutely no knowledge of, and every day here my eyes are opened to something spectacular.

British Museum: Journey into the Centre of History

The British Museum is an absolute marvel and a treasure, but it is also an incredibly overwhelming place to visit. There is, amazingly, no admission fee, so over six million people visit each year. One should probably prepare by reading books about the collections beforehand, and mapping out where one wants to visit in a certain amount of time. Even then, the massive crowds will probably thwart any set plans. Our group did not have any formal tour, so we were left to our own perusal of the place. I knew I could spend weeks in there and not see everything, so I tried to find my primary areas of interest and spend the most time there.

A little background: the British Museum's founding collection was formed by Sir Hans Sloane, a physician, who by his death in 1753 had collected almost 80,000 objects, which ended up in the hands of Parliament after the museum was established by a public lottery fund. The museum was placed in a mansion called Montagu House, and opened its doors to the public in 1759. The Museum has a lot of history, so I cannot possibly write the whole story here (I recommend purchasing The British Museum Souvenir Guide for £6, or reading a book such as this), but I will say that the Museum has had lots of problems with space throughout the years, and built a new building in 1850. The Museum's library actually became the British Library after it moved out to create space in 1973. The British Museum is currently funded by the Department of Culture, Media, and Sport, although it also has the support of private donations, Heritage Lottery, National Art Collections fund, and British Museum friends. Certain exhibitions do charge a fee (none of the permanent collection, though). It has never been a museum concerned with only British objects; thus, in the museum, one can see collections about: The Ancient Near East, the Islamic World, Africa, Egypt, China, South & South-East Asia, Japan, Korea, The Pacific and Australia, Mesoamerica, Central, & South America, North America, Prehistoric Europe, The Greek World, The Roman Empire, Roman Britain, Medieval Europe, Renaissance & Later Europe, and Modern Europe & America (from the Table of Contents in the British Museum Souvenir Guide).

Yes. Overwhelming.

I was a little disappointed that a fee-charging exhibition was on in the Reading Room, an incredibly beautiful space that normally houses the Paul Hamlyn Library (which is currently in another space). Alas, one day I will come back and view it for myself.

As for the exhibits, I probably spent the most time in the Egyptian section. The ancients Egyptians had such a distinct style for everything they created, so I loved seeing their sculptures and day-to-day accessories. And then there were the mummy-related items. There were sarcophagi, mummified feet of children, and mummified cats!I made sure that I fought the crowds to find the Rosetta Stone, as I'm fascinated by linguistics and languages in general. I thought it was quite an amazing sight, even if I almost couldn't get near it.
Finally, I spent some time in the Ancient Greece section, which is always classic and wonderful, but I somehow wandered into the Parthenon sculpture exhibit, and I'm so glad I did. I remember studying the Parthenon in my Art 101 class, and even writing a short humorous play about it, so it was amazing to see the reliefs and picturesque scenes up close.
However, I had a question that many people must have had - why are the Parthenon ruins in the British Museum, and not in Athens? The British Museum had a pamphlet for just such questions, and mentioned that Greek Government has asked for the permanent removal of the sculptures to Athens (www.culture.gr). It offered several "explanations": that Lord Elgin, British ambassador to the Ottoman empire, gifted the sculptures to the British Museum in 1816; that the sculptures are in several different museums, not just the British Museum; that the Museum publishes results of its research extensively; that six million people a year see the sculptures here. The pamphlet is very interesting, and recounts the debate more eloquently than I.

This debate truly made me think about which artifacts might "transcend" culture, and at which location artifacts "should" be housed. Should artifacts (any artifacts in ANY museum) be housed in a place where they will be seen by the most people, or in their original home? Who gets to decide, and who gets to claim ownership of these artifacts? It is a truly fascinating, thought-provoking dilemma indeed. I only know that I am grateful that the British Museum is free for all, and that for now, they provide an incredibly culturally-enriching service for everyone.

For more information about the Parthenon debate, or any other aspect of the British Museum, visit the website: http://www.britishmuseum.org/

Caird Library, National Maritime Museum, Greenwich: Navies and Shipwrecks and Pirates, Oh My!

