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CILIP Rare Books and Special Collections Newsletter
Issue 113
November 2019
Screen printing workshop at the Rare Books Conference 2019,
Cardiff © Jane Gallagher
Issued November 2019
© CILIP Rare Books and Special Collections Group and contributors.
ISSN 0959 1656
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Contents Editors notes 2
News from the Committee 3
Conference Reports from Let’s Get Physical: Materiality in Special
Collections annual conference 2019
5
Reviews 16
Exhibitions 19
CILIP RBSCG Committee Members 24
Editors’ notes Welcome to the winter edition of RBSCG newsletter. In this edition we are excited to include RBSCG
Conference reports from our three Bursary candidates – more about that soon. First, we bring you
news from the committee starting with feedback from the survey of conference delegates. We had a
very good response from 63% of the attendees – well done to you all! You will also find the latest
update from Dr Karen Attar about the Directory of Rare Books and Special Collections – I know Karen
is very much looking forward to hearing from some of you in the New Year.
And so to the conference reports from Cardiff! First, we hear from Mark Harding, our RBSCG BAME
candidate reporting on the presentations he found interesting and what he took away from the
conference in terms of his future career path. Highlights from Day Two come from Argula Rublack
who was sponsored by Adam Matthew Digital. Argula reflects on how varied approaches to using
collections in engaging with groups can enrich the experience of students, academics and other
professionals. Our final report comes from Sergio Alonso Mislata, sponsored by Max
Communications. Sergio reports on the papers given on Day Three, which focused on attempts to
recreate history from items found in special collections and archives. We hope you enjoy reading
their papers as much as we did.
We are pleased to include three book reviews in this newsletter and include some exhibitions, which
we hope some of you will be able to attend.
The newsletter appears 3 times a year in March, July and November. Last dates for submission will
therefore be the end of February, end of June and end of October. We look forward to hearing from
you.
Wishing you all a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!
Co-editors Jane & Karen
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News from the Committee Save the Date! The 2020 RBSCG conference will be held at Kelvin Hall, at the University of Glasgow, slightly earlier
than usual dates, from 26th to 28th August.
Next year’s conference in Glasgow will explore Heritage science’s relationship with rare books and
special collections. It will aim to highlight some developments in science and technology,
conservation science, and technical art history, and how they impact upon our collection knowledge,
care, and management.
Please note this will be a non-residential conference and delegates will be expected to organise their
own accommodation- the RBSCG will recommend some venues nearer the time.
Lucy Evans, Vice-Chair of RBSCG
Conference Co-ordinator
Committee Member Update Congratulations to Erika, RBSCG’s SocialLink Community Manager, on the birth of her daughter
Robyn on 20th November. Erika hopes that bibliography will soon be added to the list of Robyn’s
hobbies!
Our Day Events Co-organiser and ABA Liaison Tim will be leaving the Committee at the end of the
year. We would like to thank Tim for all of his hard work for the Group, and look forward to
welcoming Christine Megowan in her new committee role of Day Events Co-ordinator.
2019 Let’s Get Physical Conference Feedback Many thanks to delegates who took the time to respond to the 2019 conference feedback survey.
The survey received 40 responses: 63% of the delegates who were invited to respond.
The survey reported that 90% of respondents would rate the conference very good overall.
Key points raised in the survey included feedback to the Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama
regarding the layout of the room and the good quality food served. The new CILIP booking system
had only 27% rate it very good and 40% rating it good. A key point raised regarded the inability to
use an institutional member discount - something we hope will be rectified by the time booking
opens for the 2020 conference.
100% of respondents rated the talks and presentations as very good or good. It was particularly
appreciated that the range of speakers covered those who were at the top of their profession and
those who were just starting out or students.
On the question of whether the RBSCG conference represented value for money, 74% of
respondents replied "yes definitely" with the remaining answering "somewhat". 4 respondents
noted that they were only able to attend as their institution paid for them.
Delegates were asked what changes would have improved their experience of the conference. 7
mentioned the layout of the venue, one person would have liked the lightning talks to be longer and
one person thought more bursary places should be made available.
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Asked what the best thing about the conference was, as ever 10 people mentioned networking and
a sense of community which was present at the conference. 10 people mentioned specific papers
they had enjoyed and 5 people highlighted the practical sessions. 2 respondents took the time to say
they had been made very welcome as first-time attendees.
Many thanks to all the delegates who took the time to reply. We have fed back comments to all the
venues and will be taking forward your comments to help us improve the 2020 conference in
Glasgow!
Lucy Evans, Vice-Chair of RBSCG
Conference Co-ordinator
Directory of Rare Book & Special Collections: Update and Opportunity Excellent news! Facet Publishing is bringing out a paperback issue of the Directory of Rare Book and
Special Collections in the United Kingdom and the Republic of Ireland.
A new feature of the reissue will be an appendix describing collections at institutions which were not
represented in the 2016 publication: collections which perhaps did not exist then, or collections
which simply were not reported.
To make the Directory as good as possible, we need your help: please could you look through the
2016 Directory and check the following:
whether you are in it if you should be
if you know of extra libraries of any kind with special collections.
Public libraries, school libraries, libraries of post-1992 universities, independent libraries, museum
libraries, and collections within publishers’ archives are expected to be fertile hunting ground. (Are
there really no public schools in Scotland with special collections?)
