Library and Information History Group Newsletter

Summer 2016

Peter Hoare with his Festschrift Library and Information History Journal, Keith Manley and Alistair Black

See p.4

LIBRARY AND INFORMATION HISTORY NEWSLETTER

The official newsletter of the Library and Information History Group, a special interest group of the Char- tered Institute of Library and Information Professionals (CILIP)

CONTENTS

NEWS FROM THE CHAIR ...... 3 LIHG DIARY ...... 4 SPECIAL REPORT: A Celebration and a Presentation for Peter Hoare ...... 4 FEATURES ...... 8 Library History & the Information Sciences: Past and Future...... 8 Towards a Short-Title Catalogue of Iberian Books: 1472-1700 ...... 11 WHAT’S ON ...... 13 Courses, lectures and events ...... 13 Exhibitions ...... 19 NEWS ...... 21 AWARDS AND OPPORTUNITIES ...... 21 Prizes Awarded ...... 21 Opportunities offered ...... 21 CALLS FOR PAPERS ...... 23 NEW RESOURCES ...... 24 Journals ...... 24 In Print ...... 24 Online ...... 28 REPORTS ...... 30 HELP WANTED ...... 31

LIHG Newsletter Dates 2016-2017

Copy Issue Winter 2016:-11 September Winter 2016:- 22 September Spring 2017:-16 January Spring 2017:-27 January

Copy should be sent to the newsletter editor: Anna James, Pusey House, St Giles, Oxford, OX1 3LZ, [email protected]

Series 4, no. 36 June 2016 ISSN 1744-3180

NEWS FROM THE CHAIR

Welcome to the summer 2016 newsletter.

Due to unforeseen circumstances, our 2016 AGM was not held in May as stated in the previous newsletter. We will therefore hold the AGM in November, with full details to be confirmed at a later date. We are hop- ing to have the AGM in Nottingham this year, but please see our website for full details.

In April we were very pleased to learn that Zurab Elzarov was awarded the 2016 London Book Fair Interna- tional Excellence Award for his education initiatives on behalf of United Nations - African Union Mission in Darfur (UNAMID). Zurab spoke to the group at last year’s AGM about his work on the ‘Library of Peace’ in Darfur.

I would like to remind all members of the group about our two annual awards: the Library History Essay Award and the James Ollé Awards. We will be revamping both awards for 2017, with details to come later this year. In the meantime, the prize for the essay award is £350 and the deadline to apply is 30 September 2016. We accept submissions of essays published in 2015 on the topic of library history. Two Ollé awards are being offered this year, each worth £500 to encourage research in the field of library and/or information history. Any current, or prospective member of LIHG may apply for the awards; one is reserved for a registered student and/or unwaged applicant. Full details are available on the Awards page of our website and p.21 of this newsletter.

The 2016 conference attracted a range of papers on the topic of information history. Full details and a report from the bursary winner will be included in the next newsletter. The committee is already looking towards 2017. We intend to organise a conference to celebrate the 50th anniversary of our journal, Library & Information History . Details have yet to be worked out, but we hope to attract a large audience by combin- ing the two strands of library and information history. We welcome any suggestions for guest speakers/panels/workshops, etc. Other events hosted by LIHG for this year included a visit to the Royal College of Nursing Library and Heritage Centre; a group walk to celebrate National Libraries Day; and a medieval palaeography for beginners workshop. Future events include the seminars on the history of libraries; a lost libraries walk in September; and our AGM, which will feature a guest speaker and/or library visit.

It was with great pleasure that we celebrated the tenth anniversary of the publication of the Cambridge History of Libraries in Britain and Ireland at Lambeth Palace in March. The event presented the group with the opportunity to present Peter Hoare with a Festschrift in honour of his 80 th birthday (which in fact is in late September- offering him two chances to celebrate this year). This consists of a special issue of the Li- brary & Information History Journal, which Taylor & Francis have made available for free online until the 30 th of June: www.tandfonline.com/toc/ylbh20/32/1-2.

We will soon have two vacancies on the committee. Erika Delbecque is standing down as Events Coordina- tor at the end of May; we are currently seeking a replacement. Erika has done a splendid job organising a wide range of events and will be sorely missed by the committee. We would all like to thank you for her stellar work. Dr. Mark Towsey is stepping down as editor-in-chief of the journal at the end of the current volume. Calls have gone out seeking a replacement for Mark (see p.31), with an application deadline of 30 June. Much of the copy for 2017 is already in hand, thus making the transition an easy one for the new editor. We would also like to thank Mark for his stellar work in producing an excellent journal.

Renae Satterley Middle Temple Library, [email protected]

LIHG DIARY

12-23 September Online committee meeting 15 September Lost Libraries: a walk through some of London's forgotten book collections November tbc LIHG AGM and autumn meeting http://www.cilip.org.uk/library-information-history-group/events

SPECIAL REPORT: A Celebration and a Presentation for Peter Hoare

On Tuesday 1 March the Library & Information History Group held a meeting to mark the tenth anniversary of the publication of The Cambridge History of Libraries in Britain and Ireland (3 vols.; Cambridge University Press, 2006), a project in which the Group was closely involved and of which its former chairman, Peter Hoare, was general editor. It took place in the Great Hall of Lambeth Palace in London, and many contributors were present.

The event was not a nostalgic reminiscence of that particular project but rather an opportunity to look forward. Peter Hoare began by delivering his own assessment of the work as a whole and its impact on the study of library history. These three volumes were never intended to be a complete history of all libraries in Britain, but, thanks to their keen contributors, clearly chart their progress over many centuries and also indicate where more research is required. Undoubtedly the three volumes are being regularly cited in academic publications, but there was agreement that if it were all to be carried out over again, it would probably be done very differently! The internet age has inevitably brought with it new ways of undertaking and making research accessible. The History ’s publisher, Linda Bree of Cambridge University Press, added appreciative words about the success of the publication. It was stipulated from the beginning that all three volumes of the work should be published together as a more attractive proposition for purchasers, and that was achieved. Peter could not resist pointing out that the Cambridge History of the Book in Britain , begun before the History of Libraries , still lacks one volume!

Professor Alistair Black followed with a stimulating talk on how the study of library history has altered and developed but emphasizing how it is just one aspect of the study of librarianship. There is much more to library history than books and buildings, of course. He drew particular attention to the importance of information history. It is now several years since the Library Association’s Library History Group changed its name to the Library & Information History Group of CILIP as recognition that the transmission of all kinds of information by many different routes should be viewed as an equal partner to the study of libraries. A revised version of Alistair’s talk appears on p.7.

But the Group’s meeting also commemorated Peter Hoare’s personal contribution to library history in general and to the Library History Group in particular over a period of more than fifty years. Peter has not only been a chairman of the Group but in 1967 was the founding editor of its journal, Library History . In fact this part of the meeting’s agenda was unadvertised. Later in the year Peter achieves his 80 th birthday, and so the Group decided to celebrate not only that occasion along with the Cambridge History anniversary, but at the same time to commemorate Peter’s achievements in the study of library history. To his complete surprise and, it must be reported, consternation, Peter was presented with a published festschrift in his honour in the form of a special, unheralded double issue of the journal he once edited, now called Library & Infor- mation History , and published as volume 32, numbers 1 & 2 (2016).

The Great Hall at Lambeth Palace

The festschrift was edited by Alistair Black and Keith Manley, and the contributors were carefully chosen - and all willingly agreed - to represent different aspects of Peter’s interests in library history. Both guest editors were extremely grateful to Dr Mark Towsey, the editor of the journal, for persuading the publishers and printers that the official publication date of the festschrift should coincide with this meeting. The publishers, Maney Journals, now part of the Taylor & Francis Group, were delighted to co-operate and were represented at the meeting by Matthew Derbyshire and Tracy Roberts. A full contents list appears on p.24 of the newsletter, and the festschrift itself can be viewed online at http://www.tandfonline.com/toc/ylbh20/32/1-2 . Access is free until 30 June 2016.

Following the presentation, much-needed tea was served, and then Giles Mandelbrote, Librarian and Archi- vist of Lambeth Palace Library (and one of the co-editors of the Cambridge History ), gave a short talk about the Library and introduced a number of items which were especially exhibited. He also displayed a new research guide relating to the catalogues of the Library and to Sion College Library, prepared by Richard Palmer (all the Library’s research guides can be viewed online at http://www.lambethpalacelibrary.org/content/libraryhistory ). What topped the occasion was the venue itself, the Great Hall, where the historic books of the Library are shelved around the walls and where its exhibitions take place. This imposing room, once a banqueting hall, had been completely refurbished and provided with heating for the first time in several hundred years.

The final event was an ordinary meeting of the Seminar on the History of Libraries. This seminar series is sponsored jointly by the Library & Information History Group and the University of London’s School of Ad- vanced Study, and was founded with the specific intention of providing a means of continuing the work of the Cambridge History . It was therefore appropriate that this paper, too, should look forward. Richard Ov- enden, Bodley’s Librarian, delivered a spirited talk about the need for a new institutional history of the Bod- leian. Considering that all previous histories had been written by members of staff, a multi-disciplinary approach by experts in different fields was probably needed. His talk pleasingly attracted an audience of 60.

A Modified Version of Keith Manley’s Tribute to Peter Hoare

I am sure Peter will not mind if I say that he goes back a long time. He has been a mainstay of the Group since its foundation in 1962, its chairman for a number of years, and, most signifi- cantly to many of us, founding editor of its journal, Library His- tory , in 1967. Above all, he has been a considerable advocate for library history, both within the profession and outside. It was therefore no surprise that when the Cambridge History of Librar- ies in Britain and Ireland was first mooted, Peter was the only obvious person to lead the project to publication. As one of the editors involved in the Cambridge History , I can say that having Peter Hoare as the general editor was a pleasure; he was not as dictatorial or controlling as editors probably ought to be, but moved us all on quietly but firmly towards a successful conclusion. I must also say that all of us involved in the Cambridge His- tory were delighted by its production. If we had a complaint, it might be that the cover design only consisted of two shades of grey; perhaps another forty-eight might not have gone amiss.

Peter’s skills as a diplomat have always been one of his prime assets. I have said that Peter has been an advocate for library history, and for the Group in particular. On behalf of the Library & Information History Group I would like to propose a vote of thanks to Peter for his devoted service to the cause over fifty years and more. Today’s meeting is an appropriate occasion for such a vote, partly because we are meeting in Lambeth Palace, Peter and his Festschrift bearing in mind that Peter’s library school dissertation (for Uni- versity College, London) was on the public library of an archbishop of Canterbury, Thomas Tenison. But also, later this year Peter will celebrate his 80 th birthday. And that allows me to pass on the best wishes of Jona- than Rose, who could not resist quoting Oliver Wendell Holmes: `Ah! To be 80 again’.

