Central Library

Central Library entrance

Reading Room

After lunch today, the class did a tour of the Edinburgh Central Library, which is one of over twenty public libraries in Edinburgh. The Central Library is a modern space inside a Victorian building. I thought that was an interesting contrast, but was glad to see some of the older elements still peeking through around doorways and in stairwells.

One of the most impressive rooms is their reading room, which houses the reference library. I was excited to learn that this library is another that still uses its card catalog! The cards are still used for items from 1918-1980 that have yet to be digitally cataloged. I like the card catalog at my library, so I was glad to see another still in use.

Children's Library

Central Library has several smaller specialist libraries that were introduced in the 1930s including a children's library, local history library (the Edinburgh & Scotland Library), an art library, and a music library. This is another library that has a newly-created young adult section, which is exciting because the need for these areas means more teenagers are becoming involved with their libraries and are reading. This space is near the music library to promote the link between teenagers and music. It has a couple of couches that form group seating, a study table, and computer for teens to use.

Although the reading room might be the most impressive space, my favorite would still be the children's library. This area is filled with modern shelving where kids can sit inside areas on the wall, a tree-shaped shelf with painted animals clinging to the branches, and a separate craft room that is kid-friendly. Having a craft area for kids in a children's library makes so much sense, and I wish more libraries in the US would do this. Crafting encourages creativity just like reading does, so both benefit a child's learning and development.

The art library was another cool stop on our journey through the library. The books are about half and half lending and reference materials, and there are some really cool items in the collection including a copy of The Corpuscle Story by James Clegg that is completely covered in fur on the outside. It looked like something straight out of Harry Potter! The art books were probably some of the most beautiful in the library, and they are also a valuable resource for artists in the area.

National Library of Scotland

National Library of Scotland

(photo courtesy of the Gazetteer for Scotland)

This morning the LIS class visited an impressive organization -- the National Library of Scotland. Anyone can obtain a reader's ticket here and all items in the facility can be ordered for examination including manuscripts worth £1,000,000. They also offer remote inquiry services (where users can request copies of documents) and have several digitization projects going to make items more accessible to users all over the world. The building is located on the George IV Bridge and spans 15 floors because the back of the building actually descends beneath the bridge and onto the ground below. The books in the stacks are shelved by height, not subject or author. This allows as many shelves as possible to be used within the 6 floors of book space they have.

One large collection the library holds is the John Murray Archives, which is a collection of publishing company John Murray's records and published works spanning 234 years. One of the new exhibitions in the library features a recreation of the London John Murray reading room, complete with some of the books published by John Murray on the shelves. It is surprising that many of these are sitting out where visitors can remove them and flip through them!

The rest of the exhibition is a collection of "living figures" depicting famous authors, poets, and explorers whose works were published by John Murray. Some of the people included were Sir Walter Scott, David Livingstone, and Charles Darwin. The living figures are made up of a costume related to the person surrounded by original books and manuscripts related to their work or life. The cases also feature mood lighting that reflects different colors for each person and interactive touchscreens that visitors can use to explore the items in the cases. The custom designed lighting only highlights the items being viewed so that each item is only exposed to light while being examined. Once the user selects another item, the lights will go off and a new item will be lit. Music plays for certain items and animations are shown on the screens for others. Users even have the option to have letters and shirt manuscripts read to them. The readers are actors who have been told to use the specific accent or way of speaking that the author would have used to give the performance authenticity. I was truly amazed at the thought and planning behind each individual element, and can safely say that this is the most engaging exhibit I have ever seen. No photographs were allowed inside, so I unfortunately cannot show you how amazing this exhibit was.

Barbican Library

Barbican Library entrance

Today our class went on some of the best class trips we have had so far in London. The first was to the Barbican Library, which is one of the City of London's three public libraries. The Barbican immediately won me over because it was a beautiful, modern space with low wooden shelving and cutting-edge technology. Their self-checkout machines can scan a whole stack of items at once! Seeing how nice this public library is makes me a little jealous on behalf of the main branch of the CCPL back home, which before now I thought was a pretty nice facility.

The Barbican charges for CD and DVD rentals, which is a trend I am noticing is very popular in the UK. Educational DVDs are free to check out, but there is no completely free movie rental system like I have become accustomed to in both the public and membership libraries in Charleston. Two of the notable collections in the library are the London collection which is made up of items related to the city and a business library that holds market reports and information for people looking to start their own business.

