Barbican Library

The Barbican Library was another great library we visited that stands within the City of London's square mile. The Barbican Library has a long historical context.

In 1423 the Barbican housed a reference collection for those who could read-- lawyers, doctors, professionals, etc. That libray was split up when a royal figure decided to keep part of the collection (See previous post- Duke of Somerset).

The Barbican is a Lending Library, one of 3 lending libraries within the City of London. The lending policy was established after the 1964 Public Library and Museum Act. Prior to that time it existed as reference-only. They circulate roughly 500K items per year and are open 6 days per week. They service about 1200 people per day, and many of these patrons are individuals who work within the City of London. (The City doesn't actually have many residents, mostly businesses/companies, etc.) Much of the business that comes into the library occurs through the lunch hour while people are on breaks from their jobs.

After the WWII bombings, a new site was designed in the 1960s and erected in the 1970s. It was designed to be a unique international Art Centre. There were always plans for a library to be attached to the Barbican Centre, in order to serve student, business, and residential patrons.

Music Library
The Barbican Music Library is one of the two largest collections of music in London. They have a very extensive arts collection and aim to cover all types of music. They cater to a wide range (diverse) patron population (including amateur and seasoned musicians). The CD collection is probably the largest in London that is housed in one area. They own 17,000 CDs that are all available for perusal by the public. Our guide mentioned that they have seen about a 10% drop in CD circulation in the last year due to downloading MP3s. I think this is a bigger deal in the UK because most libraries (if not all) charge patrons to borrow any items that are not books (DVDs, CDs, CD-roms, etc.). Currently the Barbican Music Library charges only 30p per week for CDs, which is a competitive (cheap!) rate compared to other libraries. New CDs are not available to loan until they've been on store shelves for 3 months. I couldn't believe this!!

**The 1964 Public Libraries and Museums Act does not cover CD's and DVD's in the verbage. The only items the act spells out as being freely available by public libraries are books, though the libraries don't charge for Audiobooks.**

CD Classification is split up into five sections: Classical, Anthology, Pop Groups, Pop Female and Pop Male. Most items have RFID tags, and all CDs have security cases as well.

The Music library also has a wide variety of Music Electronic Resources, which is also available at home. (This includes the Grover Dictionary of Music and International Index to Music Periodicals.)

One of the neatest things in the Music library is an upright piano that sits near the Enquiry Desk. It has headphones attached to it so patrons can "try-out" scores they are looking to lend before they take them home.

Classification
The books in the Music Library are classified by Dewey, the Scores are classified by Macolving and Reeves Scheme. Journals are bound each year so back issues are available in hard-copies within the library.

Listening Booths
There are 8 separate listening booths for patrons to listen to music on CD. There are no restrictions on time limits to use these booths. There are also 2 booths that house a special collection of Live Music called Music Preserved. This collection is not owned by the Barbican, but patrons do have access to listen to it if they wish- at the two special listening booths created for this purpose.

The Barbican Library strives to support financiers in the city. Their collection includes many different items, though they mentioned that they have a very male-oriented patron population due to their location.

They do have outreach services to homebound individuals, education area called "Basic Skills for Life", conversation ESL programs, 1-to-1 Internet Tutor Sessions, etc. This library was most like a library in the US.

The Barbican was one of the first libraries in the country to gain RFID technology, which they admittedly say has its advantages AND disadvantages.

There are 2 exhibition areas, and there is a stringent application/interview process to have artwork displayed in these areas.

The library also houses an Arts Reading Room which is often used for group meetings and writing workshops, as well as a Children's library.

The Children's Library at Barbican is one of the largest children's libraries in London. They have about 25K loan-able items in the collection, and cater to a patron population from newborn to age 14. Every fortnight Birmingham sends them CARTONS of books (100-300 books) and they must go through and decide what they want to buy. There is only one state school within the square mile of London, though the librarians have developed links and relationships with private schools in the area as well as neighboring boroughs. All computers in the children's area are equipped with internet filters, and they librarian also made some interesting comments about access. Apparently if a librarian believes the content or book a 12 year old is attempting to check-out, they will reserve the right to NOT lend it to that patron. I thought this was astounding- and so completely different from what our access policies are in the states.

The Children's library holds storytimes 3 times per week. They celebrate National Book Week in October and have schools come into the library to meet authors, illustrators, etc.

The National Book Trust has a program that provides families with bags of reading/literacy materials at birth, 18 months and at age three. They are given to every child by the Health Visitor who comes to the home of the child. The birth-bag of goodies includes board books, the older packages come with picture books.

I particularly enjoyed this visit because once again I felt that we were given the behind-the-scenes look at how a lending library operates and how library services differ between the UK and the US. I think taking a closer look at the access policies for minors in either country would be a really interesting study.

Guildhall Library Visit

Guildhall library was the first lending-library that we were able to visit, and I wish we would've visited this library earlier on in the trip. This library seemed closest to the one (in service-models, services, layout, etc.) I work in back home. Plus, the atmosphere here made it incredibly inviting to study.

Guildhall Library is located within the City of London, which is London's smallest local authority (you may remember me mentioning the "square mile" the City of London exists in). It is also Britain's smallest local authority, and there are 5 libraries within this square mile. Guildhall is home to a great Art Gallery, and since its creation there were always plans to include a library within the building. Guildhall is the largest of the City's libraries (local and publicly funded). There are actually no membership requirements or restrictions, which also makes this a convenient place for people to visit while they're vacationing to search for information.

The building itself is the 4th building to house Guildhall. It was first established in the 1420's about 100 yards away from the current building, adjacent to Lord Hall Chapel. It housed mainly theological manuscripts/items.

In the 1600's the Duke of Somerset decided he would take over the collection, and he basically took off with all of the items. That was the end of Guildhall library as it was. (Incidentally the Duke was executed later for things unrelated to theft of the collection.) The library owns only 1 item that existed within the medieval Guildhall library, and the rest of the collection has quite literally disappeared.

In the 1820's influential people decided to create a library that concentrated on the City of London. It opened originally to corporation members and guests. Donations to create the library came from sheriffs, high-class citizens, etc. The library itself became incredibly popular. Because of this popularity, in the 1870's Horace Jones (city architect that built Tower Bridge) decided to re-build the another library. He designed with with ecclesiastical appearance based off the Knave of Taxton church. This version of the library opened to the general public in 1875, and was one of the first libraries in the UK to welcome the "general public" into their institution. As such, it too became incredibly popular. The library started creating/developing general collections of business information, commercial records, directories, etc.

In December of 1940 The Blitz hit London, and incendiary bombs hit the library. Most valuable materials were moved, but additional losses occurred regardless. The library has been able to replace or buy many of the items that were lost back for their current collection. The building as it stands now was erected in 1974.

The Collection
Guildhall houses the greatest collection devoted to London. It includes History, English local history, Parliamentary matters, early law reports, family history, etc. Many guilds (about 95 companies) gave their collections over to Guildhall Library, including Clock and Watchmaking guilds, Livery Guilds, Blacksmiths, etc.