This trip has made me more and more aware of "special" libraries; I knew they existed, obviously, but as I've only had one semester of library school, I hadn't seen the plethora of special library possibilities yet (although I'm hoping to take the Special Libraries course in the spring). Even if they're not in my area of expertise, I find them incredibly fascinating! I honestly never thought about the existence of a maritime library before; however, I'm so glad I not only got to visit one, but one of the largest and most prestigious in existence.

To get to Greenwich, we took a lovely boat ride on the Thames, although it was fairly fast because it was a commuter boat, not a tourist boat (which is what we took for the London Alive event "A River Runs Through It.")

The National Maritime Museum has a joint library and archive called Caird Library, and it is one of the largest reference (not lending) maritime libraries in the world. The library/archive is funded by the DCMS - Department for Culture, Media, and Sport for day-to-day operations, but the library does undertake fundraising for special projects. Caird contains manuscripts, books, periodicals and maps on maritime related topics such as immigration, piracy, astronomy, voyages and exploration, naval architecture. There are over 100,000 modern books, 20,000 pamphlets, 20,000 periodicals, and 8 km worth of manuscripts. Caird also has an extensive rare book collection (about 8,000) and rare manuscripts, examples of which Head Archivist Hannah Dunmow, and librarians Renee Orr and Mike Beren, demonstrated in their presentations to our group.

Our big group split into two smaller ones, and for my group, Renee showed us some of the rare books housed at Caird. We got to touch tiny books that were supposedly bound with the wood of the Royal George ship wreck in August 1782 (possibly meant to be "souvenirs"), and see other interesting materials, such the first book published in Antarctica, Aurora Australis (1908). My personal favourite of the bunch was The Principles of Mr. Harrison's Time-Keeper, with plates of the same, which was published in 1767 by the Commissioners of Longitude. I loved this because I had read Longitude by Dava Sobel in preparation for this trip, and seeing this book (which John Harrison, who solved the Longitude Problem, was forced to publish in order to get his £20,000 reward) really brought history to life for me.

Next, Mike showed us some rare manuscripts, which consisted of journals of ship captains, signal books, and "victualling accounts." The manuscripts ranged in age from 1558-1845. An item I found particularly interesting was the 1800 signal book that was taken from USS Chesapeake by the Royal Navy, who captured the ship. This is the equivalent of a sports team finding their rival's playbook, so the US Navy had to issue a book new signals. The book itself was weighted with musket shots so that it could be thrown overboard in case of capture, but as the battle only lasted 15 minutes, there was no time. I also enjoyed the journal of Dr. Edward Hodges Cree, a surgeon in the Royal Navy, who kept journals during his time of service. He drew panarama illustrations of places he visited, such as Hong Kong, that were absolutely beautiful. There were also "pirate diaries" with maps - accounts written by actual pirates on how they did their pirating business!

Essentially, if you can make it to Greenwich, the Caird Library is a real treasure. I didn't even know I was interested in maritime matters until I visited! Caird is normally open 6 days a week, seeing about 3,000 to 4,000 visitors a year (with 15,000-18,000 e-library visitors - use of the e-library is open to anyone, but you must come to Caird to access it). However, they are currently only open 3 days a week now due to preparation for a new reading room, scheduled for completion in 2012. Readers (anyone over 16 with a research enquiry can join the library for free) currently must make an appointment to order manuscripts or offsite material in advance, since there is a temporary offsite storage facility housing collections. However, in 2012, the library and its services should be whole and better than ever.

For more information about the library, visit:

Caird Library Blog: http://www.nmm.ac.uk/library/

Caird Library site: http://www.nmm.ac.uk/researchers/library/

Interior library photo courtesy of the NMM website

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After the library visit, I perused the National Maritime Museum for a bit, then headed up to the Royal Observatory to straddle the Prime Meridian (with class, of course). First, Megan, Brittany and I went to the Flamsteed House (designed by Sir Christopher Wren - what didn't that man design? he's amazing!). I was anxious to see John Harrison's clocks and watches (especially H4), and the displays didn't disappoint. I'm so glad I read Longitude and can appreciate the work that went in to solving such a momentous problem. It's also really inspiring to see people with no political clout or financial means help change the world.

Finally, the view from the Royal Observatory was absolutely beautiful, and standing at 0 degrees longitude felt like a big deal. Greenwich holds a lot of history and special incentive to visit, and I loved being part of that for a day.