Children's Non-Fiction

The Barbican has separate areas for the Children's Library and Music Library. The Children's Library is a welcoming, closed-off space where children can be loud and find materials just for them. The library holds fiction, non-fiction, graphic novels, picture books, books on parenting, audiobooks, and access to ebooks. During our visit, the staff members were preparing for a summer reading program and the decorations were phenomenal. The maze painted on the glass in the library was beautiful!

Portion of the CD collection

Unsurprisingly, my favorite part of the library was the Music Library. This area is filled with biographies and periodicals related to music, but the best part is the vast collection of scores (approximately 16,000) they have on hand. These are sorted into sections by instrument rather than by genre or composer. They also boast the biggest CD collection in London and have a program to feature local artists by having their albums available in a special display for users to check out. These CDs cost 55p to check out for one week, or £1.65 for three weeks. There are two public use keyboards in the library for use and listening booths for users who want to listen to items before checking them out.

An intriguing exhibition was taking place outside of the Music Library during our visit to the Barbican. An artist had done extensive research about several bands and made up "family trees" of each band's members, feeder ensembles, and changes throughout their career. These were both informative and visually interesting, so I wish I had a picture to share (no pictures were allowed of exhibitions). I can't remember all of the bands represented, but I do remember there was a poster for Fleetwood Mac, as I studied that one for a while.

British Library

The King's Library

Model of the British Library

Visiting the British Library proved to be one of the best experiences I have had in London so far. Upon entering the library you see the six-story King's Library, which houses a collection of about 65,000 books gifted to the nation by King George IV as well as the Thomas Grenville collection. This structure, designed by architect Colin St. John Wilson, is stunning and interestingly the only place in the library where you can see books on shelving. Unfortunately, only staff can enter the structure. One of our first stops on the tour was near a model of the building, which clearly reflects Wilson's time in the Royal Navy as it resembles a large ship. This also shines through in the building's details like the porthole-style windows in the doors. The ceilings and walls in the building are designed to reflect natural light, and as a result the main room almost glows.

Much like the Library of Congress, the British Library receives copies of everything published in the UK, which leads them to receive about 400 new items per day, which amounts to 9 miles of material per year. The items in the collection cover every known language on Earth (including Klingon for all the Star Trek fans in the UK). About 40% of their collection is on-site in the basement levels, including high-traffic materials and rare or fragile items. These materials are delivered to the main floor via ABRS (Automatic Book Retrieval System), which consists of 1.2 miles of track throughout the building. A book's journey from basement to the reading room is approximately 70 minutes long. The library uses their own system of shelf marks to delineate an item's category, size, and location. With the vast amount of materials available, having this intuitive system probably helps employees locate items more quickly.

Entrance to the "Treasures of the British Library" gallery

All of the experiences in the British Library so far were great, but a visit to the Treasures Gallery proved to be even more exciting. No pictures were allowed in this section of the library because of the value and rarity of the items contained within. The Tudor enthusiast in me was thrilled to see the prayer books of Elizabeth I and Lady Jane Grey and the handwritten letters of Henry VIII, Elizabeth I, and Edward VI. There were pages from da Vinci's notebooks, Michelangelo's letters, Jane Austen's writing desk, an early Beowulf manuscript, and so many gorgeously illuminated manuscripts. The music collection was quite extensive and held a copy of the first printed music as well as handwritten scores by Mozart, Beethoven, Handel, Purcell, Bartok, Vaughan Williams... I have studied and adored so many of these composers over the years. This room is quite possibly my version of heaven.

The last little room in the Treasures Gallery is a low-light area holding two copies of the Magna Carta. This is an important document for England, but also significant to me because I am a direct descendant of King John and five of the 25 Magna Carta barons. To be so close to a document that was most likely touched by six of my ancestors was especially moving. For anyone who may be interested in the barons, here is some light Wikipedia reading on my ancestors:

• Hugh Bigod, 3rd Earl of Norfolk
• Roger Bigod, 2nd Earl of Norfolk
• Saher de Quincy, 1st Earl of Winchester
• Richard de Clare, 3rd Earl of Hertford
• William de Mowbray