The collection has international importance as well as a strong local historical importance. The London Stock Exchange gave all historic records and company annual reports between 1880-1964 to Guildhall, which occupies two and a half miles of shelf-space. They also acquired Lloyd's marine collection. Lloyd's was an insurance company specializing in maritime risks from 1740 and onward. Shipping movements, casualities and over 350,000 cards from 1927 to 1974 record every voyage that was taken by sea around the world.

Book Selecting
Guildhall continues to purchase and acquire items, both modern and antiquarian. With a staff of about 44 people (including security, shelvers, etc.) the librarians carefully select items that will benefit the collection and their patrons.

Resources/Layout
The Enquiry Desk is typically staffed with 2-4 staffers, and they provide reference services to the patron population. They receive about 10-15 letters/emails per day with reference questions. Because much of the research required to carry out these services is difficult and time consuming, the first 20 minutes of research by a librarian/staff member is free, but each additional hour for in-depth research charges 50 pounds! Because many of the patrons who utilize the collections are businesses and companies who can afford this type of charge, no one seems to complain much about the bill. Often the reference staff will bring in a retired employee from Guildhall who is a "freelancer" to work on incredibly time consuming work.

The catalogue is run by TALIS, and can be viewed here.

If you are a researcher and planning to carryout research at Guildhall, you may search the online catalogue and then fill out a Request Slip. Then the patron must take the Request Slip to the Enquiry Desk, where the librarians will place it in a tube-suction system (much like those at US Bank drive-throughs). The request then goes to the storage area in the basement. For rare items one must hand-over an ID as well as sit at the table closest to the Enquiry Desk for close observation.

Computers/Electronic Resources
Guildhall is one of the only libraries (it seemed to me) that has free internet access on their computers. Due to the building's architecture, Guildhall has problems with WiFi and wireless access.

Guildhall has a wealth of online resources, many of which are available to the public from home. COLLAGE is a digitisation project created at Guildhall, where over 40K images from the collection have been scanned in and are available for purchase online.

Classification
A Guildhall librarian created a special classification system for their collection of London-related works in the 1930s that is still used today. For non-London-related works, the library uses Dewey, but they aren't necessarily shelved that way. If someone donates a collection, the entire collection is kept together, not separated.

I really enjoyed the visit to Guildhall. As mentioned earlier, I felt this was the closest representation of what a public library is like in the states, and I would have loved to have had more time to utilize their resources while there.

My birthday and Good-byes

So it's our last day here, and I haven't kept up on the last few days of the trip. I think I've been gearing up and trying to squeeze so many things into the last few days that I just haven't had the time (or energy) to sit down and actually write out everything I've seen of late.

Yesterday was my birthday- the last 20-something birthday I'll ever have, so I celebrated with people from our program. I also ate bread and butter pudding, which is to-die-for. I'm certain I will miss the food here. Every meal I've had has been fantastic. I'll post some pictures here of people in my program. They're blurry (as some of the night ended up being) but you get the idea. It's not easy to get 10 or so people organized for a picture on Blackfriar's Bridge.

This evening (soon) I'll be handing in my access-card to the internet. I'm actually nervous about that. I hate being "disconnected" for too long, as most of you know.

But I'm very sad to leave here. The last two days have brought on absolutely gorgeous weather. I paid my respects at John Milton's grave (pictured above). I finally saw part of the London Wall everyone kept talking about. I walked around the Guildhall library and the Barbican Centre. Those two entries will be much longer and posted at another time.

I'm starting to wonder what life will be like at home. I'm turning over a few "new leaves" so to speak, so I'm anxious to see what my day to day will be when I get back. I recently got our draft work-schedule, which was a nice push back into reality. haha! I'm excited to see everyone and tell everyone the great experiences I've had here...but I'm also wondering when I'll get back here for another visit, and how many times I'll cross the Thames before I leave tomorrow morning.

So I leave here at 6am tomorrow. Flight finally lands in Cleveland around 6pm, and then I have to see if I can remember how to drive. It will be around 11pm in my head/body so I'm hoping I can get back to Columbus in one piece so I can size up the damage of my apartment with a clear head. Hahaha. (I know how jet lag works and it inevitably kicks my butt on the way home.)

Anyways, I'll see you when I get back....and will post info on the Barbican and Guildhall when I get back, too.

xo Cheers!

Maritime Museum Library and Pub walking

So today we had to be in the courtyard (our group meeting place) at 7:30am. Seeing as I do not function without coffee, I woke up at 6:15, threw on clothes, went and got coffee, checked email, then met the group. We then trekked across the waterloo bridge over to the other side of the river and took a 23 minute long boat ride down the Thames to Greenwich.

Now, our official tour didn’t start until 10:30am. The museum (and most shops) didn’t open until 10:00. So we had a little bit of time to get some breakfast (THANK GOD) and I could settle down a bit before we went in.

We went to the National Maritime Museum. What does this have to do with libraries? Good question. I was starting to wonder the same thing. In fact, I’m so incredibly worried about getting research done and getting all of the things I wanted to do finished in ADDITION to my final project and assignments for my other class at Illinois…well I’m just about fed up with group trips. I had too much fun investigating the city on my own while everyone was away on mini-break that I’m starting to lose my patience in big groups and also with pre-organized meeting times, tours, etc. All of the things I was really looking forward to seeing are already over with, so I wish we had these last few days as optional days or research days so I could get to work on my assignments or see the last few things I absolutely want/need to see.

At any rate, the National Maritime Museum also has a library, which houses pretty much any and everything pertaining to ocean/sea related items.

We walked up through the Museum into the E-Library area, which was a foyer with an Inquiry Desk (information desk) and about 12 computers. The computers have access to E-Journals, their catalogue, family history items, etc. The E-Library was created so people under the age of 16 could search for information, as the under-agers are not permitted in the library itself. Within the foyer “E-Library” area, they also place items on display, this time around they are displaying items from the Falklands Islands Dispute. Swords, paintings, documents, etc. Pretty neat.

We then walked through the rotunda to the Caird Library within the Maritime Museum. The shelves within were all guarded with glass doors, and locked. (Patrons are able to unlock the glass doors, they need only ask for a key.) Above the door to the library is a plaque stating Caird’s (the main benefactor in creating the library) motto “Strive and Endure” which is pretty depressing if you ask me. The shelving was based on Cambridge University’s shelving plan- and created in the 1930’s. There are about 25K books in the Reading Room, all Reference only. Of those books, about 8000 of them are Rare Books, pamphlets, charts, atlases, maps, etc. The Rare Books include anything that is from pre-1850. Many of these rare items are not on-site.

The library utilizes the UDC cataloguing system- Universal Decimal Classification- which integrates punctuation into the call numbers to further divide sub-headings into sub-sub-headings. Most of the patrons to the library are either Family Historians or academics. The library is currently creating a new archive to accommodate all groups (allow for better quiet areas for academics) and will be switching over to temperature controlled areas for the entire collection. This library (which is different from most of the others we’ve visited) acquires things on a regular basis, so they WEED constantly. They’re short on space and work diligently to keep it all organized and efficient for patrons, just as any library would.


The library was opened in 1937 by King George the VI. The building itself was originally an orphanage called the Royal Hospital School, which housed children of sailors and seamen who’d been abandoned for whatever reason. The Museum building lays on the grounds of what used to be the Naval College which is a separate building and was closed in 1999 (now it houses the Greenwich University).