Many years ago, on the occasion of Peter’s 65 th birthday, I published a tribute in Library History , including a photograph of the young Peter sporting his trademark beard. 1 That issue included a tribute from Andrew Miller, who was the Library Association’s official orator (yes, this is nostalgia; the LA really used to have an orator) at the time Peter received an honorary fellowship. I quote:

Announcing Peter Hoare’s award to colleagues in Scotland, I heard one youngster say in explanation `You know him, he’s the library history man’. In Scotland this is less a dent in a professional reputa- tion, but more a street credibility endorsement on a distinguished career as an academic librarian, paralleled by scholarly achievements in library history which are recognized nationally and internationally. In fact it may well be that Peter Hoare would be well content on being identified as `the library history man’. 2

1 `Peter Hoare: 65 th Birthday Greetings’, Library History 18 (March 2002), 3-16. 2 Library History 18 (March 2002), 7. 6

As editor of Library History for over ten years, Peter was responsible not just for attracting articles of academic quality but producing notes on recent, often obscure, publications. It is difficult to remem- ber in this age of the internet just how important should be the bibliographical control of a specialized subject; you will never find eve- rything on the internet. Many of these findings made their way into the Group’s British Library History: Bibliography , edited by Denis Keeling, and one of the Group’s most important publications (6 vols.; 1972-1991).

Peter Hoare has been particularly assiduous in cultivating relations with foreign library historians, especially in the United States, Ger- many, and Russia, for instance through IFLA and the Wolfenbütteler Arbeitskreis. But, very importantly, he has crucially encouraged the formation of other groups which combine an interest in library history with modern-day library practice, such as the Cathedral Librari- ans Association, the Historic Libraries Forum, and the Association of Independent Libraries.

We also must not forget his professional career as a librarian, working at the London Library, as deputy in the University Library at Glasgow, and as Librarian of the University of Nottingham. Also, in his retirement he has done sterling work for the National Trust, especially at Belton House in Lincolnshire, where he was often mistaken for the Earl. But perhaps Peter will be a little regretful that to the literary public he will be remembered most of all for his time at Hull University Library, where he worked for no less a boss than Philip Larkin. In a classic letter written to his lover, Monica Jones, in 1968, Larkin wrote:

I was in a rage over some small transgression – it appeared I was being DISOBEYED, wch sent me into a frenzy of teeth-grinding fury. I left an intemperate note for Hoare … ; crept in yesterday to retrieve it; found he’d already got it. Awgh! … it was not his fault, anyway. 3

Larkin then names two of Peter’s colleagues, one of whom he calls that `hag of hell’, and another `that Ein- stein of Acquisitions, Charlie boy’, adding for good measure, `I’d like to chop them into messes’. He was obviously suffering from a bad librarian day, or possibly a bad poet day, as in the same letter he goes on to call Edith Sitwell a `Silly old cow’, though I do not think she worked in the Library. Peter later defended Larkin from charges of being a racist and fascist and pointed out that his famous phrase, `Books are a load of crap’, was disproved convincingly by his work at Hull and by the subsequent distinguished careers of many of his staff (not least of whom was Peter, of course).

I would like to suggest that this is exactly what library history should be about: people and the personalities involved in librarianship, not just the statistics of books issued or the number of readers served. Peter is one of library history’s personalities, and it is fitting we should honour his contribution to the field. [The festschrift was then produced and presented. ] Report and tribute by Keith Manley Photographs by Monica Blake and Renae Satterley

(Peter Hoare says he is delighted & somewhat embarrassed by the Festschrift but thoroughly appreciates the honour and has greatly enjoyed reading the contributions. It was particularly good to see so many old friends at Lambeth Palace, and to have heard from others since then who couldn't be there.)

3 Philip Larkin, Letters to Monica , ed. Anthony Thwaite (London: Faber & Faber, 2010), p. 389. 7

FEATURES

Library History & the Information Sciences: Past and Future A revised version of Alistair Black’s paper delivered at A Celebration and a Presentation for Peter Hoare

Of necessity, historians stand on the shoulders of their predecessors. The Cambridge History of Libraries in Britain & Ireland involved a great deal of shoulder climbing. The project would not have been possible with- out the wide shoulders of scholars who, two generations before, had begun to pioneer thorough and sub- stantial studies of past library development and who had also created the mechanisms ― a group, a journal, a bibliography, conferences ― to further encourage such studies. I am thinking here of people like Raymond Irwin, William Munford, Thomas Kelly, Denis Keeling, K. C. Harrison, James Ollé, W. J. Murison, Edmund Cras- ter, Edward Miller, Paul Kaufman, John Thornton and, of course, Peter Hoare. This pioneering work com- menced around half a century before the Cambridge History appeared. So, it is interesting to wonder what the pioneering legacy of the Cambridge History itself will be in 2056, fifty years on from its publication.

Over the coming decades library history will face a number of challenges. There will surely continue to be reservations voiced about methodology and approach in library history, this despite the good example set in this respect in many of the essays that appeared in the Cambridge History . To be more fully accepted by other fields of history, more will need to be done to access the knowledge in those fields. Further exploitation of contextual theory drawn from other disciplines will also be needed.

Another challenge that library history will face lies in the area of professional education. I contend that for a field to thrive, and not just exist at the margins, it needs to be taught. Nowadays, unfortunately, very little library history is taught in the library and information domain (in other domains, however, history and Eng- lish in particular, there appears to be healthy interest, as evidenced by the forthcoming collection of essays entitled Community Libraries: Connecting Readers in the Atlantic World c.1650-c.1850 , edited by Mark Towsey and Kyle Roberts, and by the publication in 2015 of The Meaning of the Library: A Cultural History , edited by Alice Crawford). This was not the case forty or fifty years ago. From the late-1960s into the 1970s, the teaching of library history in library schools was relatively common. This is not surprising. It was, after all, a period of expansion in education for library science (librarianship), as in the libraries per se . Niche topics, including library history, blossomed. An exam manual for the subject was even produced ― James Ollé’s Library History: An Examination Guidebook (published in 1971).

In the coming decades library history will have to contend with the fact that its parent discipline in higher education – library science – is a shrinking domain (though this shrinkage is more relative than absolute). ‘Library schools’ no longer exist, in the sense that around the world the vast majority of units that deliver programmes of education for library science have names which either include words other than the word ‘library’ or do not include the word ‘library’ at all. Today, the nomenclature of such units and their programmes are information-inflected. Naturally, there are still many degrees catering for the prospective library professional. But one should not expect the majority, nor the majority of doctoral dissertations for that matter, to contain the word ‘library’ in their titles. Further, it is into the information domain that most research funding is being piped. Research today is much more likely to be about big data, science commons, the global internet industry, social informatics and digital humanities (this being just a small selection of ‘trending’ areas) than about issues relating directly to the institution of the library. In a world of education for library and information professionalism where the word ‘library’ is fast disappearing it will be difficult for library history to regain traction.

Library science, having been at daggers drawn with it in the middle decades of the last century, eventually reached an accommodation with information science (formerly documentation) in the 1980s. Schools and programmes of ‘library and information science’, sometimes bound together by the label ‘information studies’, began to appear (this alliance later morphed into what has become known as the iSchool move

ment). As library science and information science collaboration intensified, library historians found a cousin (though some wished to see it as a very distant one) in the history of information science, starting with the documentation movement founded by Paul Otlet at the end of the nineteenth century.

In the twenty-first century library science is just one segment of an information-sciences spectrum that ranges from the arts and humanities, through the social sciences, to the pure sciences. Note the use of the plural ‘information science(s)’ here, as seen in the third edition, published in 2010, of the Encyclopedia of the Library Information Sciences , formerly the Encyclopedia of Library and Information Science , the first volume of which appeared in 1968. Moving across the spectrum of the information sciences, its major segments can be identified as library science, museum studies, bibliography, archival science, the sociology of information, records management, information management, information science, and information systems/informatics. Each of these areas has various sub-sciences, or sub–disciplines, their history, naturally, being one of them. Arguably, these historical sub-fields of the information sciences can logically be gathered together under the rubric ‘information history’.

Information history might be said to be about the history of systems of information provision , of which the library is but one ― albeit a very successful one. The trouble with the ‘informaon history’ label, of course, is the difficulty we have in defining the slippery concept of ‘information’ that underpins it. Information car- ries the connotation of communicated knowledge that is morselised and ‘pointed’. But notions of information as communicated (or recorded, transmitted) knowledge that has relatively immediate value and is easily digestible because of its bite-sized nature, would do little, arguably, to convince the newspaper historian examining the ‘exchange and mart’ section of a newspaper that s/he is not engaging in newspaper or print-culture history but in information history, which they might understandably see as ‘constructed’ and ‘artificial’.

Despite the imprecise understanding of what constitutes ‘information history’, scholars from across history as well as other disciplines can be found talking about it. In fact, although some information histories are produced by people with links to the information sciences, even library science, most come from scholars who reside outside the information sciences: from such areas as geography, business, English, computing and science and technology. Few of these scholars would label themselves primarily as information historians; most information histories are not fashioned self-consciously as such. Nonetheless, one can make the argument that information is the common denominator in studies as far apart as: Martin Campbell-Kelly on data processing in Victorian railway and insurance industries; Jacob Soll on Jean-Baptiste Colbert’s state archives and intelligence system in seventeenth-century France; Jo Anne Yates on the office-organisation and information-management revolution of the late-nineteenth century; Ann Blair on strategies to overcome information overload in the early-modern period; David Garrioch on the soundscapes of early-modern towns, especially the ringing of bells as a language system; Toni Weller on Florence Nightingale’s use of information and statistics during and after the Crimea War to support sanitary reform; Greg Downey’s study of telegraph messenger boys; Michael Clanchy on the rise of the written record and the sudden expansion of literacy in thirteenth-century England; Mike Esbester on Victorian railway timetables and on the hansom cab driver’s handbook; Edward Higgs on state surveillance since 1500; Francois Mattelart on imperialism and the telegraph (what he called ‘empires of cable’); Molly Loberg on the Berlin posting column as a political tool, 1848-1939; Markus Krajewski’s on the history of the card index; Edwin Black on the use of IBM machines in Nazi concentration camps; Rodney Brunt on the Admiralty registry at Bletchley Park, focusing on the processing of the raw data generated by the codebreakers; Dave Muddiman on the information machine constructed in the Imperial Institute at South Kensington in the late-nineteenth century; Chris Murphy’s study of the intelligence branch of the Board of Trade before the First World War; and Boyd Rayward’s work on Paul Otlet, the pre-First World War progenitor of the world wide web.