If you are not in it, or if you know of a relevant library which is not in it, please contact the editor,
Karen Attar, at: [email protected], who will be delighted to hear from you.
The Directory is intended to be a comprehensive reference tool so there is no fee for inclusion.
Dr Karen Attar, Curator of Rare Books and University Art
Senate House Library, University of London
Coming soon: digital innovation Inspired by the exciting and inspirational work taking place across the sector, we would like to devote the Spring issue of the Newsletter to digital innovation in rare books and special collections. If you’ve got a project you would like to share, please get in touch with a brief, one paragraph proposal for a Newsletter piece by 20th December 2019.
Karen and Jane Editors
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Conference Reports Wednesday at the conference I was the grateful recipient of a RBSCG bursary for a BAME candidate to attend RBSCG Conference
2019 in Cardiff. I wasn’t, at that time, employed within the sector; however, my recent experience of
academic study (having just graduated from Birkbeck University with a BA (Hons) in Film, Media with
Japanese) confirmed my decision to pursue a new career in libraries and information management.
The conference theme was ‘Let’s Get Physical: Materiality in Special Collections’. I was intrigued.
Even more so with the promise of a chance to ‘examine the ways that we describe, display, preserve,
and promote the physical attributes of our collections’. Perfect for a curious newcomer with an
interest in history and preservation. This would be my introduction to the world and people of rare
books and special collections.
Day one began with a light lunch. I needn’t have worried about being new. The setting was intimate
making it easy to chat with my fellow delegates around our table. Everyone had a story to share and
many, like myself, had travelled alone.
The first speaker set the tone for the rest of the conference. Alison Cullingford presented ‘The
materiality of provenance’ with an insight into the care of rare books in an historic location,
exploring how the materiality of books can be informed by the spaces which surround them (the
shelf, the building, the city). She combined a little history regarding St Cuthbert of Lindisfarne with
an accessible (for this newbie) and light-hearted delivery. I immediately felt at home.
Later that afternoon Tabitha Tuckett and Andrew Watson from UCL looked at ‘Movement, offsite
storage, and restricted access’. It was to their credit that they made what was essentially a look at
storage and access interesting by focussing on their own experience at UCL and, again, approaching
the subject with humour. I still recall Andrew apologising for having to use a crochet hook in place of
a lost electronic pointer.
On day two Ruth Gooding and Peter Mitchell (University of Wales Trinity St David) spoke about the
Undergraduate book biography project. It was especially inspiring to me as a prospective post-
graduate student in this particular area. Students take a module which encompasses the totality of
special collections, archives, manuscripts and rare books. Student were asked to write a biography of
an early printed book by examining it as physical object. Rather than examining the subject, the
focus became how the book had been put together. How many times had the sheets of paper been
folded, material used to bind it and who the owner was.
Caitlin Jenkins of Cardiff University walked us through letter locking in her presentation, ‘Damage:
demon or delight?’ It was a chance to get hands-on with something of genuine historical interest.
How did one secure the contents of a letter in the days before envelopes and email? Letter Locking
was a method of folding the paper in such a way that, should it have been opened and refolded en
route to its intended recipient, the paper would be clearly marked or torn. Everyone was handed a
folded letter to examine. I immediately saw the value in this excellent presentation as a sort of
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heritage outreach session for school children with the hands-on unfolding & engaging background
history.
My time at the conference also included a visit to the National Museum Herbarium. We were
treated to a look at some exquisitely drawn and documented herbs. We also got an insight into
some of the most interesting personalities behind the drawings, including Elizabeth Blackwell whose
beautiful illustrations of medicinal plants were created to raise money to secure her husband’s
release from a debtor’s prison.
As a volunteer with the UCL conservation team, and a full-time parent of two children under 5, it is a
challenge for me to gain access to professional networks and to fully experience the range of career
opportunities that are available in libraries and special collections. This bursary allowed me to attend
a conference that I would not be able to personally finance; meet professionals from across the
sector and learn more about display, preservation and the promotion of special materials.
Mark Harding, Conservation Team Volunteer
University College London
RBSCG bursary for a BAME candidate
Thursday at the conference Only six weeks after I had started my first special collections job at Senate House Library and a few
days after submitting my MA dissertation on the possible futures of special collections cataloguing, I
found myself in Cardiff at the RBSCG conference generously sponsored by the RBSCG Bursary. I am
grateful to have had this opportunity so early in my career. Going to the conference, meeting fellow
professionals and being able to exchange ideas helped me put my professional practice into a much
wider context. Conferences always give you a much broader vision of the possible paths your chosen
profession can take and may take in future. The panels on the second day of the conference
reflected how special collections jobs are far from static and how the profession is constantly
widening its portfolio.