“Treasures”
This whole experience reminded me of the summer reading program at my library right now, as a lot of Maritime’s items are pirate-related. Here are some of the things I got to see and HOLD IN MY HANDS

The museum library has about 4 and a half miles worth of manuscripts. Their oldest piece is from 1322.

Spy Book: 1582
This book was compiled before the Spanish Armada for Queen Elizabeth by a real spy who was in Portugal, watching the Spanish fleets bring in goods/people, etc. It is basically military intelligence from long long ago. Very cool.

Waggoner: 1682
Pirate-owned atlas. Neat! Basil Ringrose (a real pirate) wrote this around American and South America. On a map within it, California is drawn as an island. Basil would attack Spanish ships, so even though he was a pirate, because the English weren’t too happy with the Spanish at that time, they eventually let him off the hook after he was tried for pirating.

Pearl- Royal Naval Log Book: 1720
This log book has two lines in it that detail when the English Navy captured Blackbeard…the real thing, Blackbeard the Pirate. Very neat! Interestingly, it appears that he was caught off the coast of North Carolina.

Merchant/Slave Log
Not very interesting, because the slaves were listed as “goods” and not much is recorded about them other than where they were going, how many onboard, etc. However, this book was written by a man (Newton) who later became a reformed Christian and wrote the song: Amazing Grace. Neat!

Admiral Lord Nelson’s love letters- 1801
These were neat because we got to see the love letters to his mistress—and then also the letter to his wife that basically says, “Look lady, I can’t help you- I don’t love you, we’re married and whatever, but buzz off.” But the letter to his mistress is pretty hot and steamy. Apparently Nelson was a paranoid guy too, so a lot of what he wrote is scribbled out and re-written…just in case someone intercepted it. He burned all the letters he received. I bet he didn’t think hundreds of years later we’d be reading about his affair! The library has literally 100s of these letters, as the mistress never held up her end of the deal and burned them, as Nelson burnt his. (I wouldn’t burn them either.)

Titanic: Walter Lords’ collection of memorabilia
Walter Lords, who wrote A Night to Remember, collected a ton of stuff from the Titanic, and upon his death, the Maritime museum acquired these items. Some things I was able to look at: a promotional brochure for White Star Liner, with a cross-section of the ship; photographs taken on the Carpathia of the survivors, how they were saved, and even a real photograph of the iceberg that sunk the Titanic (amazing); a 2nd class dinner menu, which was also a postcard that a little girl had in her pocket when the boat went under.

I also was able to see a lot of information on the Confession and Execution of pirates…pretty bloody stuff. Also saw the HBMS Bounty book, which had a broken spine, so they tied it together with a piece of the sail from the boat.

So all in all this was a neat little trip. I wasn’t expecting it to have so many interesting treasures.

After our visit to the museum, I trekked up the hill to the Observatory, which is the area where the prime meridian is located. Here’s a picture of me, with a foot in both hemispheres. Doubt that will ever happen again. Haha!

After our trek around Greenwich, I went to Leceister Square to retrieve my cell phone. Then I went back to the dorms, did some homework, and ended up going to a bunch of places from Covent Gardens, to the City of London and then back to our stomping grounds around Waterloo station. It was a great night- wonderful weather and I snapped some pictures of the pubs I went to, and the scenery along the way. I can’t believe that I’m coming home so soon….I’ll really miss these sights and I want to be sure I have enough pictures of them to remind me how much I love it here.

Monday: St. Paul's Cathedral and Wimbledon

So on Monday I had an appointment at the St. Paul's Cathedral library to discuss their collection with the librarian. I was super-nervous about it. However, I calmed myself down with a trek out to Wimbledon to do some souvenir shopping for my parents (the tennis freaks). After a train ride, a long walk and two bloody blisters later...I found Wimbledon. Centre Court is being torn apart, and I didn't get to see much of it (it cost so much money to get a tour-- and I was pressed for time!!!) that I just snapped a few pictures of the Golf course across the street, and the outside of the tennis arenas. The buildings are green and the flowers everywhere are purple...gorgeous!! Then I proceeded to spend more money in that gift shop than I've spent anywhere in london to date. However, seeing as my parents helped me fund half of this trip, the least I could do is get them some neat stuff they'll love. :o)

Then I took a bus, then walked, then the tube (with three changes) back to waterloo. Dumped off my stuff in the dorms, band-aided my bloody blisters, and walked to St. Paul's for my meeting. Climbed the 96 steps up to the library, and spoke with the librarian there about a multitude of things...mostly their collection. I only had an hour with him, but I did learn quite a bit about their collection, and even some pointers on how to get involved in the conservation field. So that was worth it. I think I'm writing my short paper on that collection, and focusing my longer research on digitisation projects over here...so I know I'll have enough content to get 25 pages out of it all.

After that, I had dinner at the White Hart (favorite neighbourhood joint) and then went to Doggett's on the river. I can't get enough of this river. *sigh*

Bath, England

So we wake up the next morning and start to get ready for our 2 hour train ride to Bath. I was excited for this-- to see some more of the countryside and also to see the Roman Baths, which I've heard so much about.

Ann booked this FABULOUS bed and breakfast that is fancier than anything I've ever seen in the UK. I felt like lifestyles of the rich and famous. Not only was our little concierge guy incredibly accomodating (and cute) but they also served us tea in the garden upon our arrival. The view and garden of this Paradise Hotel was amazing. I'll post a picture of the garden here, but I knew as I snapped them that they would not do the place justice.

After a nice spot of tea, we decided to hit the city center and do some wandering around to get an idea of what we'd do the next day. We shopped for a bit. (I found a green skirt that's really cute for only £5. and a pair of earrings for 83p.) Then we had dinner at the Pump Room, which is attached to the Roman Baths. The squares had musicians galore and though there were tourists everywhere, it was lovely to just sit back, have a glass of wine and enjoy the scenery. The Bath Abbey is also in the square, and is a gorgeous church. Two of the spires have Jacob's Ladder on the front, and angels are scultped in to the stone as they climb their way to the top.

After dinner at the Pump Room, we started to walk home and I had a pint at the Lion and Lamb (which I thought was funny because it's also the name of a Christian bookstore back home). I met some great chaps who go to the uni there. We talked about all sorts of things, though this particular bartender was telling me HIS lifestory. From what I always gathered about stereotypical bar visits on television and elsewhere, I thought the PATRONS were supposed to unload THEIR life stories on the bartenders. Not this time. But still it was a great way to meet some locals and get a feel for what the Bath area is like. Obviously the smaller towns are incredibly different from metropolitan busy London. It's a nice getaway. Each time I visit a different town here I can't decide which I would prefer to live in. London always feels like home as I approach Waterloo station and walk down the Thames, but the smaller towns offer a lot for those who live there as well. Interesting to say the least.

I then went back to the room for a final cup of tea before bed. I was able to enjoy it in the bathtub in our room. THE BATHROOM THERE WAS GORGEOUS!!!! For the first time in my life I was able to soak in a bathtub with claw-feet. It sat directly in the middle of the enormous bathroom and was absolutely blissful. (Mind you I've spent most of my time here showering in a trailer-sized shower with no shower-curtain). It was heavenly. I was so lucky Ann picked this fancy place. And thankfully she brought ear plugs so I don't think my log-sawing/snoring bothered her at all. :o)

St. Paul's, Portobello Road and Mary Poppins

Another big day of touristing!