Notwithstanding the fact that libraries have often displayed an information dimension (in the form, for example, of references services or cataloguing and classification activities), it is poignant to consider where the proliferation of information-focused histories leaves library history. The first thing to say is that the Library History Group (now the Library & Information History Group) of the Library Association (now the Chartered Institute of Library and Information Professionals, or CILIP), the sponsor of the Cambridge History , today has a wider remit than it did a quarter of a century ago when plans for the project were first discussed. CILIP’s (claimed) constituency has shifted well beyond libraries. In 2002 there was the amalgamation with the Insti- tute of Information Scientists (IIS). In addition, information management (IM) has been in CILIP’s sights for some time. CILIP’s latest IM initiative, the ‘IM Project’, launched in 2014, reaches out to the IM community, seeking to establish a footprint in the UK’s cluster of IM focused organisations. In annexing parts of the IM field of practice, CILIP believes it can also move into the knowledge management field.

So, CILIP now claims to represent professionals from across a spectrum of the information sciences. In reality, of course, although these professions share certain practices, their identities remain ‘particular’; moreover, the scholarly academies that underpin them also remain separate, largely operating in intellectual silos. The future evolution of a cohesive field of history linked to the information sciences, therefore, is highly unlikely, even if it were desirable. It is more likely that the pattern of separate groups of historians ploughing their own plots ― in relaon to libraries, informaon science, knowledge management, information management, informaon systems (or informacs) ― will be perpetuated.

Yet, although a fully cohesive field may prove elusive, synergies will surely evolve between the various histories of the information sciences. In addition, it is possible that much of the information history undertaken by scholars outside the information sciences will also be increasingly recognized and thus assimilated, for a great deal of it has been exceptional and will thus be difficult to ignore. Because of its intellectual origins, however, this extra -information sciences scholarship has lacked an ‘information history’ identity. This leaves the door open for historians in the information sciences to take the lead in shaping an information history field that requires – not least because of the slippery nature of the concept of information itself – work to be done to arrive at a definition that can command legitimacy. The potential for history in the information sciences to flourish in the future is heightened by the fact that historical studies of the digital information revolution are likely to increase as time pushes that revolution further into the past. This will possibly have the knock-on effect of giving further boosts to histories of the antecedents of the digital information revolution, including libraries.

I have no crystal ball to tell you what will happen to the field of library history in a generation or so from now, when a similar project to the Cambridge History might be suggested. Such a project would benefit from being able to build on the fairly large amount of work that has already been undertaken in the ten years since the Cambridge History appeared. Hopefully it would also include some revisionist perspectives, of the kind that has occurred in the United States in recent years in respect of public library history (I am thinking here of the work of Wayne Wiegand and a number of fellow scholars and their work which prioritises the ‘library in the life of the user’, as opposed to the ‘user in the life of the library’). With a weakening anchorage in the universities, however, it will increasingly be left to library professionals to shoulder the ‘library history’ burden. Worryingly, of course, library professionals themselves populate a shrinking constituency. By contrast, professional groups based on the other information sciences will surely expand. But whether these groups will adequately develop a historical sensibility is uncertain.

Alistair Black Graduate School of Library & Information Science, University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign. See p.24 for contents of Library and Information History

Towards a Short-Title Catalogue of Iberian Books: 1472-1700

There is an adage that one must ‘start by doing what is necessary, and then do what is possible’. In 2006, and with this in mind, I began a project with the ambition of creating the first modern Iberian short-title catalogue. With barely concealed envy of the advantages that the twin resources of the ESTC and EEBO be- stowed upon anyone interested in the British Isles in the early-modern period, it seemed about time that a similar resource was developed for Spain, Portugal and the New World. Nonetheless, the methodology adopted by the ESTC, and indeed by most other national cataloguing projects, seemed distinctly unappeal- ing. Their approach has been to create their catalogues step by step, with trusted bibliographers working book in hand describing items in a relatively small number of collections located within their national bor- ders, and only then to consider expanding the resource. It is a laborious and cautious working method that requires heavy financial investment, an experienced team, as well as several generations of endeavour to produce anything even approaching a complete map of print or census of surviving copies. In fact, to date, the ESTC is the only project to have employed this methodology to a satisfactory conclusion.

Visualising the data. Active printing centres in 1650 (Iberian Books Project)

There was, however, another approach which I felt could produce useful results more rapidly, albeit with some compromise. This required embracing an altogether more optimistic view of the cataloguing work already undertaken by library professionals worldwide. Rather than assuming that most entries compiled by others are wrong and should not appear in a catalogue unless checked, the attitude taken by Iberian Books has been to assume that the vast majority of records will be accurate, and that while a number of phantom editions will be created, they can be exorcised over time. Our working method, then, has been to harvest and bring together very large volumes of information, using online, card, and manuscript catalogues, auction records, archival evidence, as well as analytical and listing bibliographies.

Adopting a pragmatic rather than a traditional approach to compiling a short-title catalogue has meant that in a relatively short period of time, we have been able to make available the first survey of the Iberian book world – both as printed volumes published by Brill, and as an entirely open-access resource compiled by the Digital Library Group at University College Dublin ( http://Iberian.ucd.ie ). To date the project has cost just over half a million euros – funded through the generosity of the Mellon Foundation. As high a figure as this might sound, it is a fraction of what comparable projects have and continue to cost. While much work remains, Iberian Books is already available and beginning to make the sort of difference we had hoped it would when we began the project. At the moment, the online database covers the period to 1650. It contains bibliographical information on some 66,000 items and 350,000 surviving copies to be found in 2,300 collections worldwide. It has over 15,000 links to digital copies. By the winter of next year, we will add all our records for the period 1651-1700 - doubling the size of the online resource.

Although our current focus is on expanding the project’s chronological scope, we are also conscious of the need to refine existing entries. Naturally, we have updated records following corrections supplied by librarians, booksellers and scholars, and we have also

added in new items and copies forwarded by librari ans eager to collaborate and to see their collections properly represented. Over the past year, we have begun the process of verifying items most likely to be bibliographical ghosts – i.e. sole survivals not men- tioned in any major analytical catalogue. To date, we have contacted all collections in the US with ostensi- bly unique items, and have been overwhelmed by the level of assistance that we have received. As well as eradicating ghosts, our correspondence has led to many early Iberian items being prioritised for digitisation.

Our project is developing in other ways too. By part- nering with institutions, such as the University of Sal- amanca and the National Library of Spain, we have been able to attach many thousands of title-page images to our records. As of December last year, we have also introduced a new traffic light feature, offer- Short, sensational news item printed in Barcelona ing an honest and transparent sense of our confi- Biblioteca Nacional de España dence in each record. Each record has been tagged with a colour. Green represents items which have been seen or appear in a reliable analytical catalogue, amber those which appear in more than one collection or are recorded in a generally reliable listing catalogue, while red is reserved for those items which are unique or have no known surviving copy, and do not appear in any reliable catalogue.

More changes are on their way. In addition to fresh updates, and of course the 1651-1700 records, http://Iberian.ucd.ie will next year receive an advanced search interface. Our current single search box is incredibly powerful, but only for those who have read the help notes! Additional search features are also likely to appear, making it easier to search for translations, or to limit searches by an item’s size (measured in sheets). The ability to search by size will be particularly helpful to those interested in cheap print. Such features are not currently available for any other national catalogue.

The initial phase of the project, with its emphasis on large-scale data harvesting, will draw to a close in 2017. As for the long term future of Iberian Books, this will depend on a shared desire for it to succeed, and on a spirit of collaboration. Any suggestions for improvements will be very welcome indeed. In particular, I would be very interested to hear any ideas for how we might leverage the data we have collected so far by linking it with other large digital projects.

Dr Sandy Wilkinson Associate Professor, School of History, University College Dublin [email protected]

WHAT’S ON Courses, lectures and events

Seminar on the History of Libraries Sponsored by the Institute of English Studies, the Institute of Historical Research, and LIHG. Convenors: Giles Mandelbrote (Lambeth Palace Library); Keith Manley (National Trust); Raphaële Mouren (Warburg Institute); Isabel Rivers (Queen Mary).

7 June 5.30 The Warburg Institute, London Kate Loveman (University of Leicester) Samuel Pepys and the Remains of Restoration Collecting Pepys was unusually careful when it came to controlling the fate of his collections after his death. This paper examines his behaviour in preserving his books and papers, as well as the provisions made by others in his social circle for their collections. The steps that Pepys took (or failed to take) are revealing about the uses he foresaw for his books and, in particular, for his diary of the 1660s which survived as part of his library.

London 1708: a walk into library history 5 July, 17.30-19.00 Meeting point: Stationers' Hall, London EC4M 7DD

This new walk for the History of Libraries Research Seminar will follow in the footsteps of bookseller and antiquary John Bagford, whose An account of several libraries in and about London, for the satisfaction of the curious, both natives and foreigners was published in 1708. John Bagford was at the centre of London’s book trade, selling collections and helping form new ones. In the process he created a unique record of the libraries that operated in the city he loved. Alice Ford-Smith (Bernard Quaritch Ltd) will guide you through the streets and alleyways of John Bagford’s London, introducing this book history pioneer and the libraries he knew so well.

The walk will commence from the courtyard of Stationers' Hall at 5.30pm and finish approximately 90 minutes later near Barbican and St Paul’s underground stations. Please be ready for occasional steps, and no breaks.Numbers are limited to 25 people, and pre-booking is essential via goo.gl/Zz9WdM . Tickets, which are non-refundable, are £10 each. This event is open to all, so early booking is recommended.

For enquiries relating to these seminars please contact [email protected] http://www.history.ac.uk/events/seminars/257

What’s in a Name? Collections within the Collection 10 June University College London £10 including lunch

“Collecting … as a curtain-raiser, may be described as the gathering together and setting aside of selected objects.” (Susan M. Pearce, 1995).

“At the simplest level, one can conceive of a collection as any aggregation of individual items. This definition says nothing about the form or nature of those items: they may be physical or digital, and digital items may be surrogates of physical items or they may be “born-digital”, the primary manifestations of a work.” (UKOLN, 2002).

