Collections, Research, News and Events at the discover National Library of Scotland ISSUE 1 SPRING 2006 Setting Scott The Glory of A Friend of in Stone the Garden George Friel Picturing the Plan of The gritty Glasgow ‘Great Unknown’ Drumlanrig unveiled writer revived FingerFinger on on thethe future:future: TaTakingking booksbooks fromfrom shelfshelf toto screenscreen Welcome to the first issue of Discover NLS, our stories spanning 900 years, from rare books and 1 Foreword new quarterly magazine, designed to share the manuscripts smuggled to Scotland from 11th stories of NLS’ great national collections. century Germany to a refreshing insight into one NLS is a world-class research library yet it is of Scotland’s unfairly neglected writers, George still relatively unknown in its own country. A year Friel, who died in 1975. discover ago we conducted a survey that showed that only The relationship between historic houses and twenty per cent of the general Scottish population gardens and our own collections is a key theme of had heard of their National Library. In 2006 this issue. Map Collections Manager, Diana that figure stands at thirty-one per cent. An Webster, profiles a rare copy of an important improvement certainly, but there is still much to be Dumfriesshire estate plan, while we remember done to ensure that people from all walks of life, Hugh Sharp, the man behind one of our most all ages and communities can access and enjoy this prized book collections, during the centenary of wonderful national resource. Discover NLS is one his family home, Hill of Tarvit Mansionhouse. way of spreading the word and is available in And at a time when the future of Abbotsford is print and digital formats. under consideration, we have an interesting article FEATURES Increasingly people use our services online as on the home of Sir Walter Scott. well as by visiting our buildings in Edinburgh. We hope that you will enjoy discovering NLS. In this issue Digital Library Manager, Simon Bains, You can help us to develop the magazine 6 The role of libraries in the digital age and ICT Manager, David Dinham, describe the too - please do send us your views, questions Simon Bains and David Dinham explain why libraries remain crucial in the internet era role of libraries in the digital age. and feedback. NLS currently holds over 13 million items, the majority from the modern era. Our renowned historic collections of manuscripts, maps and rare 10 The glory of the garden Alexandra Miller books are stunning. Features in this issue tell Director of Strategy and Communications Diana Webster unveils a recently purchased plan of an outstanding garden Contributors in this Issue discover 14 Have rare books and manuscripts, will travel! Gordon Jarvie began his career as an English teacher, then spent over twenty years as a Anette Hagan sends a postcard from a Scots monastery in Bavaria publisher at Oxford University Press, Collins and Longman. He currently works as a Project Manager at Learning and Teaching Scotland. His books include Time's Traverse: Poems 1991-2001, ISSUE 1 SPRING 2006 The Scottish Reciter and the Bloomsbury Grammar Guide. His most recent poetry pamphlet is National Library of Scotland Another Working Monday. See www.scottish-pamphlet-poetry.com for more information. George IV Bridge 16 A friend of George Friel Edinburgh EH1 1EW Gordon Jarvie reflects on his acquaintance with an unsung literary hero Simon Bains is Digital Library Manager, with overall responsibility for leading the Telephone 0131 623 3700 development of NLS' digital and web-based services. He joined NLS in March 2004 Fax 0131 623 3701 from the post of Electronic Information Services Librarian at Edinburgh University Email [email protected] REGULARS Library. He is an active member of various international committees, such as the OCLC 23 Setting Scott in stone Editor-in-Chief: Alexandra Miller 2 NLS News Reference Services Advisory Committee and the Digital Preservation Coalition. Iain Gordon Brown marvels at an illustration capturing the cult of Walter Scott Editor: Julian Stone 9Professional Design: Martin Budd, OneWorld Practice Dr Iain Gordon Brown is Principal Curator in the Manuscripts Collections Division. He is Design, Edinburgh 12 What’s On a Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh and of the Society of Antiquaries of London. An Editorial Adviser: Willis Pickard authority on the literature and culture of the age of Walter Scott, he has also written widely Print: Ivanhoe 21 NLS Discovery 26 House for a book-lover on British art and architecture of the period. His book Abbotsford and Sir Walter Scott was Distribution: Bruce Blacklaw We celebrate the life and legacy of a great collector, Hugh Sharp published in 2003. 