Day two of Ann's stay (while I'm here too), and we took off to see St. Paul's again. I'm absolutely in love with this church. I finally paid the admission to get in and walked around to pay close attention to the detail inside the church. I also went up over 200 steps to the top of the dome. At the top, you can whisper into the wall and it bounces off the other walls and can be heard 32 metres away. Pretty neat. From up there the people look like little ants. The hallways and staircase leading up to the dome and whispering wall are so small that I could touch both elbows on either wall while walking through it. I honestly don't' know how anyone much larger/taller than me could get through. But getting up to the top and stepping outside was worth it. I could see my city, and take pictures of it all. The weather was perfect and the view amazing. I took so many pictures. I'm starting to get that achy- "going home soon" feeling and want to be sure I've embedded these memories into my brain. I don't want to forget how awe-inspiring everything is here. I know that the daily routine of home/school is going to quickly mask the passion I've found here for everything British.

After St. Paul's (which incidentally was exhausting) Ann and I split up so she could go do a brass rubbing and I could hit Portobello Road Market, which was on my list of things-to-do. It was great. I'm going back next week with more cash so I can buy this great jacket (will be the third jacket I purchase here but whatever) that I found for only £20. The streets were lined with merchants selling antique books, china, jewelry, music, clothing, etc. I bought two pretty shirts that are floral and not like anything I would normally buy. But I love them.

Then after getting home, I quickly changed clothes so Ann, Meredith and I could go see Mary Poppins in Leceister Square. It was so great! We had seats in the 5th row, which are normally £60 seats ($120) and we got them for only £30. It was fantastic.

Then home again to get to sleep and packed for our day trip to Bath.

Big day of touristing.

So yesterday (Friday) Ann and I walked down the Thames over to Westminster Abbey. I've been there before, and it's amazing. We walked around and looked at all the graves, headstones, monuments, etc. There are a LOT of dead people in there. I kept wondering how sanitary it is to be walking amongst all of these dead people. I doubt they had very good sealing devices back in the 1200s, etc. I'll bet I was inhaling a lot of old gross stuff I won't get into here.

At any rate, I meandered around Poet's Corner, and paid my respects to Charles Dickens, Ben Jonson (ahhhh-- sigh), Rudyard Kipling, etc. Oddly enough Charles Darwin is buried there. He doesn't have a neat epitaph or anything...just a name and dates. I suppose that's all the church could go with though-- seeing as they really thought he was full of nonsense (putting it nicely).

From the Abbey, we hopped on the tube and had lunch over at the Victoria and Albert museum. It was the first proper meal I'd had in a while-- lamb and vegetables. I think my body went into shock from the nourishment of broccoli. I have been eating a lot of meat and bread....I hope I don't come home with scurvy.

From the V&A we walked through Hyde Park, past the Albert monument into Kensington Gardens.

The Prince Alfred monument is in Hyde Park, which is somewhat attached to Kensington Gardens. I've posted two pictures of the Alfred Monument here. I hadn't ever seen it before and was absolutely awestruck by it's massive size. Apparently Queen Victoria was devastated when her husband died (I think he died pretty young) and she erected a monument with representatives from each continent in the world at his feet. It's stunning and somewhat out of place amongst all of the green in Hyde Park, but I had to include another picture from far away to attempt to show the magnitude of its size.

Ann is a Princess Diana freak, so we went into Kensington Palace, which was pretty neat...though they had this weird shrine-type exhibit of her dresses and pictures of her...and even wallpaper with her image all over it...very strange. But I'm glad we went. Then we had tea & scones at the Orangery (picture), which used to serve as a greenhouse on the grounds of Kensington Gardens. It was a beautiful day, and did I mention that I love tea breaks? hahaha. I do have pictures, and will put them up soon.

Then we came back home to rest before walking down the Thames in the other direction to take Ann down to Doggett's, a pub right near Blackfriar's Bridge. It's so beautiful to just walk down the river, half of the fun is just getting where you're going. I don't know how I'm going to appreciate my grandview walks after the ones I get daily here.

At any rate, we eventually parted ways. I wanted one more pint so I headed to the Stamford Arms and met some really nice people. One much older gentleman who wouldn't let me walk home alone. Really, he had a cane and terrible osteoporosis, so I offered to help HIM walk halfway home.

I adore the terms of endearment people say to me all the time. I like being called "love", "dahlin", "sweets", etc. Why can't we adopt this type of speak in the states? It's really good for your self-esteem, even if they don't really mean it.

Alright I'm going to go meet Ann and let her know that I got us tickets to see Mary Poppins tonight! Hooray! More later....
xx

13 hours on a bus. No Lie.

And this picture pretty much sums it up.

The bus was supposed to take 9 hours but instead took 13. I ate more biscuits, chocolate and crisps in those 13 hours than I have in the last 5 years. More details on THAT exciting busride later, when I've recovered.

Ann's here!!!!! It felt SO GOOD to see someone who knows me. Today I'm not sure what we'll do but it will be fun, I'm sure! More later...

Edinburgh-- details of visits.

Well, I'm currently on a bus headed back south to London. I have about an hour and a half of power left on my laptop, so I thought I'd use this time to catch everyone (including myself) up on all the things that have happened in the past few days.

As I mentioned in an earlier post, on Sunday we went to Edinburgh Scotland, which is a lovely and beautiful town. It was a long 9 hour journey on a bus. The bus itself was great, but I really felt as though I lost an entire day of the trip just sitting on a coach. I thought we were taking a train, but I was mistaken. At any rate, they showed movies, and we could stretch out a bit, so that was nice. And the weather was lovely, so I was able to see some of the beautiful northern English countryside. I have never seen so many sheep in my entire life. Much of the land around England reminded me of back home in northeastern Ohio. I woke up after a nap on the trip at one point and didn't know where I was.

I've also seen three rainbows in the last three days, which I believe is a sign...of some sort. I'll figure it out later. But they're very pretty. :o)

But the first night we arrived in Edinburgh (Sunday), Rachel and I went on a “terror tour” that started at 10pm and took us around to the scary parts of Edinburgh, and ended in the underground vaults. It was interesting (to learn of a parking lot that covers what used to be a “plague pit” of thousands of dead bodies) and the vaults were spine-chilling. There were several separate rooms that were previously hideouts for the homeless, back when being homeless was a crime punishable by death. There is a supposed poltergeist in one of the rooms and there were other rooms that I wanted to RUN OUT of immediately after I'd walked in. It was creepy and scary....and loads of fun.

Monday morning we headed off to the National Library of Scotland. There, two individuals who work at the library spoke to us for about 2 hours. One of the speakers, David- was the conservator and (from what I gathered) the main coordinator of the John Murray exhibit. John Murray was a publisher who published some of the most famous British literature starting in the 1700s going through 7 generations to 2002. Some of the works published by Murray include: Darwin, Jane Austen, numerous famous politicians, Lord Byron, and many many others. The collection was valued at 45 million pounds, and eventually was sold to the National Library for 32 million pounds. The National Library acquired the collection with funding assistance (17.7 million POUNDS) from the Heritage Lottery, which was the largest grant/donation ever given.