This one day workshop seeks to explore the nature of the collection and its role in Book History. It is hosted by UCL Department of Information Studies, with support from UCL Libraries, who are curating a special selection of materials from their collections that workshop attendees can visit after lunch. http://www.cphc.org.uk/updates/2016/3/17/fdsi53qi7nsr096r7pcsze8phglh3y

Sustainability and Relevance: the Independent Library in 2016 - AIL 27th Annual Conference 10 – 12 June Bromley House Library, Nottingham £60 (includes birthday cake for Bromley House) Keynote: Hidden Gems: Communicating Collections to the User Community Dr D. Bevin (Chawton House) Bromley House Library 1816-2016 Geraldine Gray, (Bromley House Library) Regency Reading in Nottingham Carol Barstow (Bromley House Library) Portrait of a Library: a comparative study between independent libraries in the UK & USA K. Loach (MMU) Innerpeffray Library: Opportunities through academic partnerships Jill Dye (University of Stirling) Charitable Giving & Cultural Heritage: Why Give to Independent Libraries? G. Butler (Gladstone’s Library) Working with Archives Carol Barstow and Louisa Yates (Gladstone’s Library) http://independentlibraries.co.uk/annual-meeting-of-the-ail

Samuel Fancourt: a Dissenter and his public circulating library – a lecture by Keith Manley 15 June 5.15 Dr Williams’s Library, London The Crane Court Library (established in 1742) operated in London for over twenty years and was run by Samuel Fancourt, a Trinitarian minister. It was a proprietary subscription library open to the public and can be described as the first such library in England and as an early example of a community library influenced by ideas of mutual improvement. Fancourt supplied books on a wide range of subjects. He even thought of donating his collection to Dr. Williams’ Library. Fancourt also invented the phrase ‘circulating library’ and was very miffed when it was stolen by unscrupulous booksellers who opened their own commercial circulating libraries offering cheap novels before his own library could get started. It is a curious story, and this talk will examine how Fancourt and other Dissenters influenced the development of British public libraries. http://dwlib.co.uk/blog/2016/05/12/

Mania and Imagination: Perils and pleasures of the private collector, present and future 18-19 June King’s College, Cambridge £130 / £65 King's College will hold a conference focusing on the theme of modern private collecting. The aim is to in- vestigate the nature of book collecting by private individuals today, and to look at the future in a rapidly changing world. We have invited speakers who are collectors themselves, or who are involved in the manuscript and book trade, or who study modern collectors and their collections. Principal speakers include Justin Croft, Mirjam Foot, Meg Ford, Peter Jones, Michael Meredith and Toshi- yuki Takamiya. The event will also feature themed discussion panels and presentations from young collectors and bibliographers. http://www.kings.cam.ac.uk/conferences/mania_imagination.html

Opening Doors to Collaboration, Outreach and Diversity – RBMS Conference 2016 21-24 June Coral Gables, Florida $185 - $385 This conference seeks to explore and demonstrate the myriad ways special collections and archives can engage and interact with multiple constituencies. Diversity in this context is understood as a broad collaboration with many cultural communities, a re-imagining of the types of partnerships we can create, and a broad conception of cultural heritage formats and materials that might otherwise be overlooked by traditional collecting practices. This conference is intended to serve as a venue in which the special collections community can have productive conversations about its potential engagement with a broader range of cultural materials than it might traditionally. The communities and cultures in which institutions are situated strongly influence what is collected, how resources are described, and how materials are accessed and used. The boundaries of special collections and archives are fluid; they not only document our shared cultural heritage, they are integrally shaped by the cultural circumstances in which they exist. We must open our doors and our minds to find ways to continually engage in productive conversation. http://conference16.rbms.info/

"History of Reading and Readers in Libraries" - Library History Round Table (LHRT) Research Forum 26 June (tbc) Orlando, Florida

This Research Forum will take place as part of the 2016 ALA Annual Meeting in Orlando, Florida June 23-28, 2016. The theme of the Forum will be the history of reading in libraries (public, academic, and school).

For registration and further details, see ALA's events and conferences page at http://www.ala.org/ .

Centre for Printing History & Culture Annual Symposium 28 June 28 4-7pm Winterbourne House & Garden, Birmingham To mark its first anniversary, The Centre for Printing History & Culture is holding a small and informal symposium/social event. Speakers and topics include: Jane Cooksey (Wolverhampton) Printing Machines and the Technical Education Act Jenni Dixon (Birmingham City University) [ tba ] Lee Hale (Birmingham) Winterbourne Press: history, developments and aspirations Jessica Glaser (Wolverhampton) Beatrice Warde John Hinks (Birmingham City University) Location, location, location: how early printers chose where to set up in business Book free tickets at https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/cphc-annual-symposium-tickets-25100892445

Reading beyond reading 30 June- 1 July St Anne’s College, & Weston Library, Oxford Close, distant, scaleable, surface, hyper, machine-assisted. On paper, on screens, or not at all. Questions about how people read – how they read in the past, how they read in the present and how they might read in the future – fundamentally concern all humanistic disciplines. At a moment when what counts as ‘reading’ is controversial once again, the ‘Reading beyond Reading’ colloquium puts reading back into question. We ask how and why some kinds of reading – close and attentive, critical and suspicious – came to assume normative force in the academy, and we historicise them in relation to other kinds of reading – indeed, other kinds of literacy – available in the past. We turn our attention to varieties of reading touted as ‘new’ (distant, algorithmic, surface, hyper), and ask how these relate to other kinds of reading. For all readers, and writers who hope to find readers, these questions take on new urgency in our current moment of media change. http://www.ed.ac.uk/literatures-languages-cultures/chb/events/conferences/reading-beyond-reading

Holding/Held by the Book 1 July Sheppard Room, University of Leeds £10 (includes lunch) Keynote speaker: Sheena Calvert (University of the Arts)

This one-day symposium considers what it means to hold a book as well as the continuing hold the book has upon its readers. Books come in many shapes and sizes, yet reading, as a process, often makes the book itself disappear. ‘Holding / Held By the Book’ recognizes the material dimensions of book culture, but places these in dialogue with the idea of the book more broadly. The book has been many things over its long life and, with the emergence of the ebook, is changing once again. This symposium explores how the form of the book structures its status as privileged cultural object: what happens to the status of the book, it asks, at a time when the book is taking on new forms?

Holding / Held By the Book is organized by the Centre for the Comparative History of Print (Centre CHoP) at the University of Leeds as part of the Cultures of the Book project. It investigates the way the long and diverse history of the book intersects with the book’s continuing allure. http://store.leeds.ac.uk/browse/product.asp?compid=1&modid=1&catid=719

British and Irish Print Networks – Print Networks Conference 2016 11-12 July Moore Institute, National University of Ireland, Galway €80 – €25 The 19th Print Networks conference has as its theme ‘British and Irish Print Networks’. In the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, Ireland became increasingly integrated within a British economic and political space. After 1801, Ireland formed part of the United Kingdom and it supplied both food and labour power to industrialising Britain. The same pattern appears in the domain of print – in the eighteenth century, Dublin printers specialised in reprinting or pirating British books, for transatlantic as well as Irish readers. After 1801 they became agents of English and Scottish publishers, and print workers joined the ranks of larger British trade unions. At the same time, Ireland developed its own print networks in the US and Can- ada, exporting books and periodicals produced independently of Britain in the indigenous market. Speak- ers will address the dynamics of the relationship between the print trade in Ireland and its counterparts to England, Scotland and Wales.

Full programme and registration http://www.bookhistory.org.uk/print-networks/events

Languages of the book – 24th Conference of the Society for the History of Authorship, Reading & Pub- lishing 18-20 July Bibliothèque nationale de France & Bibliothèque universitaire des langues et civilisations, Paris €325-€225 The keynote lectures, panels, and most of the conference events will take place at the Bibliothèque nationale de France (BNF) and at the nearby Bibliothèque universitaire des langues et civilisations (BULAC). The conference will also feature excursions to sites in and around Paris of interest to book historians.

Highlights include Anne Coldiron on “Translation, Paratext, Design: Languages of the Early Modern Book”; Antoine Compagnon on “Ma langue d’en France” and David McKitterick on “Rare books and the languages of value”. The conference is also hosting a round table on the work of Roger Chartier, and a workshop on multilingual book history vocabulary. http://www.sharpweb.org/conferences/2016/

Telecommunications in the Aftermath of WW1: Civilian and Military Perspectives 10 August Institute of Engineering and Technology, London The First World War was the first multinational conflict which engaged substantially with electrical commu- nication. It saw extensive use of telephony on the battlefield as well as significant early technological developments in and military use of wireless systems; it is now well recognized that the War had a deep impact on the technology and practice of telecommunications. However, beyond the broadest contours, much remains to be understood about the complex and multifaceted nature of that impact as well as the evolution of telecommunications between the wars. The interwar years arguably witnessed the maturing of wireless technology with the completion of the transition to continuous wave systems, the growth of broadcasting, the setting up of long-distance networks and the evolution of smaller, more portable and easier to use devices. Likewise, telephony too saw significant evolution with extensive growth in users, the development of trunk telephony and the automation of exchanges.

This conference will bring together diverse perspectives to understand the extent to which the interwar period was a formative one in the history of telecommunications. http://www.leeds.ac.uk/arts/homepage/535/interwar_telecommunications

IFLA World Library and Information Congress: 82nd IFLA General Conference and Assembly 13–19 August Columbus, Ohio

Selected sessions of interest to LIHG members:

"Theft in libraries – facing the hidden truth": IFLA Conference session convened by the Preservation & Conservation Core Activity & Rare Books & Special Collections Sections 16 August Theft in libraries and archives, by staff as well as outsiders, is an ever present problem many institutions face. The session aims are to highlight the importance of recording thefts internationally with the aim to de-stigmatise the reporting of thefts (something which still many libraries will not make publicly aware). It will also look at methods of raising public awareness towards provenance of cultural heritage items, and to continue to build bridges between the curatorial and commercial arms of the cultural heritage profession. Programme: 1. The Underside of the Iceberg: major thefts from a small repository: Lenore Rouse (Catholic University of America) & Michael Zubal (John T. Zubal Inc.) 2. ”Cold case” – The story of inside thefts at the National library of Sweden : Jan Ottosson, (Kungl bibliote- ket) & Greger Bergvall (National library of Sweden) 3. Panel Discussion : Chair Edwin C. Schroeder, (Yale) Panellists: Ismail Serageldin (Bibliotheca Alexandrina) & Norbert Donhofer (International League of Antiquarian Booksellers)

"Quality management and preservation in the age of mass processing": IFLA Session convened by The IFLA Preservation and Conservation Section, Rare Books and Special Collections Section and Audiovisual and Multimedia Section 17 August Session Chairs: Alenka Kavčič-Čolić, (P&CS); Helen Vincent (RBSC); Michael J. Miller (AVMS)