The first panel of the day was on the theme “Teaching with objects”. The tasks of the special
collections librarian have been changing immensely due to the inclusion of teaching in the past few
years. This was one of the first comments from Robert MacLean from the University of Glasgow who
started off the second day of talks, workshops and visits at the Royal Welsh College of Music and
Drama. Invoking Ranganathan’s second law of library science with the title “Every reader their
book”, Robert discussed how University of Glasgow Special Collections1 engaged students in the
documentation of items’ copy-specific information. Special Collections provide teaching on early
modern Scottish history, art and culture in collaboration with academics from the university and
offer a variety of placements in special collections, where students not only interact with the
collections but also conduct research as a basis for essays and blogs. In a recent iteration of the
classes with special collections, students at Glasgow were given the opportunity to be the
“cataloguers” of items in the collection. They were asked to create a catalogue record for the books
which were then checked and edited by the special collections staff. This approach created some
1 https://www.gla.ac.uk/myglasgow/specialcollections/
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impressive results. The students greatly enjoyed researching the objects they were given, had many
joint discussions about the individual characteristics of the items and in some cases even created an
almost unbroken provenance record as a result. Although the process of teaching and checking the
final outputs were time intensive, it proved to be a great learning outcome for students as well as
the special collections staff.
The second talk by Kristine Chapman from the National Museum of Wales2 showed a different
approach to how special collections libraries can teach new skills to students. As part of the move of
the collections held in the Main Library of the Museum, the team decided to work with conservation
volunteers. The volunteers helped move the museum’s diverse holdings including early natural
history, topography, astronomical books, the Gregynog collection, private press books and
institutional archives. During the process Kristine and her team actively catered to the students’
learning needs and interests. The move confronted the team and the volunteers with the many
questions this kind of undertaking raises – how does one keep the collections accessible? How does
one balance practicalities of storage with the ideal? When (and when not) should one use gloves to
handle collections? Although the training of volunteers increased the time the project took to
complete, Kristine reported that the students thought it was a great learning experience. It was
worth the additional efforts to give the conservation students this opportunity.
A third example of teaching with special collections was presented by staff from the University of
Wales Trinity Saint David3, its Special Collections Librarian, Ruth Gooding, and Dr Peter Mitchell,
Senior Lecturer in Early Modern English Literature. The courses taught at their university have a
distinct interdisciplinary focus, of which bibliographical skills are a significant component. The two
coordinate the “Undergraduate Book Biography Project” at University of Wales Trinity Saint David
where students are taught bibliography to support their learning. This includes learning about
collation, paper and binding as well as how to identify and analyse provenance evidence. With this,
students are able to gain a broader understanding of the history of book collecting and networks of
information dissemination. Towards the end of the course, students are asked to write a reflective
essay to cement their learning.
Thursday morning’s panel was an interesting reflection on how librarians’ practice can enrich
students, academics and other professionals. Cataloguing, the essential method of making
collections accessible, was taught as a valuable component of research. Bibliography can be taught
as part of the undergraduate curriculum rather than being confined to the postgraduate stage of
academic learning. Collection moves become a valuable case study in the hands-on teaching of
collections care and conservation. All of these examples show the value of integrating special
collections objects into the wider practice of academia and cultural heritage with librarians stepping
up as mediators for their collections.
2 https://museum.wales/curatorial/library/special-collections/ 3 https://www.uwtsd.ac.uk/library/special-collections/
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Following the first panel, Caitlin Jenkins, a
Conservation student at Cardiff University,
made us reflect on our perceptions of
damage in collections. Caitlin emphasised
that there is often a tension between the
history of an item and its preservation. Our
perception of what constitutes a “damaged”
item may be damaging in itself. Damage
does not necessarily always need “fixing”
but can hold clues about an item’s
provenance and historical use. This was
demonstrated through the example of
letter-locking. Letter-locking is a series of techniques by which letters are folded and secured as their
own envelopes. Opening these letters inevitably “damages” the original state of the items and the
knowledge of how they were sealed if not recorded carefully. The Unlocking History4 was formed for
this purpose, to explore and preserve historical practice of letter-locking. If we want to understand
how these letters are made, preserve the historical knowledge of the techniques used in the process
and the experience of the use of the items themselves, we need to explore different approaches
beyond those of preservation and conservation. Caitlin argued for the use of physical facsimiles as
the best option to preserve the active knowledge of letter-locking. Interactive facsimiles enable
people to engage with historical letter folding methods without fear of damaging the original.
Facsimiles, therefore, have value as objects in themselves. They allow a close-up examination of the
object’s materiality, enabling us to take part in heritage rather than just observing it. Caitlin
demonstrated this by handing out a facsimile of a folded letter to all of us with some hidden traps in
form of “Dagger-Trap” letters, so we could experience the use of a facsimile for ourselves.
For the final part of the morning sessions we were split into groups for two activity sessions. One
was led by the Conservator Annie Starkey from the Liverpool Record Office. In her “Exhibition and
display clinic” we were taught how to build our own book cradles. This was a particularly useful
session for those who are not fortunate enough to have their own conservation departments and
still want to display collection items.
4 http://letterlocking.org/
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The second workshop allowed us to make our own screen prints. The Printhaus5, a community-
based screen-printing workshop in Cardiff, came in with their materials for this session and offered
us some lovely book themed options to make our own prints. Both sessions were a nice break from
the usual conference presentations and very enjoyable.
5 https://www.theprinthaus.org/
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After our lunchbreak we all split up into new groups to go on visits to libraries and archives in
Cardiff. Attendees were given the option of visiting the Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama
Library and Cardiff University Special Collections and Archives, Cardiff Metropolitan University
Special Collections with its printing studio, the National Museum Herbarium or the Glamorgan
Archives. I personally chose to go to Cardiff Metropolitan University Special Collections because I
was particularly intrigued by their printing studio. The University was only a short bus ride away
from the venue where we were greeted by the friendly staff there to start our tour. First, we were
led into the Print Studio6 which is used by Cardiff Metropolitan students for their creative work
during their studies. Among other things it boasted a Columbian press as well as type that students
still regularly use for their printing projects. Students can even print their own t-shirts.