The John Murray exhibit far exceeded my expectations. Again, we had the opportunity to speak with individuals who were charged with the responsibility of putting together the collection, working alongside designers to create an innovative and entertaining exhibit for visitors. They explained their marketing campaigns to us, what they had hoped to achieve with this exhibit, etc. After the description of how it was put together, we finally were able to visit the exhibit and see how it all worked out.

What they did was remarkable. Because the collection is mainly books, letters and manuscripts of famed authors, politicians, etc., they wanted to create something that intrigued people and didn't require an enormous amount of reading. The script that was written on these documents is difficult to read, and then there is also the transcript that one would have to read in addition to the item on display. In order to give the PEOPLE who wrote these items a historical context for the visitor, the library created individual exhibits for each author like none other I've seen. Inside each glass case with the manuscript/book/letters, clothing that represents the individual is hanging to illustrate the stature and presence of the person. Interactive touch screen computers then work with the lighting in the exhibit booths to highlight the items and list why they are being displayed with this particular person's work. For example- Lord Byron was known as a somewhat narcissistic ladies' man- so, they placed a hand-held mirror and love letters in his exhibit. Each author on display had their own “booth” of sorts that had a virtual likeness portraying them. The lighting, layout and interactive touch screen technology allows visitors to listen to audio or read the items in the exhibit, whichever they prefer.

Truly, I was astonished with how well this worked. And it has since increased my expectations of museum exhibits and the way they are laid out and designed. Because the John Murray collection is so large (roughly 200K items), and the space where it is displayed is so small, they plan to rotate the exhibits. I was particularly interested in the digitization (or digitisation) efforts underway with this collection, as they hope to make much of the exhibit available online. I was lucky enough to get David's contact information to email him with additional questions regarding this project. The people at the National Library of Scotland were incredibly kind and informative, and generous...with tea and biscuits. I love tea and biscuits breaks, and believe we should make them required in the states.

From the National Library, we then trekked over to the National Archives, which are currently undergoing renovations, so we weren't able to go around the building much. However, a specialist did give us a nice talk on their collections, which I found enthralling. Though we weren't able to access the archives themselves, they did bring certain books/scrolls/letters out to us for us to read. We were actually able to handle these items (carefully of course). One of my favorites was the first written instance (that they knew of in Scotland) of the ingredients being purchased to make whisky. The scroll it was written on dated back to the 1400s! And again I was offered contact information regarding their digitization projects as well. And again we were given tea and biscuits. So I'm a fan of Scotland. They're incredibly kind and generous with tea and biscuits.

Tuesday we had a research day, which meant I spent it trudging up to Edinburgh Castle and paying nearly 20 dollars (11 pounds) to walk around inside. I was a little disappointed by it, but I'm not quite sure what I expected really. The view from the top was amazing, and walking the Royal Mile was quite exhausting. My throat had been hurting and I assumed I was allergic to some of the very strange plants they had on campus. But as it turns out the next day (Wednesday) I woke up feeling sick so I guess it's the common cold.

I stuck pretty close to campus Wednesday, after first doing a little more souvenir shopping and visiting the writer's museum. That was interesting, mainly because I really enjoyed the house the museum was in. It was a part of the Old City before it was turned into a museum, so it had really interesting layouts and the staircases were neat. One of the staircases had one step within it that was a little higher than the rest of the steps, in order to deter strangers (I'm assuming home invaders) from being able to get up the steps unnoticed by the home owners.

The Writers' Museum had information about three main writers from Scotland: Robert Burns, Walter Scott and Robert Louis Stevenson. I wish I had recently read some of their work so I would've found it a little more interesting. Most of the exhibits had interesting notes, letters and objects that were owned by the authors during their lifetime. But after having been to the John Murray exhibit, and understanding the amount of effort the National Library of Scotland put into that display, well I wasn't that impressed with the writer's museum. I'm glad we went, but I think between my head-cold and the rain and not having read anything recently by the prominent writers in the exhibit, I was ready to take a bath and a nap.

And now I'm headed back to London. And I'm so glad I finally got to talk to Ann last night, a friend who's coming to visit me here. I was really worried we wouldn't get in touch. I'm also hoping the weather clears up a little bit, as it's been raining all day and pretty dreary. I still don't feel very good but I suppose if I have to spend all day on a bus, the day I am sick would be the best day to do it, right?

Alright that's all for now. I'll try to get more in later. I have a mini-break until July 31st. Miss you all!

Safely in Edinburgh

Pronounced Ed-in-burr-ah FYI.

I'm in Scotland. There's a mountain (Arthur's Seat) that I can see from just about anywhere on campus. The dorms are so nice that I feel like I'm in some sort of posh hotel. The weather is much chillier, but I was able to wear my new jacket.

Yesterday I went to the National Archives and the National Library of Scotland. I'm just going to post some pictures and will get into more detail about it all later. Internet availability is costing me 3 pounds/day and is only available in two rooms on campus. Thank god I brought my laptop. But I don't want to spend the entire day stuck in this room on the computer so I'll likely finish up this blog later on with more details. Just wanted you all to know that I'm here, I'm safe, it's even more beautiful than I thought it would be, and I STILL don't want to come home.

And on this busy street, if you look down the hill....there's water.

Weekend

So this weekend, let's see....

Friday I had a research day, so I went to the British Library again. I love that place. I finally got to go into their conservation centre, which was very VERY interesting and interactive. The BL is the National Archive for Recorded sound, and you're able to see the various processes they use to restore old recordings from wax cylinders from the 1890s. I actually HEARD Florence Nightingale speak on a recording. Amazing! They also go over the various types of infestations and damages books incur through the years, and discuss how they treat them. They also go into a lot of detail regarding the best type of conservation procedures for particular types of books-- and discuss the importance of keeping the cultural origin/type of the book in tact. I loved it.

Then I walked around the Treasures Gallery, because I can't get enough of staring at the Gutenberg Bible...the Magna Carta, Shakespeare's First Folio...I felt like I could lay on the floor and sleep surrounded by all of these marvelous things.

And then Saturday I did some light shopping, homework, and nothing huge other than a wild night of dancing in Camden Town...FUN.

And then Sunday I mainly did laundry and packed up for Scotland. I also did some shopping on Regent Street. They're having incredible sales and I managed to get a great winter coat for only £30!

We leave in an hour for Scotland so I'm pretty excited about that. We're going to their National Library of Scotland and then the Writer's Museum. I have a ton of school work to do so I'll be scoping out internet connections once I get there.

I'd mentioned before St. Paul's Cathedral Library. And the librarian there who works there only 3 days a week is a lovely and well-spoken gentleman who offered to answer any additional questions we may have regarding their collection. Well, I emailed him. And he's agreed to meet with me and answer some additional questions in the library on Friday the 31st. Words cannot describe how honored and special I feel that I will be working with THE librarian in charge of a collection that dates back to 1350. Amazing. I can't wait to pick his brain and ask him how they handle the environmental issues in that enormous structure-- how they regulate the temperature in a building with stone walls and gigantic windows....ahhhhh!