In many institutions, preservation (physical and digital) plays an increasingly important role, and the efforts in terms of staffing and investment in this area are rising. But what about the performance review, both in terms of measures applied (which are often carried out with external service providers), as well as in terms of the internal library processes themselves. Programme: 1. Keeping the collection care in mass production Jeanne Drewes (Library of Congress) 2. A Practical Approach to Digital Preservation Planning at a Mid-Sized Academic Library Christine Wiseman (Atlanta University Center Robert W. Woodruff Library) 3. The establishment of a preservation stack environment monitoring system Kwi Bok Lee (National Library of Korea) 4. Dr Perfectionist: or How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Quantity Damien Cassidy (State Library of New South Wales) 5. Case studies of Large-Scale digital preservation initiatives (LSDIs) as a Conservation Strategy for Heritage materials in Africa Michael Kasusse (Makerere University Library) 6. Conservation approach in the mass processes at the National Library of Poland: acquiring, disinfection, de-acidification, digitizing of the collections Bogdan Filip Zerek (National Library of Poland) 7. The cooperative system for the management and long-term preservation of the modern Bohemical book collections Tomas Foltyn (National Library of the Czech Republic) 8. PDF/A for digitization and digital preservation Yan Han (The University of Arizona Libraries)

Full IFLA 2016 Programme available at http://2016.ifla.org/conference-programme

Connecting past and present readers – a mini conference facilitated by the Reading Communities Project 15 September Senate House, University of London The last ten years have seen a burgeoning interest in collecting evidence about reading in the past. The Reading Experience Database has amassed over 34,000 individual reading experiences relating to Britain between 1450 and 1945, and parallel projects are now investigating reading in other geographical and historical realms. The increasing number of monographs, articles, and essay collections devoted to investigating the field not only demonstrates that, as Robert Darnton puts it, “reading has a history” but also in many cases showcases innovative new ways of recovering its historical traces. But how do we connect scholarly practice with present-day reading communities outside of academia? How is the historical evidence of reading relevant to contemporary reading practices? How might the two fields of knowledge be brought into a productive dialogue with one another? Are there any continuities between reading communities oc- cupying the same spaces at different times? What might the contemporary inhabitants of city like London have in common with historical London reading audiences? Where does the memory of reading lie, and how do we recover it? Is reading a way of connecting people through and across history?

This conference forms part of the activities associated with Reading Communities: Connecting the Past and the Present , an AHRC-funded project for impact and engagement based in the Department of English at The Open University.

Early books and their owners – state of research, cataloguing methods, perspectives 29-30 September 2016 Wroclaw, Ossolineum The Ossoliński National Institute cordially invites you to a conference of the Group of Polish Research Li- braries Collecting Early Imprints, in cooperation with CERL.

Among the speakers will be a representative of the French working group on Provenance who will share the experiences connected with the creation of a common provenance base of French libraries. Represent- atives of Polish research libraries will also share their expertise with the audience.

The second subject area concerns incunabula. The 15cBOOKTRADE researchers will present the procedure for entering information about incunabula into the MEI (Material Evidence in Incunabula) database. We hope that these lectures will contribute to broadening our knowledge about historical book collections in Poland and will prove useful in deciphering and cataloguing ownership signs and clues left by the former owners of the books.

Organised by the CERL Group of Polish Research Libraries, CERL, and the 15cBOOKTRADE. http://ossolineum.pl/index.php/old-books-and-their-owners-the-current-state-of-research-catalogues-perspectives/

The Black Art & Printers’ Devils: The Magic, Mysticism, and Wonders of Printing History - The American Printing History Association 41st annual conference 7-8 October The Huntington Library, San Marino, California For centuries, the ancient traditions of craft guilds and trade secrets made the discovery and study of printing, papermaking, and the allied arts illusive, even quasi-mystical, inviting evocative terms into the lexicon like the black art, printer’s devil, hell box, and coffin. The Huntington Library, with its unparalleled collections of early printed books, manuscripts, photographs, prints, and ephemera, will provide an elegant backdrop for the APHA conference. Founded by railroad magnate Henry E. Huntington in 1919, the library has strengths in British and American history and literature, Western Americana, the history of science and technology, and the history of books and printing. Activities, including a book fair, will be centered in the new Steven S. Koblik Education and Visitor Center. https://printinghistory.org/2016-conference-program/

Exhibitions

(Re)collecting: Muslim and Jewish Bristol in the Archives Ends 27 June (Closed Wednesdays) Bristol Central Library Free Drawing on rare and significant documents from the Bristol Record Office, this exhibition will illustrate the rich history of the Muslim and Jewish communities in Bristol. With an archival timeline extending from a 1790 plan for a 'Jews churchyard' to the Islamic fayre now, we will explore how these immigrant communities have shaped and enriched the city over time. We will also look at the role Bristol has played in aiding refugees and fighting for racial equality, gaining glimpses into the lives of Jewish refugees in the 1940s, and Muslim refugees and migrants today.

The exhibition will show treasures from the library collection, including seventeenth and eighteenth century prayer books, and will be accompanied by artistic responses. Sponsored by Bristol Record Office, with support from the University of the West of England and the University of Bristol. http://www.sharedspacesfestival.co.uk/recollecting-muslim-and-jewish-bristol-in-the-archives.html This exhibition is produced by Salaam Shalom and curated by Salaam Shalom's Producer, Kim Sherwood.

Scholar, courtier, magician: the lost library of John Dee Ends 29 July Royal College of Physicians, London Discover the life and legacy of John Dee: one of Tudor England’s most extraordinary and enigmatic figures. Mathematician, magician, astronomer, astrologer, occultist, imperialist, alchemist and spy, Dee continues to fascinate and inspire, centuries after he entered the court of Elizabeth I. This exhibition explores Dee through his personal library. On display for the first time are his beautifully annotated and illustrated books. Now held in the collections of the Royal College of Physicians, they reveal tantalising glimpses into the ‘conjuror’s’ mind. http://www.rcplondon.ac.uk/johndee

Lines of Thought: Discoveries that changed the World Ends 11 September Cambridge University Library Free In 2016, Cambridge University Library is celebrating 600 years as one of the world’s greatest libraries. The wills of William Loring and William Hunden, both proved in March 1416, bequeathed books to ‘the common library of all scholars of the University’. Over the course of the last six centuries, the Library’s collections have grown from a few dozen volumes on a handful of subjects into an extraordinary accumulation of over eight million books, maps, manuscripts and journals, enhanced by an ever-increasing range of elec- tronic resources. From its beginnings as an asset for a tiny community of theologians and canon lawyers in the medieval university, the Library’s mission has expanded to serve the international scholarly community and now, through its digitisation projects, to reach new audiences across the world. To celebrate its 600 th birthday, this spectacular exhibition will feature some of Cambridge’s most iconic treasures and influential works, spanning more than 3,000 years of human thought and investigating through six distinct themes how both Cambridge and its collections have changed the world.

There is a full virtual exhibition with images of all the objects on display, a further 40 online-only exhibits, and longer explanatory captions of selected items, at https://exhibitions.lib.cam.ac.uk/linesofthought/ . A collection of fully digitised items from the exhibition can be viewed on Cambridge Digital Library: http://cudl.lib.cam.ac.uk/collections/linesofthought

There is also an accompanying iPad app Words that Changed the World , which includes digitised editions of six items from the exhibition.

Some of the many Shakespeare exhibitions…

Our Shakespeare: Celebrating the Bard of Avon! Ends 3 September Library of Birmingham Free William Shakespeare is one of the world’s greatest writers, and one of Warwickshire’s most famous sons, and the Library of Birmingham has one of the best Shakespeare collections in the world. Our Shakespeare has been designed for visitors of all ages. Featuring films, books, posters and photographs it will give visitors a rare opportunity to see the Library of Birmingham’s copy of the First Folio. http://www.libraryofbirmingham.com/event/Events/ourshakespeare

Shakespeare in Ten Acts: An exhibition to mark the 400th anniversary of Shakespeare’s death Ends 6 September British Library, London £13.50-Free This exhibition reveals ten performances that have made Shakespeare the cultural icon he is today. It is often said that Shakespeare’s work is universal, but this is to ignore the fact that his plays have been constantly reinvented to suit the times. Across the centuries, Shakespeare’s plays have been transformed and translated, faked and forged, revised, recast and redesigned to appeal to new generations of theatre-goers in Britain and around the world. This exhibition explores the impact of ten significant theatrical moments from Shakespeare’s first production of Hamlet to a digital-age deconstruction for the 21st century. See the only surviving play-script in Shakespeare’s hand, two of only six authentic Shakespeare signatures, and rare printed editions including the First Folio, alongside film, paintings, photographs, costumes and props. http://www.bl.uk/events/shakespeare-in-ten-acts#sthash.raFk2Vnd.dpuf

Shakespeare: Metamorphosis Ends 17 September (9-5.30 Monday-Friday, 10-5 Saturdays) Senate House Library, London Free + £10/£8 for events Over the last four centuries Shakespearean text and scholarship, as well as perceptions of the man himself, have undergone continuous reinvention. Curated by Dr Karen Attar and Dr Richard Espley, and inspired by the famous ‘seven ages of man’ speech from As You Like It, Shakespeare: Metamorphosis traces and ex- plains this 400-year transformation by highlighting and displaying over 30 rare texts from seven significant ages of development. There will also be a series of public events, bringing further life to the documents on display. Highlights include Michael Slater’s look at Shakespeare’s influence on Dickens, and a chance to attend curator-led tours throughout the exhibition period. http://shakespeare.senatehouselibrary.ac.uk/

Shakespeare’s Dead Ends 18 September Weston Library, Oxford Free At the 400th anniversary of his death, Shakespeare could hardly be more alive, in theatre, in popular culture, and in scholarship. The flat, static form of the book that contemporaries saw as his ‘monument’ has given life to countless performances and interpretations. And the ways in which Shakespeare himself approaches his perennial dramatic theme of death have themselves the curiously contradictory quality of af- firming life. The exhibition will explore this life-in-death paradox– of the author, his books, and his plays. http://shakespeareoxford2016.co.uk/?post_type=book-events&p=742

NEWS

Europeana has been launched with a new interface http://www.europeana.eu/portal/

John Y. Cole has been appointed as Library of Congress Historian , a new position dedicated to serving as the top technical expert and adviser on the history of the Library of Congress, documenting institutional history and conducting historical research. https://www.loc.gov/today/pr/2016/16-071.html

The Book History and Material Culture MSc at the University of Edinburgh’s Centre for the History of the Book has received accreditation from CILIP. http://www.cilip.org.uk/news/university-edinburgh-s-centre- history-book-gains-cilip-accreditation

The Institute of Historical Research with the Centre for Metropolitan History & Victoria County History has been awarded Heritage Lottery Fund funding to develop an online resource tracing London’s history. http://blog.history.ac.uk/2016/01/heritage-lottery-funding-for-ihrs-layers-of-london-project/

Bill Hines has an article on the library Thomas Colby (director of the Ordinance Survey 1820-1846) appear- ing in the July/August issue of Sheet Lines – the Journal of the Charles Close Society https://www.charlesclosesociety.org/sheetlines

The safe house: a decline of ideas is a new documentary film exploring and deploring the decline of public libraries. Arrange a screening via https://www.ourscreen.com/film/The-Safe-House-A-Decline-of-Ideas

AWARDS AND OPPORTUNITIES

Prizes Awarded Zurab Elzarov has been awarded the 2016 London Book Fair International Excellence Award . Zurab spoke about the Library of Peace in Darfur at LIHG’s AGM in November 2015. It was as a result of this event, and his association with CILIP, that he eventually published an article in Update and gained recognition for his initiative at an international level.