Another special feature of Cardiff Metropolitan University is its growing collection of Artists’ Books.7
The collection houses over 500 artists’ books dating from the 1960s and we were given the
opportunity to view some examples from it. Despite their rarity, the special collections staff at
Cardiff Metropolitan University are particularly keen to make the collections as accessible to their
students as possible to provide them with inspiration for the course work. The breadth and range of
artists’ books was astonishing and as a relative novice to this field of publishing and artistic practice,
my eyes were opened to the multitude of forms a book may take. It must be a valuable resource for
students to use for their creative practice which again shows the importance of special collections’
engagement with students and their work.
The day was rounded off with a drinks reception and conference dinner at the Temple of Peace in
Cardiff. Our Thursday was a perfect mix of talks, activities, visits and opportunities to have lots of
interesting conversations with our colleagues. Everyone I had the chance to talk with was incredibly
friendly and welcoming. One of the most impressive aspects of this conference to me was that it
fostered a real sense of a supportive professional community. Especially as a new professional, it
cannot be overstated what an incredibly valuable experience that is. I would like to thank the RBSCG
6 https://www.cardiffmet.ac.uk/about/printstudio/ 7 https://study.cardiffmet.ac.uk/Library/Pages/Collections%20and%20Spaces.aspx
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committee and the conference organizers for all their efforts to make this conference so inclusive
and, above all, encouraging. It really cemented my conviction that working with special collections is
what I want to do with my professional life.
Argula Rublack, Customer Service Supervisor (Special Collections)
Senate House Library, University of London
Bursary sponsored by Adam Mathew Digital
Friday at the Conference Preamble: Thursday visit to the Glamorgan Archives
Thursday after lunch, delegates at
the RBSCG Annual Study Conference
had the opportunity to join one of
the visits organised to discover an
information service in the Cardiff
area. I had the fortune of visiting
the Glamorgan Archives. The aim of
this institution is to store, look after
and make available to the public
records originating from Cardiff and
some of the surrounding regions in
Glamorgan: including Bridgend,
Caerphilly, Merthyr Tydfil, Rhondda Cynon Taf and the Vale of Glamorgan. During the visit we learnt
about different aspects of their institutional goals and practices. The current building is a state-of -
the-art facility that is equipped with everything necessary to fulfil their mission in the most
accomplished possible way (including a conservation wall lightbox that seems to be the largest in the
UK and is used to work on oversized maps). The visit concluded with a show and tell activity at the
Archives meeting room (next to the reading room), where we had the chance to appreciate some
items representative of the collections.
This visit was both enjoyable and very eye-opening for those in the information sector. It is familiar
to Special Collections and Rare Books Librarianship due to its purpose and mission, yet remains
distant and unknown for many of us: recognisable due to the different nature of the materials under
their care.
AMG and Session 1: Archives and library of art historian, lobbyist and philanthropist, Sir Denis Mahon Friday started with the RBSCG Annual Group Meeting. The attendees were handed out a copy of
several documents formally presented by the Committee during the meeting: Minutes of the 2018
AGM and matters arising from them, Annual Report 2018, Annual Accounts 2018, Report of the
Bibliographic Standards Committee, Report of the CILIP Member Forum, RBSCG Committee list and
Code of Ethics. They were successfully subjected to the approval of the members of the group
present in the room. After this, the first session of the day took place.
Leah Benson, from the National Gallery of Ireland, gave a presentation about the process of moving
the Sir Denis Mahon Library archives into her institution. The first part of the presentation consisted
of an introduction to the figure of Sir Denis Mahon, historian, lobbyist and philanthropist. He was
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born into a wealthy family in 1910, in
London, and had strong ties to Ireland
(3 of his grandparents were Irish). He
travelled extensively through Europe
and soon developed an eye for art. He
studied at Eton, Christ Church (Oxford),
and was mentored by Nikolaus Pevsner
(when Pevsner was teaching at The
Courtauld). He soon started buying
paintings he was interested in, never
paying more than £2000. He
championed artists that had been
ignored until then or given a lesser role
in the history of art than they deserved,
with a big emphasis on Italian Baroque
art, specially Guercino to begin with,
and Caravaggio later, in the 1950s.
Outside of the Italian world, he also
developed an interest in Poussin from the 1960s onwards. Between the 1930s and the 1990s, there
was no interest from museums in the art he was collecting, so Mahon decided he would simply
collect works of art he admired for himself until museums were ready to accept his collection. This
change eventually, gradually took place. In 1999 he decided to bequeath the bulk of his picture
collection to several national museums and galleries, under the promise that access to their
collections would be free to the public.
In 2009, he decided to donate his library and archives (plus art works and furniture) to the National
Gallery of Ireland. The second part of Leah Benson’s presentation constituted a fascinating depiction
of the contents of his house in Cadogan Square, Knightsbridge, London, and of the tasks undertaken
to transport these to their new residence in Dublin. This was a titanic enterprise, indeed. The
material was classified in wide categories and prepared for the move: books (rare/modern,
catalogues and journals), papers (academic, persona, lobbying and financial) and art works.