I'm such a nerd but I'm so incredibly excited. I just don't want to sound stupid so I have to get some questions together for him. Anyone out there have any particular questions YOU'D like to ask the librarian at St. Paul's Cathedral? If so-- let me know. :o) I'm literally giddy with excitement over one-on-one time with this guy! (Nerd-alert.)

Alright well i have some things to do before we get on our 4 hour train to Scotland. Is it bad that I still don't really want to come home????

Thursday: Oxford again

I love Oxford. Even though we went before, I still love this town. (Being from Columbus, I think I have a soft-spot in my heart for college-towns.)

We got up insanely early, and I was not happy with the vending machine Nescafe Cappucino I was subjected to in lieu of my typical Java Stop.

We took the Tube to Paddington station (yes, with all of the Paddington bear stuff) and then a train from Paddington to Oxford. I love trains. They make me sleepy and you can stare out the window at the countryside. I've noticed that most of the farm animals here are pretty lazy. The horses, sheep and cattle are usually laying down for some reason. They can't ALL be sick, can they?

At any rate, we had a guided tour (as a class) of the Bodleian Library. I was REALLY excited for this tour.

We started off in the Divinity School, which is the oldest part of the college and built in 1420. You can tell it was originally a theological institution, as the room itself is incredibly ornate. If you're a Harry Potter fan, you may recognize this room as being the Infirmary at Hogwarts, AND Professor Madonagal's (sp?) Ballroom Dancing School. This room took 65 years to complete.

As you can see in this picture, this room was used for examination, mainly what we would call "defending dissertations" today. The student would sit in the corner, the professor across from him, arguing his research findings. A Regent's Master would sit in the middle (right behind my head) and act as a "judge" of sorts to keep things in line. All oral examinations were in Latin, and they could take hours or days to complete. Students who attended Oxford did not study only one area, they were required to become masters of all areas: Mathematics, Juris Prudence (law), Philosophy, and Medicine. Yikes!

This particular room's ceiling is a celebration of the contributors to the building itself, as it took so long to build because the school was continually running out of money. In addition, because of the constant back and forth between Protestantism and Catholicism, the windows (used the be stained glass) were destroyed. The crucifix above the door is gone. A sculpture of St. Peter (in the ceiling) was decapitated. In 1424, they began building the second level of this Divinity School, which became the library. The library itself didn't open until 1602 when it was finished.

The vaulted ceilings in one of the more recent rooms (This is the convocation house) were created to help support the upper level library. So though they are ornate and beautiful, they do have a purpose. The room seen here is the Convocation house, where administrators and faculty would meet. The throne in the middle was created for the Chancellor. And apparently, when the plague was ravaging London (around 1620), Parliament would meet in this room. Very cool.

Upstairs I was able to STAND IN THE BODLEIAN LIBRARY which was basically torture. Of course no one is allowed to touch any of the books, and of course you have to have a reader's card, and a specific explanation for whatever it is you're looking for. I mean, I highly doubt someone's going to hand over a manuscript I'd like to peruse that was written in the 1350s. Jeesh.

The strangest thing I noticed immediately was the shelving of the books, which were spine-in. Apparently, the books were previously chained to the shelves themselves so no one could check anything out. They still have a sample of what this looked like. And of course I couldn't take any pictures of the books. And for some reason I'm having a hard time finding images on google (or their website) to show you here. So you'll just have to wait until I get back with my informational guidebook of the library. (Or, if you're interested in Oxford in general, there's a picture gallery here.) But you can take my word for it. The ceiling of this library is all wooden panels, and no two are identical. They all have different colors of open books (which is the bottom of Oxford) on them, and each read (in Latin) "Lord is my Life". There are 9 satellite Bodleian libraries, some of which you may check out books, but of course this is a reference-only institution.

Some of the benefactors to the library include: the Rockefeller foundation (1933), Oliver Cromwell (1654), Kenneth Grahame (the Wind in the Willows proceeds after his death went to the Bodleian).

We then trekked to the Radcliffe Camera, which is a round building with two reading rooms (Upper and Lower levels). This building opened in 1749 but wasn't owned by the Bodleian until 1860. This place was breathtaking. I wanted to lay in the middle of the floor and read a book or just look at the dome-ceiling. The Bodleian's conveyor belt (materials handling system) beneath the library delivers the books to readers in either of these two levels. Again, no pictures of the inside, so sorry folks. BUT- Phillip Pullman's The Golden Compass book is being turned into a movie called Northern Lights. And it was JUST filmed in this building, the Radcliffe Camera.

We then walked beneath the Camera underground through the tunnel to where they house the REALLY valuable stuff. (J Floor, if you're ever interested in stealing incredibly valuable books). The conveyor belt system is hilarious-- as it was installed in 1940 (talk about forward-thinking!) and it looks incredibly archaic, but still works wonderfully.

So we ended our trip to the library, and had the rest of the day to ourselves...in Oxford. I ended up shopping because things are much cheaper in the smaller towns surrounding London. I ended up getting stationery (I really need to stop buying paper here...it's starting to get ridiculous) and trinkets for people back home. Oh, AND a pair of jeans and a jacket. And jewelry. Okay so I bought a lot of things, but it was totally worth it and I don't feel bad about it at all.

I have more pictures of Oxford and I look forward to sharing them all with you when I get home. I can't believe this trip is halfway over already!

Wednesday Research Day

So Wednesday was a "research day" which means you can either sit in the computer lab all day and try to catch up, or you can go out and visit another site on your own...or gather research for your papers. Yea....that's tough. By the time I get an entire day to myself I don't know which direction to go...I feel like the days go by so fast and there are too many things I need to do each day. Even with the extra hours of daylight they are over so quickly.

So I started off doing some quick research to see WHAT I could find more information about so I could pick a solid topic for at least ONE of my papers. Yea....that is hard. I decided to go to the United Kingdom National Archives (all the while scolding myself for never having seen the U.S. National Archives). It's about a 40 minute Tube ride...and that's if you get on the right train. A couple of flub-ups on the train lines (I picked the wrong one...an easy mistake) I eventually arrived at the Kew Gardens stop, which is a quick 10 minute walk to the National Archives.

The Kew area is "kewte"...hehe I couldn't resist. I took some pictures of the things I saw initially getting off the train. (Notice that Kew has itw own "storefront library") Kew appears to be a suburb just like any other...tiny houses lining streets and small shops and pubs on the corners. It was a gorgeous day, so I started my walk down to the National Archives. After passing through the gates of the building, well I was overwhelmed by how out-of-place the building looked in comparison to its quaint surroundings. But it's a beautiful place...surrounded by water and very modern.

And as soon as I walked through the doors of the National Archives....well, I was told that their museum and exhibits were closed. All I was able to view was a COPY of the Domesday book and the chest it was housed in. I was not pleased. Of course I was invited to enjoy a £5 coffee in their restaurant or perhaps purchase some souvenirs regarding genealogy at the gift shop, but otherwise that was it...until April 2008 the exhibit is CLOSED. I was so upset! It was a long trip, I was excited to see it, I was by myself, etc.