Opportunities offered

Library History Essay Award Deadline: 30 September

The Library and Information History Group's Library History Essay Award is an annual prize for the best essay on library history published in, or pertaining to, the British Isles, within the previous calendar year. In- troduced in 1996, the award is organized and sponsored by the LIHG and aims to improve the quality and increase the quantity of writing on library history in the British Isles. The prize in 2016 is £350.

Essays should embody original historical research on a significant subject, should be based on original source materials if possible and should use good composition and style. Essays showing evidence of meth- odological and historiographical innovation will be particularly welcome.An author may put himself / her- self forward for the prize. In addition, any member of CILIP may nominate a published essay for considera- tion. The entries will be identified and judged by a panel of four comprised of the Chair and awards man- ager of the LIHG, with an additional committee member and an invited external assessor.

Nominations, including a PDF of the nominated essay, should be sent to: [email protected] http://www.cilip.org.uk/library-information-history-group/library-history-essay-award

James Ollé Awards Deadline: 31 December

James G. Ollé (1916-2001) was an active teacher and distinguished writer in the field of library history. The Library and Information History Group has offered awards in his memory since 2002 with the intention of encouraging a high level of activity in library and information history.

The LIHG is offering two James Ollé Awards in 2016. The value of each award is up to £500. Anyone with an interest in library and/or information history is encouraged to apply for an award; candidates do not need to be affiliated to libraries, archives or academic institutions. However, recipients of awards must be members of LIHG. One of the awards is reserved for a registered student (undergraduate or postgraduate) and/or unwaged applicant.

James Ollé Award recipients are required to write a report (maximum 1,000 words) of the work undertaken for inclusion in the Newsletter (see p. 30 for the most recent recipient’s report) http://www.cilip.org.uk/library-information-history-group/james-oll-awards

Miniature Book Society Project Assistance Grant Deadline: 30 September

The Miniature Book Society has announced project assistance grants for the purpose of enabling students to pursue study in the medium of miniature books. To enable continuation and completion of existing projects, up to 5 grants will be awarded with a maximum value of $1,000 each. These grants are given in association with Bromer Booksellers of Boston and the kind support of individual MBS members.

Any student enrolled in a fine arts, graphic arts, book arts or LIS programme may apply, but all applicants must have a letter of recommendation from their Department Chair, academic tutor or course instructor.

Proposals may include, but are not limited to: • Travel for research • Research costs (article access costs, copying, postage etc.) • Project materials • Hardware required to carry out the project

Further details on how to apply can be found on the society’s website at http://www.mbs.org/grant.html

PhD studentships at the School of the Arts, English and Drama at Loughborough University Deadline: 6 June

The School of the Arts, English and Drama at Loughborough University has announced four fully funded PhD studentships. The studentships will be paid for a period of up to three years, starting in October 2016, and will cover tuition fees at the UK/EU rate, and provide a tax-free stipend of £14,296. The School offers an exciting interdisciplinary research environment and welcomes the submission of high-quality proposals that have the potential to make a substantive contribution to research within the School.

The following suggested themes may be of particular interest to LIHG members: • Authorship, Material Text and/or Writers’ and Publishers’ Archives • British and Irish Literary Culture, 1870-1922 • Early Modern Literature and Culture, including Women’s Writing • Open Access to Research Data: meeting the challenge in the arts and humanities • Full details are available at http://www.jobs.ac.uk/job/ANO685/phd-studentships/

CALLS FOR PAPERS

Understanding Material Loss Across Time and Space Conference 17-18 February 2017, University of Birmingham Deadline: 14 October

Archaeologists, anthropologists, philosophers, literary scholars, sociologists and historians have increasingly come to understand the material world as an active and shaping force. Nevertheless, while significant, such studies have consistently privileged material presence as the basis for understanding how and why the material world has played an increasingly important role in the lives of humans. In contrast, Un- derstanding Material Loss suggests that instances of absence, as much as presence, provide important means of understanding how and why the material world has shaped human life and historical processes.

The conference will bring together a range of scholars in an effort more to begin to explore and frame a problem, than provide definitive answers. Confirmed keynote speakers include: Professor Pamela Smith (History, Columbia); Simon Werrett (Science and Technology Studies, UCL); Professor Maya Jasanoff (His- tory, Harvard); Professor Jonathan Lamb (English, Vanderbilt); Professor Anthony Bale (English and Human- ities, Birkbeck); Astrid Swenson (Politics and History, Brunel).

Understanding Material Loss seeks to uncover the multiple practices and institutions that emerged in re- sponse to different forms of material loss in the past and asks, how has loss shaped (and been shaped by) processes of acquisition, possession, stability, abundance and permanence? By doing so it seeks to gauge the extent to which ‘loss’ can be used as an organizing framework of study across different disciplines and subfields. Although open and speculative in nature, this conference will focus on three broad topics in order to facilitate meaningful conversations and exchanges:

1. Using Materials How has the ‘loss’ of particular materials affected scientific practice, manufacturing, architectural design or development in the past? How have humans responded to the partial loss or decay of materials? How have ‘lost’ skills or knowledge affected the use of materials? How have humans re-appropriated or recycled seemingly damaged or obsolete materials?

2. Possessing Objects How have humans sought to maintain and mark the ownership of objects? ;How has the loss of possessions and property affected human mobility and constructions of identity? How have communities histori- cally responded to the loss of particular objects? When and why have they sought to stave off the loss of things? ;Where, when and how have cultures of repair flourished? How has the loss of possessions and property (or the potential for loss) affected processes of production, consumption or financial stability?

3. Inhabiting Sites and Spaces When and why have particular sites or buildings been understood as destroyed or obsolete? How have past societies responded to the loss of particular sites? When and how have landscapes been actively purged of symbols and sites? How have past societies worked to rebuild or reclaim particular sites? What strategies did past societies develop to ensure the resilience of certain structures?

Please send proposals (250 words max per paper) for papers and panels to conference organizer Kate Smith ([email protected]) by Friday 14 October 2016. Papers should not exceed 20 minutes. Roundtable panels featuring 5-6 papers of 10 minutes each or other innovative formats are encouraged. https://understandingmaterialloss2017.wordpress.com/

NEW RESOURCES

Journals

Library and Information History Volume 32, Numbers 1 & 2 (February / May 2016) Festschrift for Peter Hoare to Celebrate his 80th Birthday Edited by Alistair Black and K. A. Manley

Sheila Hingley: A Well-Run Library in the Early c.18: Durham Cathedral Library under Thomas Rud, 1717-25 Giles Mandelbrote: Proposals for Printing a Catalogue of Sion College Library (1721) John C. Crawford: Mutual Improvement and Library Activity: Overviewing the Evidence Christine Penney: Peter Hoare and the Hurd Library at Hartlebury Castle, Worcestershire G. Jefcoate: Mr Cavendish’s Librarian: Charles Heydinger & the Library of Henry Cavendish, 1783-1801 Bob Duckett: The Library at ‘Thrushcroft Grange’: the Pennine Library of Robert Heaton Mark Purcell: Clumber, Nottinghamshire: The Rise and Fall of a Ducal Library K. E. Attar: The Earliest Books at the University of London: `185 Volumes Presented by Nathaniel Vye, Esq.’ Donald G. Davis, Jr. and John Mark Tucker: The Impact of the Christian Faith on Books, Publishing, and Li- braries: American Organizations and Leaders in the 19th and 20th Centuries K. Manley: A Matter of Life & Death: A Note on a Religious Book Club in Fethard, County Tipperary, in 1835 Peter Vodosek: The Teaching Diary of a German Library School, 1942–1952: Analysis and Interpretation A. Black: The Librarian as Observer Ambassador & Tourist: Visits by 3 mid-c.20th British Librarians to the US Free online access until 30 June via http://www.tandfonline.com/toc/ylbh20/32/1-2

In Print

Ramón Rodríguez Álvarez (ed.) Incunabula Universitatis: los incunables de las bibliotecas universitarias españolas (Oviedo: Universidad de Oviedo, 2016) ISBN 9788416046829 In Spanish This work produced by the Heritage Group University Libraries Network of Spain (REBIUN) presents a comprehensive study of the rich incunable collections of Spanish universities.

Michele V. Cloonan (ed.) Preserving Our Heritage: Perspectives from antiquity to the digital age (London, Facet, 2015) ISBN 9781856049467 This book aims to introduce students and professionals to readings that will help them in their studies and professional practice. Drawing on historical texts, this all-encompassing, accessible volume provides a comprehensive understanding of preservation for librarians, archivists and museum specialists. Each section has historical works that form the basis of contemporary thinking and practices, readings from a variety of fields that are primarily concerned with the preservation of cultural heritage, and hard-to-find publications that shed new light on how to approach contemporary problems.

J.J. Connolly, P. Collier, F. Felsenstein, K.R. & R G. Hall (eds.) Print culture histories beyond the Metropolis (University of Toronto Press, 2016) ISBN 9781442650626. Too often print media has been represented as an engine of metropolitan modernity. Rather than being the passive recipients of print culture generated in city centres, the inhabitants of provinces and colonies have acted independently, as jobbing printers in provincial Britain, black newspaper proprietors in the West Indies, and library patrons in “Middletown,” Indiana, to mention a few examples. This important new book gives us a sophisticated account of how printed materials circulated, a more precise sense of their impact, and a fuller of understanding of how local contexts shaped reading experiences.