Logistically, they could not take everything with them, but they gave it a good try. In the end, 950
boxes, trunks, some furniture, etc. were taken. That involved a huge transportation effort (each
truck could be loaded with up to 150 boxes). Everything else was auctioned. Back in Dublin all the
material was stored where adequate space could be found, away from the main collection
depending upon examination. Today the library is mostly catalogued. It contains an important
collection of rare books with almost no duplicates. There is still some work to do on the archives. For
Leah Benson this has been a fascinating experience, hard work but fascinating. And us, the audience,
comfortably seated listening to her in the conference room of the Anthony Hopkins Centre, we
found it difficult not to admire the effort.
Session 2: Widening access to the Glasgow School of Art Library artists´ book collection Christine Baird, from the Glasgow School of Art, walked us through her experience of widening
access to the Glasgow School of Art Library artists’ book collection. This was done mainly through
DIY digitisation.
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The “problem” with artists’ books is that a visual perspective is fundamental to understanding their
nature, but given their rarity, multiplicity of format and sometimes their fragility, access to them
tends to be restricted. Normal cataloguing standards and practices fall short of reflecting their
nature, and it is difficult to exactly understand what a particular artists’ book is by looking at its
record on a catalogue. So, unless there is a previous knowledge of the book you are looking for,
trying your luck with an OPAC might be a daunting experience. And this way we fall into a vicious
circle, because if direct access to the collection is restricted, it is difficult to acquire the
understanding of the collection that would facilitate browsing a catalogue with the rigid, limited
information available.
Exhibitions and rotating displays are one of the solutions used to bypass, to a degree, this lack of
direct access, as they give a little more visibility and allow some access to a larger audience. This
practice, on the other hand, paradoxically implies that access to the books exhibited is less: only two
pages of a book might be on display at a certain time. So, interesting and beneficial as exhibitions
can be, they can only achieve so much. The codex format is a mechanism activated when a reader
can open a book and go through it in a multisensorial experience: libraries should be active
participants on this process, not an added limiting factor to it. Challenging as it sometimes might be,
Christine Baird considered that it was fundamental to make their artists’ books collection less
intimidating and more exciting, appealing to disenfranchised students by creating new access points
into the collection through social media.
She decided to launch a project with the idea of digitising 50 books showcasing the breadth of the
collection utilising free and already available resources: iPhone, Pinterest, Instagram. On Pinterest,
she decided to attach to each image a link that directs to the particular record for that book in the
library catalogue. That way, this
particular social media became
a visual aid that complemented
the school’s OPAC, and
increased awareness of the
collection among students and
the wider public. After the
devastating fire of 2018
(following the no-less
disheartening calamity of the
2014 fire), extending this
digitisation practice and
embedding into the library
routines (with the idea of
making it in the future part of
the cataloguing process),
seemed like the right thing to do. Pinterest analytics show that there is regular access to the
contents created and, parallel to this, records from the Glasgow School of Art Library tell us that
there has been a 321.6% increase in the use of items from the artists’ books collection. It is difficult
to identify how this is linked to digitisation, but it seems sensible to think that it must have had an
impact. Much still needs to be explored, and it is a bit of an exercise of trial and error. Perhaps
moving forward this practice could be used to support teaching and somehow inform the
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curriculum. In any case, at the end of this talk, I was totally convinced that this was a fascinating (and
cheap) way of increasing the visibility of, and accessibility to, artists’ books collections. And beyond
that, it left me thinking how I could adapt the idea to my own, different environment in Special
Collections at King’s.
Session 3: Touched by greatness: reconnecting with T.E. Lawrence´s undergraduate thesis Victoria Stevens, library and archives conservator with a long professional experience at several
Oxford University colleges, told us about her experience of working with T.E. Lawrence’s
undergraduate thesis, The Influence of the Crusades on European Military Architecture - to the end of
the XIIth century, published as Crusader Castles after his death, in 1936. This provided, in a surely
unintentionally manner, a perfect counterpoint/complement to the previous talk. While Christine
Baird paid special attention to the fundamental visual aspect of artists’ books, Victoria Stevens
stressed the importance of materiality and tactility of books, and how a facsimile can come into
place to offer a better understanding than digital images of highly-restricted-access books.
Victoria Stevens worked on the conservation
of the original book in 2009, applying the
minimum possible measures to guarantee
access without altering it. This original was
later digitised, in 2010. But even if a digital
surrogate could be a great help to researchers,
it could not totally replace the experience of
going through a physical book, since some
information gets lost in the way: information
about the state of the book, appearance, size,
texture, etc., and everything that these
elements can imply. A book is a tactile 3-
dimensional object and its materiality is not
independent from its contents, but makes us
understand these in a particular way. Given
the fragility of the original and the limitations
of a digital image to completely faithfully
convey information about the intended
interventions of Lawrence in the object, a
facsimile copy seemed like a good alternative. Victoria Stevens contributed to its creation, and the
result was a volume identical in almost every aspect to the original, but made with special materials
to guarantee durability. From a visual approach alone, it is difficult to make complete sense of a
book, or of certain books at least. It is necessary to appreciate their meaning as a “tactile objects”
that demand to be handled to fully reveal themselves, to tell the story they have to tell. Our use of
sense and texture remains important in the digital area to provide us with the widest possible
interpretation.