Shakespeare Centre Library and Archive, Stratford: "Fleet the time carelessly, as they did in the golden world"

Today our class ventured away from the city to Stratford-upon-Avon, which is a very lovely little place (albeit quite touristy - which is to be expected). As an English major, I couldn't help but feel some sort of reverence for Shakespeare's Town. We were allowed to wander around a bit when we initially got there, so Jenn, Megan, Cassie, Brittany, Chaitra and I walked around, bought souvenir or two, ducked into shops, and had a great lunch at The Falcon.
Around 2:30, we met the rest of the class at the Shakespeare Centre Library and Archive, and were given a tour by Madeleine. The SCLA (as I will now call it to avoid typing the name each time) is the premier source in the UK for anything Shakespeare related. It was formed in the late 1800s; the collection received its first librarian in 1873. Last year, SCLA merged with the local records office. The library is open access, with the exception of rare books, but is not a lending library. It receives about 3,000 readers (and about 10,000 inquiries), a year. Much like the British Library (with the exception of the awesome mechanical system at BL), one can fill out a slip of paper requesting an item, and someone will fetch the item in a timely manner.

The SCLA's catalogue is actually a card catalogue for items before 2001; it reminded me of elementary school, searching for the book I wanted, and it was great to see one again. After 2001, new entries into the collection appears in an online catalogue, which includes the Royal Shakespeare Company (RSC) image database.

The collection houses modern books of criticism and commentaries, but not every new book about Shakespeare makes it into the collection; there is a selection process of key books. There are books from the 1700s in the collection that are not open access - one must have a specific research need to see them. With the addition of the local records department, the collection grows substantially each day; the SCLA does not track the growth. Surprisingly, there is no government funding for the library. It is considered a charity as a part of the Shakespeare Birthplace Trust, and 75% of its income is derived from visitors. The library also employs fundraising.

After Madeleine's tour, we were introduced to Jo Wilding, who provided us with the opportunity to see some of the library's rare books and talked a bit about each of them. I love rare books, and these were are wonderful; she showed us books such as the 1642 edition of Rosalinde, the source for Shakespeare's As You Like It. I was most interested in the copy of Shakespeare's first folio, which is the first collected edition of Shakespeare's plays - if it hadn't been published, we may have never known of some of Shakespeare's most famous works, as some had not been previously published or fully attributed to him. I also enjoyed seeing a copy of Edmund Spenser's 1611 Shepheard's Calender, since I read it when I took a class on Spenser in my undergrad.

After the library tour, we had a little more time to explore Stratford before seeing the play As You Like It, so a few of us wandered down to the river Avon to take pictures and to visit the church where Shakespeare is entombed.Finally, we wandered to the Courtyard Theatre for the production of As You Like It by the Royal Shakespeare company. The play was absolutely wonderful; I had read it, but never seen it before, and I thought everything was fantastic. Touchstone was my favourite character, but all of the actors were spot on. I enjoyed the functional "trap door" set, and it worked really well for their purposes. I also liked the transition from the traditional costumes to modern day clothing. The plot was over the top, of course, but the play really came to life for me. I really appreciated being able to see a British play with British actors.

Overall, Stratford-upon-Avon is absolutely lovely, and contains a wealth of information and history. If I ever go back, I'd love to explore the Shakespeare collection further. I also believe that seeing an RSC play in Stratford is a must, and I hope to see another one day.

For more information about the SCLA, go here.
For more information on the Royal Shakespeare Company collection, go here.

British Library Centre for Conservation: Treating Broken Treasures

After the amazing tour of the British Library, we had some (delicious) lunch at the BL cafeteria, then migrated to the British Library Centre for Conservation. The building is only two years old, so its existence is a very exciting development for the BL. It was wonderful to meet trained professionals in conservation, a side of librarianship I know almost nothing about (and haven't considered as a specialty since I fail at crafts), and see them explain how they treat rare, damaged items.

A highlight for me was seeing a professional demonstrate his treatment of a broken binding on a 1st edition Beatrix Potter book (and how nonchalant he was about it!). I think it would be so interesting to work with rare, irreplaceable items on a daily basis, and help preserve them for another few decades or centuries.