James W. Cortada All the Facts: A History of Information in the United States since 1870 (New York: OUP USA, 2016) ISBN ISBN 9780190460679 All the Facts presents a history of the role of information in the United States since 1870, when the nation began a nearly 150-year period of economic prosperity and technological and scientific transformations. James Cortada argues that information's role has long been a critical component of the work, play, culture, and values of the USA, and never more so than during the twentieth century when its function in society expanded dramatically. While elements of this story have been examined by thousands of scholars ― such as the role of radio, newspapers, books, computers, education, big business, government bodies, from ag- riculture to the services and information industries ― All the Facts looks at all of these elements holisti- cally, providing a deeper insight into the way the United States evolved over time.

D. de Cogan, B. Burns They talk along the deep: a global history of the Valentia Island telegraph cables (Dosanda Publications, 2016) ISBN 9780993546914 The telegraph cables that spanned the Atlantic Ocean between Valentia Island in Ireland and Heart’s Con- tent in Newfoundland were pivotal in the development of the business and technology of international communications. This book takes a global view of the history and considers how external factors aided the development and eventual decline of cable telegraphy.

Alison Gazzard Now the Chips are Down: The BBC Micro (Cambridge MA: MIT Press, 2016) ISBN 9780262034036 In 1982, the British Broadcasting Corporation launched its Computer Literacy Project, intended "to introduce interested adults to the world of computers and computing." In this book, Alison Gazzard looks at the BBC Micro, examining the early capabilities of multi-platform content generation and consumption and the multiple literacies this approach enabled – not only in programming and software creation, but also in ac- cessing information across a range of media, and in "do-it-yourself" computing. Gazzard looks at games developed for the BBC Micro, including Granny's Garden and Elite , the seminal space-trading game. She considers the shift in focus from hardware to peripherals, describing the Teletext Adapter as an early model for software distribution and the Domesday Project as a hypermedia-like experience. Gazzard's account shows the BBC Micro not only as a vehicle for various literacies but also as a user-oriented machine that pushed the boundaries of what could be achieved in order to produce something completely new.

R. Hammerman & A.L. Russell Ada's Legacy: Cultures of Computing from the Victorian to the Digital Age (New York: ACM Books, 2016) ISBN 9781970001518 Ada’s Legacy celebrates Lovelace’s many achievements as well as the impact of her life and work, which has reverberated widely since the late nineteenth century. In the 21st century we have seen a resurgence in Lovelace scholarship, thanks to the growth of interdisciplinary thinking and the expanding influence of women in science, technology, engineering and mathematics. Ada’s Legacy is a unique contribution to this scholarship, thanks to its combination of papers on Ada’s collaboration with Charles Babbage, Ada’s position in the Victorian and Steampunk literary genres, Ada’s representation in and inspiration of contemporary art and comics, and Ada’s continued relevance in discussions around gender and technology in the digital age.

Marie-Héléne Froeschlé-Chopard Regards sur les bibliothéques religieuses d'ancien regime (Paris: Honoré Champion, 2014) ISBN 978-2745326522 In French An overview of religious libraries of the old regime is a collection of articles based on a wide variety of sources, which rebuilds the religious libraries of the late 18 th century in France. While there is no surprise that these libraries were generally theological in tone, this book looks deeper into the specialities and pe- culiarities of the subject matter in each library.

Luana Giurgevich & Henrique Leitão Clavis Bibliothecarum: Catálogos e Inventários de Livrarias de Institu- ições Religiosas em Portugal até 1834 (Lisbon: Secretariado Nacional para os Bens Culturais da Igreja, 2016) ISBN 978-9899725775 In Portuguese Clavis Bibliothecarum: Catalogues and inventories of books in religious institutions in Portugal to 1834 is the most comprehensive survey of its kind concerning Portuguese libraries. Covering a wide chronological arc from 10 th – 19 th centuries, it collects and describes meticulously about a thousand book lists and several hundred unpublished documents relating to the operation and life of ancient ecclesiastical libraries. In addition to the core information on the listed libraries (structure, organization, space, collections and pos- sessors), the work also is of particular relevance to study in other areas, notably in the fields of book history, reading, culture, art and ideas.

Thomas Haigh, Crispin Rope, Mark Priestley Eniac in Action: Making and Remaking the Modern Computer (Cambridge MA: MIT Press, 2016) ISBN 9780262033985 ENIAC in Action tells the story from ENIAC's design, construction, testing, and use to its afterlife as part of computing folklore. It highlights the complex relationship of ENIAC and its designers to the revolutionary approaches to computer architecture and coding first documented by John von Neumann in 1945. Within this broad sweep, the authors emphasize the crucial but previously neglected years of 1947 to 1948, when ENIAC was reconfigured to run what the authors claim was the first modern computer program to be exe- cuted: a simulation of atomic fission for Los Alamos researchers. The authors view ENIAC from diverse perspectives – as a machine of war, as the "first computer," as a material artefact constantly remade by its users, and as a subject of (contradictory) historical narratives. They integrate the history of the machine and its applications, describing the mathematicians, scientists, and engineers who proposed and designed ENIAC as well as the men and the women who built, programmed, and operated it.

Konrad Hirschler Medieval Damascus: Plurality and Diversity in an Arabic Library: The Ashrafiya Library Catalogue (Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 2016) ISBN 9781474408776 The written text was a pervasive feature of cultural practices in the medieval Middle East. At the heart of book circulation stood libraries that experienced a rapid expansion from the twelfth century onwards. While the existence of these libraries is well known, our knowledge of their content and structure has been very limited as hardly any medieval Arabic catalogues have been preserved. This book discusses the largest and earliest medieval library of the Middle East for which we have documentation - the Ashrafiya library in the very centre of Damascus - and edits its catalogue. The catalogue shows that even book collections at- tached to Sunni religious institutions could hold very diverse titles, including Mu'tazilite theology, Shi'ite prayers, medical handbooks, manuals for traders, stories from the 1001 Nights, and texts extolling wine consumption. At the same time this library catalogue decisively expands our knowledge of how books were thematically and spatially organised on the shelves of such a large medieval library. Listing over two thousand books the Ashrafiya catalogue is essential reading for anybody interested in the cultural and intellectual history of Arabic societies. Setting it into a comparative perspective with contemporaneous libraries on the British Isles opens new perspectives for the study of medieval libraries.

Steven E. Jones Roberto Busa, S. J., and the Emergence of Humanities Computing: The Priest and the Punched Cards (Abingdon: Routledge, 2016) ISBN 9781138186774 In 1949, the Italian Jesuit scholar, Roberto Busa, S.J., persuaded IBM to offer technical and financial support for the mechanized creation of a massive lemmatized concordance to the works of St. Thomas Aqui- nas. Using Busa’s own papers, recently accessioned in Milan, as well as IBM archives and other sources, Jones illuminates this origin story. He examines relationships between the layers of hardware, software, human agents, culture, and history, and answers the question of how specific technologies afford and even constrain cultural practices, including in this case the academic research agendas of humanities computing and, later, digital humanities.

Angelika Königseder Walter de Gruyter: ein Wissenschaftsverlag in Nationalsozialismus (Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck, 2016) ISBN 9783161543937 In German The academic publisher Walter de Gruyter was extremely successful during the Nazi regime. Angelika Kö- nigseder shows how, led by Herbert Cram, de Gruyter accepted, took part in and substantially profited from the new ideological direction of the state and society. Cram had German nationalist leanings but was not a Nazi; however this did not prevent him from making publishing arrangements with the new ruling powers. While the publishing house made efforts to uphold the quality standards of a worldwide academic press, at the same time it also sought the company of state institutions and their eminent scholars. The business policy of the press thus made Walter de Gruyter no different to many other medium-sized busi- nesses in Nazi Germany.

Jack Lynch You Could Look It Up: The Reference Shelf From Ancient Babylon to Wikipedia (London: Bloomsbury, 2016) ISBN 9780802777522 From The Code of Hammurabi , the earliest known compendium of laws in ancient Babylon almost two mil- lennia before Christ to Pliny's Natural History ; from the 11th-century Domesday Book recording land holdings in England to Abraham Ortelius's first atlas of the world; from Samuel Johnson's A Dictionary of the English Language to The Whole Earth Catalog to Google, Jack Lynch illuminates the human stories and ac- complishment behind each, as well as its enduring impact on civilization.

Wendy Scase ‘Prelates and the Provision of Books: Bishop John Carpenter's Carnary Library’ in The Prelate in England and Europe, 1300–1560 pp. 127-141 (Woodbridge: Boydell & Brewer, 2014) ISBN 9781903153581 The most celebrated achievements of John Carpenter as bishop of Worcester (1443–76) are his educa- tional initiatives, including his foundation of the Carnary Chapel Library at Worcester and of the Kalendars' Library associated with All Saints', Bristol. This essay attempts to shed new light on Carpenter's activities in relation to the provision of books in his diocese, with a particular focus on the Worcester library. It reviews and revises the current interpretation of the sources of evidence for the ordinances of the library, revising our assessment of what they can and cannot tell us; considers a recent suggestion concerning the holdings of the library; and proposes new avenues for investigation of these foundations.

M. Seadle, C. Chu, U. Stockel, B. Crumpton (eds.) Educating the Profession: 40 Years of the IFLA Section on Education and Training (Berlin: Walter de Gruyter, 2016) ISBN 9783110375268 This publication looks both at the past and the future of developments at schools of library and information science as well as the role of IFLA's Section on Education and Training. It covers regional trends in Europe, Asia, Africa, Australia and the Americas and includes sections on special topics like quality assur- ance, new developments, and case studies.

Diane H. Sonnenwald (ed.) Theory Development in the Information Sciences (Austin: University of Texas, 2016) ISBN 9781477308240 Given the broad span of the information sciences, it is perhaps not surprising that there is no consensus regarding its underlying theory—the purposes of it, the types of it, or how one goes about developing new theories to talk about new research questions. Diane H. Sonnenwald and the contributors to this volume seek to shed light on these issues by sharing reflections on the theory-development process. These reflections focus on the struggles, challenges, successes, and excitement of developing theories. The particular theories that the contributors explore in their essays range widely, from theories of literacy and reading to theories of design and digital search. Several chapters engage with theories of the behaviour of individuals and groups; some deal with processes of evaluation; others reflect on questions of design; and the rest treat cultural and scientific heritage.

Ian Spellerberg Reading & Writing Accessories: A Study of Paper Knives, Paper Folders, Letter Openers and Mythical Page-Turners (New Castle, Del: Oak Knoll Press, 2016) ISBN 978-1584563501 Never before has there been a detailed account of what was probably the most common item to be found in Victorian libraries and on Victorian writing desks. They were paperknives (paper cutters) and were used to slit open the uncut pages of books, newspapers and magazines. Paper folders are still used today but what is the difference between a paperknife and a paper folder? Letter openers and paper-knives have different histories and different functions. This lavishly illustrated book is both informative and entertaining. It is brimming with new information about reading and writing accessories.