I was planning on using the Archives visit as one of my off-site (not required) visits for one of the assignments I have. Obviously, since all I was able to see was the gift shop and some replica of a book, this would not work. So, the only other thing remotely interesting at this tube stop was Kew Gardens. I'm typically not the Garden-y type, but I've heard they are beautiful, and figured it was worth it since I made the trip. So I walked all the way over there, paid £12 to get in, and started walking. And it is truly stunning. I went on the perfect day, and took amazing photos. But there is only so much one can do in a garden...without a book to read. So I walked around, took in the sights and smells (that's one thing I wish I could convey on this blog...the fragrant lavendar.....amazing!) and basically walked the paths of the garden for about an hour before I started to wonder if I was getting sunburnt...and headed back to the Tube.

The entire time I was walking this garden, I kept thinking, how am I going to explain this garden being relevant to libraries?! I can't-- it's basically a really pretty yard. It's a garden for Pete's Sake! And I wasn't about to shell out another handful of cash to visit Kew Palace. I continued taking gorgeous pictures and pondering the tie in between library science and the garden. Then I came upon this Taxonomy in Action sign. A-Ha! This is precisely the tie-in between libraries and Kew Gardens. Classification of plants. They're all labeled- they're all organized, they all must be cared of in precise ways, because the plants are from all over the world, have different requirements for sustinence, and of course- the groundskeepers need to know where they put everything! So there it is....taxonomy.

So after my long trek through the gardens (and certainly not even seeing half of them) I headed back on the Tube to Waterloo station, and had some pints with Rachel before going to bed. It was a long day, and I'm glad I went out to Kew. I'm finding that the things I'm most fascinated by tend to be things I don't plan. I had no intention of paying nearly $24. for a walk around a garden, but it ended up being a really good idea-- and a really peaceful place to settle-down in my head and just soak in the surroundings.

Tuesday: St. Paul's Cathedral Library

Hi all,

Well I've been procrastinating this post because I did so much yesterday that I knew this would be a long one. In addition to all I saw I just have so many things to say about it!

This morning our class outing was to the St. Paul's Cathedral Library. It's not that big, small in fact, when compared to the rest of the building. Because I couldn't take pictures in the building (or I could and not publish them anywhere) I'm having to pull pictures off of and link you to the website, to get an idea of what I experienced. Probably better off that way anyhow, because I found there are virtual tours here, so you can actually see a moving image of what I did today.

Upon getting to St. Paul's, I realized that (like my adoration for Big Ben) I have a hard time limiting the number of pictures I take of this building. It's so large that it's impossible to grasp unless you're right up next to it. I have a ton of pictures of the sky and PART of the building, but in order to see the whole building, one would have to cross the river and take a picture. You can see me here, in front of the building...I'm a spec compared to only a few of the many pillars outside the main entrance.

(Oh, and the sky was beautiful today. When I took this picture of the dome next to the sun, I could not look directly into the camera, as the combination of the sun and the glare off of the gold cross on top of the dome made it almost impossible to see. )

At any rate, we first ventured up the Geometric Staircase, which some of you may recognize from Harry Potter. There is a virtual tour for that, too. It was scary- climbing up 90 steps that appear to be hanging in mid-air, though our librarian told us not to fear-- they're incredibly sturdy. Though the staircase itself is not recommended for people with a fear of heights OR bouts of vertigo. Ha! I managed to get up there unscathed and without losing my breakfast.

When we arrived at the top, we were taking into what was originally created as a Reading Room, evident by the plasters on the building walls: vines with quill pens, ink pots, books, etc. intricately woven into the design. In this room, Wren's original model of the building itself remains, made of oak and plaster, at about 1:25 scale. It's huge, so huge that I wondered how it ever got in and out of that room. The librarian working with us said it has only left the room a few times, one of which when it visited the States in the 90s...and then he mentioned that would NEVER happen again. Ha ha ha...

This entire time we were "behind the scenes" of this gorgeous church. the library itself (pictured above) was crammed full of books that had since been acquired after the fire of 1666, mostly by Henry Longdon/Henry Compton (a bishop who got a hold of other collections for aquisitions.) A plaque remains by a statue of his bust stating, "I came to it burnt down, and left when it built up."

I found numerous things about this library interesting. First off, most of the books are held together with binding wraps, as the boards are broken. The library itself is open to all who "can make good use of it", though I have a feeling they are selective in who makes "good use". Our guide is also the only librarian on staff there, and is currently embarking on a conservation project. I asked for his email address and am hoping to meet with him later this week to discuss this project, among some other things for a research paper I hope to write on U.S. and U.K. methods of preservation of print materials (mainly books).

At any rate, I love this building, and am excited to hopefully speak with the librarian again to get more information and more hands-on (or shall I say hands-off!!!) experience there and discuss conservation of materials that are apparently available to the public.

After this visit, we were left to explore on our own again. Rachel and I had been planning a visit to the Wellcome Collection, which is part of the Wellcome Trust. From their website:

"The Wellcome Trust is an independent charity funding research to improve human and animal health. Established in 1936 and with an endowment of around £13 billion, it is the UK's largest non-governmental source of funds for biomedical research."

What intrigued us about these galleries, were adverts in the tube explaining just some of what's on display. There were three exhibits, The Heart, Medicine Man, and Medicine Now, all of which were free. (Bonus!) Strangely enough, Henry Wellcome (and his partner Mr. Burroughs) were Americans, who came to England after starting their pharmaceutical company in 1880. After Burroughs died, Wellcome set up some research facilities to study further medical related issues.

In addition to being a scientist of sorts (and obviously an entrepreneur) he was an avid collector of medical-related artifacts. The galleries we visited included The Heart (illustrates the evolution of humans' understanding of the heart in medicine, art and culture), Medicine Man (an exhibit that displays many of Wellcome's collection of artifacts) and Medicine Now (mainly an art exhibit that deals with medical-related issues of today).

Some of the things I enjoyed on display in The Heart Exhibit:

• A wooden table with entire (REAL) human veins/arterial system varnished into the wood work outlining a human body laying on top of the table. (Joannes Leonius 17th c.)
• Leonardo DaVinci's anatomical drawing of the heart, liver and arteries
• Rene Descartes L'Homme 1664
• Pacemakers throughout the years
• Speakers in the walls with songs about "heart" playing. Also speakers to listen to a normal heartbeat versus a mitral regurgitation.
• And She Had Heart painting by Lombardo, 1890
• Egyptian Book of the Dead
• Separate caskets made of lead and silver, for burying the heart away from the body.

The Medicine Man gallery had the strangest things, as it portrayed only a portion of the odd-collection Wellcome had created up until his death. Some of the things I saw and enjoyed there:

Torture elements/torture chairs (which are placed in the same exhibit space as a dental chair, ha!-- I can agree with that placement decision.) One of the torture chairs had blades all along the back and seat, with spikes on the arms.

• Over 5000 pieces of medical/scientific glassware from throughout history and the world
• Artificial limbs dating from 1500-1930s
• An impressive collection of bone-saws (I badly wanted a picture of this for my dad) and forceps (ick!)
• Napoleon Bonaparte's toothbrush
• Ivory dentures from the 1700s
• Tatoos on human skin from 1850-1900 (the skin looked like stretched leather, gross)
• A mummifed Peruvian man
• King George III's hair (had traces of arsenic in it...) You may remember me mentioning this King George, as his book collection is on display at the British Library.