29 My NLS ISSN: 1 872 116 38 8 We welcome all comments, Dr Anette Hagan is a Curator in the Rare Book Collections Division. Her main questions, editorial submissions and interests are theology, the Scottish Enlightenment, Gaelic and Scots, and modern Scottish subscription enquiries. Please write to us at the address above or and German history. As a curator, she participates in the buying and cataloguing of rare email [email protected] books, organising exhibitions and handling enquiries. She coordinates the Division’s A word on Shelfmarks contributions to the NLS web pages and the digitisation programme. Shelfmarks are references which identify the location of specific collection items Cover (usually a series of numbers and letters e.g. Diana Webster is Manager of the Map Collections Division. She came to the Library 18 Image: MS.1007; 5.144(2); RB.s.788).You can use an years ago because of her passion for maps, and her research interests include early item's shelfmark to search for it in our surveying in Scotland, sea charts, Scots abroad and historical geography. Browsing digital resources online catalogues, to order it up in our on the interactive kiosk reading rooms, and as part of any reference www.nls.uk in our George IV Bridge to that specific NLS copy. building 2 nlsnews 3 Web accessibility plaudits Livingstone letters The Library’s website, www.nls.uk, has reached an important 500 Years of Printing in online Learning resources stage in the development of its accessibility standards.When Scotland 1508–2008 NLS is contributing to an innovative pilot web project to go live audited by expert assessors at the Royal National Institute of the The Library is taking a key role in promoting the publish the medical and scientific letters of David Livingstone, Our partnership with Learning and Teaching Scotland Blind (RNIB), the site comfortably passed 20 out of the 27 anniversary of 500 Years of Scottish Printing, to be the legendary 19th-century explorer, doctor and missionary. (LTS) has come to fruition as NLS digitised collections checkpoints required for See it Right status, the standard for celebrated in 2008. Livingstone Online, a project instigated by the Wellcome went live on the Scottish Schools Digital Network in auditing websites.This is higher than the average 40-50% pass Scottish printing dates back to 4 April 1508, when Trust Centre for the History of Medicine at University College February. Historical maps, 13th-century manuscript the rate among comparable organisations, and the encouraging news Androw Myllar and Walter Chepman produced the London (UCL) and led by Professor Christopher Lawrence, Murthly Hours and Edinburgh Calotype Club takes the Library a step closer to qualifying for the RNIB's web- earliest known dated output from their Edinburgh press aims to display original copies of Livingstone’s letters photographs are now available online, accompanied by site accessibility award. – The Complaint of the Black Knight,a poem by John alongside transcribed and edited versions. Livingstone was a video and audio commentaries from curators, teachers Senior Web Accessibility Consultant at the RNIB, Henny Lydgate. Digitised versions of Chepman and Myllar’s prolific correspondent and over 2,000 of his letters are and experts. Some of these interpretative clips will also Swan commended the NLS web team. ‘We were impressed with printing can be found on our website at: scattered throughout the world.The largest share of these be made available for podcast, enabling them to be the work that has already gone into making the main area of the www.nls.uk/digitallibrary/chepman. reside in NLS holdings (with 77 recent additions from the downloaded and watched on portable digital media site accessible’, she said. ‘The site is clean, navigable and most The celebration is being planned in collaboration John Murray Archive). Prof. Lawrence and his team have players.The building of the Forth Railway Bridge will important of all, usable for people with disabilities.’ with the Scottish Printing Archival Trust, and other already made several visits to the Library to select material for feature in future snippets, alongside plans to develop a Digital Library Manager, Simon Bains, expressed his delight at interested organisations are being invited to participate. digitisation. Initially, 70 letters from the Wellcome Trust Library long-term literacy resource. Log on to the news, saying: ‘This is clear evidence that NLS is working hard The full gamut of printing activity will be celebrated from will go online at www.livingstoneonline.ucl.ac.uk www.ltscotland.org.uk/scottishhistory/nls to ensure that its web presence is accessible to all. There is still books to newspapers, commercial printing and even to view the clips. room for improvement though, and we'll be doing the work packaging. A wide range of activities is being planned required to apply for an accessibility award from the RNIB.’ including exhibitions, workshops, open days, Letter of David Livingstone to his son, Shortly before we went to press, NLS also received the competitions, publications and a heritage trail.