Martyn Walker The Development of the Mechanics' Institute Movement in Britain and Beyond: Support- ing further education for the adult working classes (Abingdon: Routledge, 2016) ISBN 978-1138923553 This book traces the historical development of several mechanics’ institutes across Britain and reveals that many institutes supported both male and female working-class membership before state intervention at the end of the nineteenth century resulted in the development of further education for all. Walker presents evidence to suggest that the movement remained active and continued to expand until the end of the nineteenth century. Drawing on historical accounts, he describes the developments which shaped the movement and emphasises the institutes’ provision for scientific and technical education. He also considers the impact that the British movement had on the overseas development of mechanics’ institutes – particularly in Canada, America, Australia and New Zealand. The book concludes with a discussion of the legacy of the movement and its contribution to twentieth-century adult education.

Online

The New York Society Library’s City Readers: Digital Historic Collections at the New York Society Library (cityreaders.nysoclib.org) is a database of historic records, books, and readers at the Society Library of over 100,000 biographic, bibliographic, and transaction records. Circulation records from 1789 to 1805, when the Library shared Federal Hall with the first American Congress, have been fully digitized and transcribed, and the data is now available for free. The database continues to be updated daily with more bibliographical information to support complex searches and visualizations.

The University of York has provided free access to over 20,000 images of Registers produced by Archbish- ops of York from 1225-1650 , with a searchable index of names, subjects, places and organisations. Record- ing activity across the whole of the North of England, the Registers provide unique insights into ecclesiastical, political and cultural history over a period that witnessed the Black Death, the Wars of the Roses, the Reformation and the English Civil War. http://archbishopsregisters.york.ac.uk

The Biblioteca de Catalunya has just published the English version of their site Heritage of the Publishers and the Published of Catalonia (http://www.bnc.cat/eng/Editors-i-Editats-de-Catalunya ), that collects and shows Catalan publishers’ heritage.

Women in Book History Bibliography (http://www.womensbookhistory.org ) is a compilation of secondary sources on women in the book trades, including writers, printers, typesetters, and binders. It will show the dynamic and long-ranging history of scholarship on women and book history.

Simon Beattie has set up a new Facebook group for attractive endpapers and their admirers https://www.facebook.com/groups/WeLoveEndpapers/

From the blogosphere

How One Company Designed the Bookshelves that Made America’s Biggest Libraries Possible By Lydia Pyne http://www.slate.com/blogs/the_vault/2016/02/01/how_snead_bookshelves_made_america_s_big- gest_libraries_possible.html?wpsrc=sh_all_dt_tw_top

The architects trying to restore Mackintosh's Library to its former glory by Robert Urquhart http://uk.archinect.com/features/article/149939789

Image from 'When Life is Young’ p.143 (British Library) From the media:

BBC (8/2/2016) How the British and Americans started listening in by Gordon Corera http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-35491822

Irish Times (12/2/2016) 1916: Who printed the Proclamation of the Republic? http://www.irishtimes.com/1916/1916-the-videos/1916-who-printed-the-proclamation-1.2532749

Irish Times (16/2/2016) The rescue of Cashel’s magical but mouldering library by K. Hayes http://www.irishtimes.com/culture/heritage/the-rescue-of-cashel-s-magical-but-mouldering-library- 1.2532666

Economist Benedictine monks in Minnesota preserving the Islamic manuscripts of Timbuktu http://bit.ly/1TTPrMn

Scotsman (5/4/2016) Glasgow’s Women’s Library celebrates 25 years of inspiration by Dani Garvelli http://www.scotsman.com/news/glasgow-women-s-library-celebrates-25-years-of-inspiration-1-4046010

New Scientist (21/3/2016) Lead ink from scrolls may unlock library destroyed by Vesuvius by S. van Gilder Cooke https://www.newscientist.com/article/2081832

BBC (10/4/2016) The fall and rise of subscription libraries by Sandish Shoker http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-nottinghamshire-35831853

The Herald (2/5/2016) Volume of early history set to make £3000 at auction [Sale of Appleby Castle Library] http://www.heraldscotland.com/News/14465205.Volume_of_early_his- tory_set_to_make___3_000_at_auction/

Manchester Evening News (4/5/2016) Nostalgia: John Rylands Library, built to honour a beloved husband by Emma Curry http://www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk/news/nostalgia/nostalgia-john-rylands-library-built-11281808

REPORTS

James Ollè Award Report for the Newsletter

During the first week of March, courtesy of the James Ollè Award, I was able to carry out some research at The National Archives at Kew. I deliberately timed my research trip to coincide with the LIHG’s event at Lambeth Palace Library to celebrate the 10 th Anniversary of the Cambridge History of Libraries in Britain and Ireland (reported on p.4) . I was so glad to have made it to this event, as living in Aberystwyth I do not get to attend that many London happenings! It was interesting to learn about the origins of the project and how the series had evolved, as well as discovering more about Peter Hoare’s career and achievements. I used the History of Libraries series extensively when I first started my PhD and I continue to dip into it on a regular basis . It was also lovely to spend the afternoon in the Lambeth Palace Library and have the opportunity to browse some of the treasures on display.

The following day I travelled to Kew to look at a collection of documents relating to the establishment of the National Museum and National Library of Wales (NLW). I am studying for a PhD in history at the Open Uni- versity in collaboration with the NLW. My thesis explores the development of the NLW, founded in 1907, and examines how it was established, organised and managed in the late Victorian and early Edwardian era. The thesis also evaluates the impact of the library’s services and explores the connection between the library and Welsh national identity during this period.

In February 1905, a Privy Council committee was formed to decide upon where the national library and museum for Wales should be located, and whether they should be built together or separately. Several Welsh towns expressed an interest in hosting either or both institutions, but it was Cardiff and Aberystwyth who were serious competitors for the national library, and both launched campaigns to secure it. I have already been able to draw on the extensive statements submitted to the Privy Council committee by various towns, minutes of the campaign groups and the widespread press coverage of the site battle. However, the documents at Kew offered an insight into the London-centric decision-making process conducted by the Board of Education, the Chancellor of the Exchequer and a Privy Council committee chaired by Lord Balfour of Burleigh.

The contest for the national library highlights many of the issues surrounding Welsh national identity during this period, especially in relation to place identity, as the flourishing industrial, anglicised south was pitted against the declining agrarian, Welsh-speaking west. The James Ollè Award has enabled me to determine how much the British government influenced the decision to locate the museum in Cardiff and the library in Aberystwyth.

Calista Williams [email protected] @Ca7isa

HELP WANTED

British Librarianship and Information Work 2011-2015 Katie Birkwood says: I am compiling the review of the study of library history for the period 2011-2015 for the publication British Librarianship and Information Work 2011-2015 , edited by John Bowman.

The chapter will largely be based on relevant publications noted in the quarterly bibliography that I com- pile for the journal Library & information history . However, I am keen to include a summary of research and dissemination activities that may not (yet) have made it into the published record.

To this end, please could you let me know of any of the following that have started, finished, or taken place between 2011-2015 inclusive in the UK: * research projects (PhD, postdoc, or other) concerning library history, library reconstructions or similar topics (such as the Thomas Browne project at QMUL or the Innerpeffray reader records project) * conferences, symposia, workshops or similar addressing library histories * online library reconstructions.

I already have notes on many of these, but I would rather receive multiple notifications than to miss anything significant. Please send details to me at [email protected] by 14 June 2016.

Library & Information History Dr Mark Towsey, editor-in-chief of our international peer-reviewed journal Library & Information History , is standing down at the end of the current volume, following four successful years in the role. The Library & Information History Group is therefore looking to appoint a new editor this summer to work alongside our existing North American editor and editorial board, with active research interests in one or both of the journal’s main interests – the history of information and library history.

Library & Information History (formerly Library History ) was established in 1967 under the aegis of the Li- brary History Group of the Library Association (now Cilip). It is the only British periodical devoted to the burgeoning field of information history, and the leading scholarly journal internationally devoted to the history of libraries, librarianship and library culture. Library & Information History is a fully-refereed, quarterly journal publishing articles of a high academic standard from international authors on all subjects and all periods relating to the history of libraries and librarianship and to the history of information, in its broadest sense.

The new editor will take over at an exceptionally exciting moment in the journal’s history. 2017 constitutes the journal’s 50th anniversary, while the new editor will have the opportunity to shape relations with our new publishers Taylor & Francis. Much of the copy for 2017 is already in hand or in advanced stages of development, guaranteeing a smooth transition.

Applications (to include a one-page expression of interest outlining your research interests, qualifications, and ambitions for the role, as well as a one-page CV) should be submitted by email to Renae Satterley ([email protected]), Chair of the Library & Information History Group, by 30 June 2016. In- formal queries can be directed to current editor Mark Towsey ([email protected]). The appointment will be considered and approved by a specially convened meeting of the Library & Information History Group Committee, and the successful candidate will be officially co-opted onto the LIHG committee at the next AGM in November 2016. For more information on how the committee works please see the website: http://www.cilip.org.uk/library-information-history-group/committee

The journal’s website is at: http://www.tandfonline.com/loi/ylbh20#.VzBRyHq2WSc .

Cotgreave Indicators – the sequel

In the last issue of the Newsletter, I promised to report any further sightings of indicators. Three have come to light so far: Campbeltown , Argyll &Bute. Campbeltown Library and Museum. (est. 1899) The library is now housed in the leisure centre and the original building is occupied by the museum and council offices. The Cotgreave Indicator, in excellent condition, is still in situ . St Andrews, Fife. St Andrews University Library Part of an indicator is stored in the university library. This was not used in that library but was rescued by a member of the Strathmartine Trust from the village of Strathkinness, three miles to the west of St An- drews, and donated to the university. Aberystwyth, Wales. Aberystwyth University. Part of a Cotgreave Indicator is kept in the university's store.

I am grateful to the following for information: Elizabeth Cuthill (St Andrews UL), William Hines (Aberyst- wyth University), Eleanor McKay (Argyll & Bute Libraries) and Peter Hoare for drawing my attention to the Campbeltown Library. Antonia J. Bunch

In fact, Bill Hines not only found another indicator, but also sent us an image of an original drawing by Alma-Tadema, who was commissioned to produce a seal for the Library Association back in 1898. His effort drew the following topical review from the Library Magazine the following year: Neither the indicator nor the open access party can claim the design in their favour, for while the shelves beside the lady are open the readers are not helping themselves, nor are there any signs of an indicator.

Lawrence Alma-Tadema Library Association Collection University of Aberystwyth