Another conservator was working on rebinding and re-covering records of the East India company, while yet another showed us how she used a "guard" create a fold between paper leaves, which doesn't affect the paper of the item. The conservators explained that they use sympathetic, archival materials, and that unless the damaged part can be saved, they are not trying to replicate the original bindings, covers, etc. Any work they do on an item needs to be reversible in both process and materials, just in case. If they remove and replace any part of the damaged area, they return the original part with the item to the curator. When we asked how they determine what process to use to treat the items, they explained that there is a back-and-forth dialogue between the conservators and the curators, and that ultimately they come to a compromise on what can and should be done for the item.

Ultimately, the tour was brief, but fascinating, and I enjoyed the glimpse into the world of conservation. I'm so glad that there are others out there with the skill to treat our broken treasures.

For more information, or to schedule your own tour:
http://www.bl.uk/conservation

British Library: "They are the books, the arts, the academes, that show, contain and nourish all the world."

The British Library is the national library of the UK, and is often likened to the Library of Congress in America. Although LoC is the largest library in the world, the BL is a close second, and contains about 150 million items. The BL is a copyright/legal deposit library, so it receives copies of all books (and certain other items) published in the UK and the Republic of Ireland. Therefore, the collection grows by millions of items each year, and is already running out of space. The BL is sponsored by the Department of Culture, Media, and Sport.

I cannot possibly give every detail of the BL tour, nor list everything that I loved - which was everything. However, I will try to hit the highlights. My group's tour guide was Stephen Sandford, who works in rare books, helped move St. George III's massive book collection, and shook the queen's hand. He provided us with fantastic information while injecting a bit of humour into the tour.

Highlights:
--"Sitting on History," the art installation piece by Bill Woodrow that is only complete when someone is sitting on it.

--Turning the Pages, an interactive program that allows you to view, flip through, and magnify (using a touch-sensitive screen) rare books that can't be easily accessed. I LOVE this - even though there are only a couple of them here and there, I do think that this is a great way to broaden access to rare materials. More information here.

--The SIX stories of books in the centre of the library that comprise King George III's personal collection. He donated them with the request that they be available to anyone, and they are. Librarians have to use lifts to access the books. The shelves they are housed in are made of bronze and use heat resistant glass, and they contain fibre optic lighting to avoid damaging the collection.

--The British Library provides free service to anyone in the world. To access the reading rooms, one need have a specific research interest and proof of ID, but you can be from anywhere. The magnificent Treasures Gallery is open to anyone, even without a reader's pass.

--The library is not a lending library, but readers can access a huge portion of the collection. 90% of books can be retrieved within 1 hour. Library workers read the book request, retrieve the book from the shelves underground, and place it on an intricate miniature railway (1.25 miles long!); the book will make it to another staff member, who gives it to the patron.

--The new business and IP centre, while not within my area of interest, is an absolutely amazing resource for those who want to start a business (and right now everyone needs all the help possible). It is funded by a £1 million grant from the London Development Agency. It offers a space for free workshops and networking. It's very clean and modern-looking, and its look provides a contrast to the rest of the library.

--"Paradoxymoron" by Patrick Hughes, a painting that cannot be explained unless you see it.

--As briefly mentioned earlier, the Treasures Gallery. I have to go back because I only saw two walls worth of rare manuscripts and papers, and they were all amazing: the sole surviving manuscript of Sir Gawain and the Green Knight; the commonplace book of John Milton, a manuscript of Jane Austen's persuasion; Lewis Carroll's manuscript of Alice's Adventures in Wonderland; papers and/or drafts from Charlotte Bronte, Thomas Hardy, Oscar Wilde, Virginia Woolf, Harold Pinter, and Sylvia Plath. No, that wasn't all. Yes, I was an English major. There is so much more to see, and it's not all literature related.

We also took a tour of the British Library Preservation Studios, which I think will warrant a separate post due to the already ridiculous length of this one.

I looked forward to this day ever since I saw my syllabus, and it greatly exceeded my expectations. The British Library is absolutely amazing, and even though I already knew how lucky I was to be here, I felt incredibly appreciative of and grateful for the opportunities this program has afforded me.If any prospective students are reading this and trying to decide if the price tag of the program is worth it (I personally took out student loans) - IT IS. I have been here less than a week and already I know this has been one of the best decisions I have ever made. I'm already plotting ways in which I can come back to London and/or travel the world.