After going through these exhibits, the last one was more contemporary/controversial art pieces reflecting medical concerns from today around the world. For example:

• a map on canvas with mosquitos sewn into it to outline countries- a commentary on the malaria problem
• Mosquito nets with malaria medicines sewn into them
• An enormous sculpture of fat, a blob if you will, with legs commenting on obesity.
• Many many pieces of art using EKG printouts and things representing the double-helix of DNA.

So the galleries alone were stunning and incredibly interesting.

And then we saw that the Wellcome Trust had a library. So we ventured in.

Gorgeous! A newer space, with beautiful wooden shelves in the first room. A librarian (roving reference?) approached us and asked if we needed help, and she told us there are three main collections: The History of Medicine, Clinical Medicine, and Science & Society. There is also a Rare Books area. The rooms we ventured through were stacks and stacks of beautiful old books, and in some of the rooms, they were stacked modern metal/glass shelving. There was an enormous amount of study-areas/tables. It was interesting to walk through the stacks and notice the different collections- titles outlining diseases, afflictions, solutions and breakthroughs in the medical industry.

This library is a working, full service library...all related to medicine. The main room was large, two stories (similar to St. Paul's Library) with names such as Nightingale, Mendel, Darwin, Hippocrates, Galen, Pasteur, etc. carved into the woodwork. Large anatomical paintings hung on the walls there. It was wonderful.

And it made me wish I were studying medicine. Haha. Can you imagine? But still, the space was so relaxing and well-laid out, I truly felt lucky to have happened-upon it.

So afterwards, when we finally tore ourselves away from this area, we went back to the Tube station, ate a quick lunch (bbq bacon chicken & tomato pita, if you're wondering) and then went to Leceister Square to see if tickets were available for Avenue Q. They were! So we purchased them and went later that night. The show was crude and hilarious. The music was fantastic and I laughed the whole time.

So I'm having a great time as you can tell. I'm also learning so much it's hard to keep it all straight. Today we have a "research day" so I'm catching up on things and getting started on my big papers for the end of this semester. I'm not really homesick, but I do miss my friends and talking to everyone. And I miss my library and library folk, mainly because I know so many of them would also find these things fascinating.

I hope everyone's well! I'll end with one more picture taken while walking to the show last night...

Monday: Museum of London

Well, today we started with our class trips again, this time embarking upon the Museum of London, which was really neat.









Before the start our our own investigations through the galleries, we were lucky enough to experience a short "history" of the galleries and the Museum of London itself, which was really neat. The man who spoke to us was named John Cotton, and he is a curator in prehistory at the Museum of London.



The museum started in 1976 and put together the London Museum that previously existed in Kensington Palace (from 1911), the London Archaeology Museum and Archives, and also the Guild Hall Museum (1825) in the City of London.



The Museum of London capitalizes on "the city" that was once the square mile. Their innovative marketing campaigns include a truck with a huge sign on it that they park in front of rival museums. The signs state things like, "London only has one museum" which is intriguing and really gets people through their doors. I asked and found out that they have their own in-house marketing department that creates the great campaigns. Awesome.



They have one USP or "Unique Selling Point": They are the largest Urban history museum in the world.". But the problem they have is, how do you utilize this USP and still illustrate that there is a vast amount of information there regarding prehistoric times/people? The National History Curriculum in England (all schools) begin with invaders and conquerors and do not include prehisoric times.


While they were investigating how to work the prehisoric periods into their marketing and promotions, they found that they typically have 3 types of visitors:

• Those who want to know about Victorian London (19th century)
• Those who want to know about Tudor London (16th-17th century..that's me)
• Those who want to know about Londinium (Roman London)

They based the design of newer spaces (galleries have been updated in both 1998 and 2002) around this information, and were able to integrate the prehisoric era into it nicely.

The newer galleries are more people-centered, more negotiable and conversation-starting, the pieces ask questions and start discussions between people who come to view the exhibits. They decided to center the focus of the exhibits around four things: Climate changes (global warming), People, the River Thames, and Legacy.

They created 3 design elements to work these things into the galleries. There is a wall of things that were found in the River Thames, and the river weaves throughout the galleries, so people can bounce between the plinths (exhibits) and the River Wall. There is also the Landscape wall around the outside of the gallery, explaining the changing landscape and climate.

It is truly an interesting museum, but much moreso when you have the background information that goes into planning and designing a space like this. I had the opportunity to speak with curator regarding space issues and mentioned the renovation and space issues in our library- and how that is effecting the overall design of it all.

It was basically just really neat to have a one-on-one conversation with a curator, and talk to him about application of space/design/marketing for a cultural heritage institution. I really enjoyed today's tour a lot.

Some things I learned:

• London was originally 1 square mile, surrounded by a wall, and very crowded, smelly and gross. It later grew and grew and grew....
• But in 1665 half of the population died off anyways from the Black Death (or the plague)
• And then there was the Great Fire of London.....which was started by a baker who forgot to put out his fire (entirely) for the night.
• On September 2, 1666 at 1am, the fire began and the city burned for 4 days. No one had fire insurance, and a lot of people ended up in jail because they couldn't pay their debts.
• It took London 50 years to rebuild the city.
• The fire was said to be started by gluttony, as it began on Pudding Lane (by a baker) and ended on Pie Corner. (haha!) And a fat-boy statue commemorates this fact in the city.
  

A few of my favorite things I saw:

• In the prehistoric gallery, it was evident that the River Thames was a spiritual/sacrificial river in which people have been laying precious sacrifices for hundreds of years. As they dredged the river, hundreds of artifacts from the past are dug up-- swords, coins, skulls, beads, all sorts of interesting things. Among these was a human male skull that had a hole in the top of it as a result of a surgery called trepannation. A trepannation involved the patient being conscious, and their skull was chipped away by a flint blade. The interesting part about this particular skull was that the man apparently lived for a year or more after this surgery, as the bone regrowth indicated he lived on, and probably died from other causes....amazing!

• I also really enjoyed this stone that had the following quote engraved on it:
  "Here by permission of Heaven, Hell broke loose upon this Protestant City from the malicious hearts of barbarous papists by the hand of their Agent Hubert, who confessed and on ye ruines of this place declared the fact, for which he was hanged (vizt.). That here began that dred-full fire, which is described and perpetuated on and by the neighboruing pillar."

-This remained at the site where the fire started for 200 years, even though the papists obviously were not responsible for the fire starting, and Agent Hubert was determined innocent in 1667. Poor guy. They didn't remove the stone until 1830. haha!

After the tour, Rachel and I attempted to go to the Wellcome Collection, which is an exhibit that ties together medicine and art. But it was closed. They have a library as well, so we're going to head back there later this week.

So instead we had lunch at a place in Hay's Wharf, which is down towards the Tower of London and Tower Bridge. I thought it was funny that we ate at a place called Balls Brothers. (That's my immature American sense of humour for you. ha!)

Tomorrow we head off to St. Paul's Cathedral Library, and I'm hoping to speak to a conservator there. The library is closed to the public, so I'm also anxious to see what secrets we get to see. I'm (as noted from all the photos) quite enamored with this church.

At any rate, I'm about to include pictures so I'll sign off for now. It's about pint-time for the evening. Good night!