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Lightning talks, Photographic Process Identification workshop and visit to Max Communications The last session of the day, and the conference, was a series of lightning talks in which four brave
librarians raced against the clock (they had 5 minutes each) to give us a quick insight into their topic
of choice. Karen Attar, from Senate Library House talked about the different methods that she used
to spot in the SHL collections the books donated by Nathaniel Vye, Esq. (185 volumes) , which were
part of the original donations that constituted the heart of the library when it was founded in 1836.
Elizabeth Quarmby Lawrence, from the University of Edinburgh, talked about their use of a shared
spreadsheet to help teachers request and them prepare the special collections material needed for
lessons. Des Mogg, from the Royal Cornwall Hospitals NHS Trust talked to us about the different
ways to explore medical history in an NHS library. And finally, Argula Rublack, from Senate Library
House led us on a short trip to a non-so-distant future to show us how the metadata and ontologies
of rare books would look in a catalogue structured by BIBFRAME standards rather than MARC
standards.
And that was the end of the conference, but there was a “photographic process identification”
workshop programmed at Cardiff University Special Collections by the RBSCG Bibliographic
Standards Committee right after the Conference that could not be missed. Rachel Nordstrom
explained to us the different processes for creating photographical images and how, depending on
the original process used to create an image, its process of deterioration varies. Fundamental
information about storage, preservation and conservation were given, along with plenty of useful
bibliographical information and online resources. It was a fun-packed hands-on session, and the
perfect ending to three amazing days in Cardiff.
A few weeks later after the end of the conference, I was invited by Max Communications, who
sponsored my bursary, to visit their facilities. Geoff Blissitt, their Commercial Director, kindly took
me on a guided tour and explained on detail everything about their work. I was thrilled to be able to
witness in situ how big-scale digitisation projects are conducted, and I was astonished by the detail
put into everything they do. So, thanks a lot for my bursary, Max Communications (it was an amazing
conference), and thanks a lot for inviting me, Geoff, I learnt a lot during my visit.
Sergio Alonso Mislata, Library Assistant (Special Collections)
Foyle Special Collections Library, King’s College London
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Reviews
Archival Futures, ed. By Caroline Brown. London: Facet Publishing, 2018. 156 p. (Facet Books for Archivists and Records Managers). ISBN 9781783301829. £69.95. pbk. Archival Futures boasts a selection of distinguished records and information professionals
contemplating one unifying question: what does the future hold for archives? This theme is explored
with relevance, creativity, and an overall comforting call for proactivity and the seizing of
opportunities. Although a book focusing on archival theory, the nature of this theme ensures that
practical considerations such as access and use remain at the front of discussion.
Kate Theimer opens with a consideration of the impact of technology on archivists themselves and
how the profession must evolve in response to change. Following on from this, Luciana Duranti
tackles the challenge of trust and integrity in the age of ‘post-truth’, championing the ability of
recordkeepers to provide context.
With a premise so relevant to ever-evolving technologies, it’s no surprise to see instances of practice
and theory overlapping. Victoria Lemieux’s chapter on blockchain and the “network shift” towards
decentralisation identifies specific developing areas for further research. Geoffrey Yeo considers a
shift towards automation, and how this and the increased scale of digital records affect the
traditional archival role of appraisal. Jenny Bunn also addresses the impact of this future on
traditional approaches to processing, identifying opportunities for approaches that take advantage
of new tools.
Sonia Ranade continues this consideration of the great potential offered by the increasing shift
towards digital, highlighting the importance of transparency in this world and the need for a
“significant shift in archival thinking” to produce “instinctively digital archivists” able to support
evolving behaviours. Barbara Reed, Gillian Oliver, Frank Upward, and Joanne Evans situate the user
even further at the heart of their archival future as they discuss the ability of digital records to
recognise multiple rights in records, something particularly important in the management of records
relating to those who have experienced out-of-home care.
Michael Moss and David Thomas discuss the “liberating potential” of the internet and the impact
that a resulting blurring of boundaries has had on information availability and access. Craig Gauld
closes the book with a consideration of the relevance of archival ideas in the age of information,
declaring the end of a “golden age” but remaining optimistic about the relevance of records
professionals in their ability to re-contextualise information.
Caroline Brown captures this recurring conclusion most clearly when she states that records
professionals “have always and will continue to preserve and provide access to contextualised
evidence”, whatever the environment. Building on this sentiment is the recurring idea that the
profession must be more proactive in adapting to digital challenges and opportunities, and the
potential for collaboration and interdisciplinary work to fuel this. Adapting traditional records roles
and processes is identified across many chapters as the solution to avoiding being left behind by the
changing present and future. In all chapters, the conclusion is optimistic: despite evolving records
and user expectations, archives and recordkeepers remain vital and relevant in their ability to
provide context and support access to information.
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This book is intended for records professionals, yet Brown has successfully produced a very
approachable volume on some complex topics that remains hopeful in the face of digital challenges.
The accessible writing makes this a great foundation for future work to build on effecting the urgent
action needed to ensure the relevance and usefulness of archives in the “unforeseeable future”.
Fiona Doran
Dunham Massey, The National Trust
Kathleen Walker-Meikle, Cats in Medieval Manuscripts. London: British Library, 2019. 90 p., illus. ISBN 9780712352932. £12.99. hbk. That there is a second edition of Kathleen Walker-Meikle’s 2011 illustrated book on cats in medieval
manuscripts is of no surprise: both cats and manuscript images are perennially popular on social
media, with images of both all over Instagram and Twitter drawing a lot of commentary and
amusement from historians and non-historians alike. Therefore, this small book is a perfect item to
sell in gift and souvenir shops. Walker-Meikle is an experienced historian who has worked on
medieval pets and animals for well over a decade.
Structurally, the book has two components: anecdotes about cats drawn from a range of written
sources from the period; and images of cats reproduced from medieval manuscripts. Each bifolium
contains an anecdote on one side and an image on the other, alternating in order. We are treated to
a range of facts and stories about cats from medieval sources: such as the poem about Pangur Bán,
an eighth or ninth century Irish monk’s pet cat (p. 31). Information is given about what we can know
about the economic value of cats (p. 11), and what they might have eaten (p. 14). Throughout the
book their status both as pets and as mousers is recognised, as well as the symbolic meaning
ascribed to them in bestiaries and fables, and discussions of them in the thirteenth-century
encyclopaedias of Bartholomeus Anglicus (p. 43) and Albertus Magnus (p. 47). Walker-Meikle amply
demonstrates the complex and often contradictory attitudes to cats in the West over a period of
1,000 years: they were pets as well as mousers; they appeared in miracles as well as being ritually
sacrificed; and were heavily symbolic as well as deeply mundane. It is good to see this level of
nuance in a book intended for coffee tables and Christmas stockings.
The images reproduced are from a range of repositories, but perhaps unsurprisingly the vast
majority come from the British Library’s large holdings, with some from the Bodleian Library in
Oxford. Throughout, cats are overwhelmingly represented as chasing mice, and we also see cats
represented in fantastical marginalia and initials, for example playing musical instruments (pp. 84-
85), and with wings (p. 71), but also in mundane background settings, such as the illustration of St.
Mark writing his gospel (p. 39).
Walker-Meikle’s book achieves what it set out to do: showcase pictures of cats in the British Library’s
manuscript collections to a wide audience, and provide a range of easily digestible facts and stories
about cats taken from medieval sources. The relatively low price of £12.99 makes it a guaranteed
popular book among visitors to the British Library and beyond.
Dr. Joanne Edge, Latin Manuscripts Cataloguer
John Rylands Library, University of Manchester
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Heather Ryan and Walker Sampson, The No-Nonsense Guide to Born-Digital Content. London: Facet Publishing, 2018. 240pp. (No-Nonsense Guides). ISBN 9781783301959. £59.95. pbk
Increasingly the content received by archives and libraries is born-digital. If your institution has not
yet begun to acquire large volumes of born-digital materials it most certainly will. As library and
archives professionals we are no longer able to view working with born-digital content as a niche
specialism, nor continue to wait for a new generation of professionals to effectively manage and
preserve it. It is against the backdrop of this powerful call from Trevor Owens, Head of Digital
Content Management at the Library of Congress, that The No-Nonsense Guide to Born-Digital
Content is presented as an introductory level guide to the selection, preservation and provision of
access to born-digital content.
The first chapter, “Digital Information Basics”, provides a comprehensive basic introduction to what
digital information is and how it is stored, establishing the context and much of the background
knowledge required to fully appreciate the rest of the volume. The various stages of managing and
preserving born-digital content, including selection; acquisition, accessioning and ingest; description;
digital preservation storage and strategies; and access, are examined in turn in Chapters Two to Six
which make up the main bulk of the book. The following chapter provides the opportunity to
consolidate the contents of the previous chapters through examining how one would bring all of
these processes together through designing and implementing a workflow. The final chapter
considers new and emerging areas, raising some of the potential issues we may face in the future
with regards to the preservation of data stored in apps, cloud technology, and on smart devices.
Despite, as a result of the professional experience of the authors, the volume at times focusing more
on the archival context than the library, the book does succeed in its goal of being of use to those
within both the archives and library fields. Indeed, an additional advantage of the volume is this dual
focus which provides a brief, contextualised introduction to standards and practices in both fields
and thus goes beyond simply educating the reader on the management of born-digital content.
Furthermore, it provides an introduction to a wide range of cross-domain and domain specific
standards, strategies and tools, knowledge of which would be of benefit to those in either field.
The No-Nonsense Guide to Born-Digital Content is a user-friendly guide to the subject, which uses
clear and concise language, figures, and tables to convey complex technological information that
may comfortably take many of its target readers beyond their current level of skill and expertise.
While the book may spark as many questions as it answers, it provides the reader with much to think
about and apply to their own context. With an extensive glossary, signposting to further resources at
the end of every chapter, and many case studies and examples drawn from a variety of contexts, this
basic introductory text provides a good springboard and establishes a level of confidence from which
one can continue to develop and learn. As such this highly recommended volume would prove to be
a helpful resource to keep nearby for those undertaking work with born-digital content for the first
time as well as of interest to those wishing to increase their awareness and understanding of the
topic.
Ashleigh Hawkins The University of Liverpool
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Exhibitions
Oxford: Women and Power? A Magdalen Story
Why has power been dominated by men in institutions
such as Magdalen? How have women accepted, used and
resisted power structures within the College? In what
contexts have women found ways to shape Magdalen, for
themselves, for their peers, and for future generations?
Women and Power? A Magdalen Story is part of the
College’s celebrations in 2019-20 to mark forty years since
women were admitted as equal members of Magdalen.
Since 1979, Magdalen women have been undergraduate
students, graduate students, and fellows within a formally
co-educational institution. In spite of the historic buildings
and seemingly timeless landscape, much has changed
since 1979.
The exhibition will also trace a longer history of how, since
Magdalen’s foundation in 1458, women influenced a
college from which they were formally excluded. Women
took on crucial roles most particularly as benefactors,
staff, and relatives of the men who were members of
College. Women’s crucial work to sustain an all-male
‘Society’ can easily be overlooked. We have to look harder to find these peripheral and often
disempowered women within the College’s history, but they were always there.
Women and Power? A Magdalen
Story will be open to the public
from 18 September 2019 to 29
April 2020, on Wednesday
afternoons in the Old Library.
Magdalen College
Oxford
OX1 4AU
Dr M J T Webber, 1986 (© Magdalen College)
Kumi Naidoo delivers Waynflete Lecture: https://www.magd.ox.ac.uk/news/kumi-naidoo-delivers-waynflete-lecture/ (©Magdalen College)
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Manchester:
Seeing the Invisible: medieval hidden heritage revealed
900 years ago, Syriac Christians in the Middle East erased the text of a medical book and recycled
the materials to create a new, religious manuscript. The erased text, an early translation of Greek
scholar Galen of Pergamum, has now been revealed once more through advanced imaging
techniques. This palimpsest, a multi-layered manuscript with a largely invisible undertext, is the
subject of ground breaking research at the University of Manchester which explores how medieval
Syriac Christians shaped medical knowledge around the known world. Known as the Syriac Galen
Palimpsest, this unique and globally important medical manuscript is on public display at The John
Rylands Library in Manchester
Syriac-speaking Christians have a distinct culture,
language and script. They spoke and wrote Syriac
throughout the Middle Ages, carrying it as far as
India and China. It is still used in church today in
the Middle East, South India and the diaspora.
The Christian Syriac community is largely
forgotten today, but their translations linked the
ancient knowledge of classical Greece with
medieval Arabic scholars, whose work
transformed medical knowledge across Europe.
History records the names of the famous. Like the
Greek philosopher-surgeon Galen and the
physician and philosopher Ibn Sīnā (Avicenna),
but this exhibition reveals some of the Syriac
translators who enabled minds and cultures to
meet across the centuries. Far from being simple
translations, their work shaped how these ideas
developed and were received.
Alongside the Syriac Galen Palimpsest, on loan
for its first public display in the UK, the exhibition
includes multispectral images of the hidden undertext and an array of fascinating items which trace
the roots of modern medicine.
“Through this unique palimpsest and other fascinating objects, this exhibition at The John
Rylands Library brings a forgotten culture back to life: the culture of Syriac-speaking
Christians of the late antique and early medieval period. Their work was incredibly
important to the development of medicine, philosophy and theology in the West but has
often been overlooked. It’s fantastic to tell this important story to the people of Manchester
and beyond.”
Professor Peter E Pormann, Professor of Classics and Graeco-Arabic Studies
'The Rhetoric of Anthony of Tagrit' (1895), an influential Syriac scholar.
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Seeing the Invisible: Medieval Hidden Heritage Revealed runs from 30th October 2019 until 8th
March 2020 at the John Rylands Library. Entrance is free and open to all.
The John Rylands Library
150 Deansgate
Manchester
M3 3EH
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Study School : What to do with early printed books Lincoln College, Oxford March 23rd-26th
This four-day study school is aimed at librarians, archivists and curators who work with early printed books but feel they would benefit from more training to better understand, catalogue and promote their collections. We are particularly keen to welcome those of you with little or no training in this area. We will cover a range of topics including rare books cataloguing; bindings and provenance; book-handling and conservation; access and promotion. There will also be visits to Oxford college libraries and the Oxford Conservation Consortium as well as a printing session in the Bodleian Bibliography Room. If you are interested in the course, please email Lincoln’s Librarian, Lucy Matheson, at [email protected] by Wednesday 8th January 2020, giving a brief description of your current role and the collections you work with. For more information, go to : https://www.lincoln.ox.ac.uk/Lincoln-Unlocked-study-school
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CILIP RBSCG Committee Members November 2019
Karen
Brayshaw
Newsletter co-editor [email protected]
Stephanie
Curran
Digital Champion & Web Editor [email protected]
Erika Delbecque
SocialLink Community Manager (maternity leave)
Lucy Evans Vice-Chair and Conference Coordinator
Jane
Gallagher
Newsletter co-editor (book reviews) [email protected]
Tanya Kirk HLF Liaison [email protected]
Sarah
Mahurter
Chair [email protected]
Robert
MacLean
Conference Organiser 2020 (co-opted) [email protected]
Christine
Megowan
Day Events Co-ordinator [email protected]
Iris O’Brien Chair of the Bibliographic Standards
Committee
Iris.O'[email protected]
Tim Pye Day Events Co-organiser & ABA Liaison [email protected]
Amanda
Saville
Member Networks Forum
Representative
Dunstan
Speight
Honorary Treasurer [email protected]
Helen
Vincent
RBS Liaison & Equality & Diversity
Officer
Melanie
Wood
Honorary Secretary [email protected]
