Pleasure Reading

thesignaturething: Yo, I heard you like libraries, so I put a...

Wed, 19 Jun 2013 22:38:49 -0400

thesignaturething:

Yo, I heard you like libraries, so I put a library in your library!

Photo

Tue, 18 Jun 2013 16:57:54 -0400

"If you have a garden and a library, you have everything you need."

Fri, 14 Jun 2013 09:17:56 -0400

“If you have a garden and a library, you have everything you need.”

- Cicero (via ohfairies)

nevver: Works of Fiction

Sat, 08 Jun 2013 11:05:31 -0400

grant snider @grantdraws

grant snider @grantdraws

nevver:

Works of Fiction

The Last, But Certainly Not Least

Sun, 02 Jun 2013 15:44:08 -0400

Today was my last full day in London. Tomorrow I find a way to pack all the things I’ve gained since arriving here, and head back to New York. I am actually quite ready to be home, I miss my apartment, I miss my bed, I miss making my own well-balanced meals, and I’m tired of my own company (and dirty clothes). I love to travel alone (it’s exhilarating and freeing), and meeting new people this trip has been the best time I’ve had yet when meeting new people, but now it’s time (the walrus said) to head back to things familiar and close. And there are things to accomplish.

However, I wasn’t going to let all the thoughts of reality upon return home rob me of my last day here. So, after sleeping in (to a whopping 8am!!), I leisurely made my way out of the hotel room by 11am, and wandered over to Costa Coffee for breakfast. Over tea and scones, I journaled for a while, tying up my trip in all the comprehensive thoughts I could have on it at this point, reminiscing on some of the more glorious points, and thinking excitedly of the return trip, to share pictures, stories, and many, many hugs.

I then hopped the tube to Knightsbridge, and Harrods, where I spent a happy couple of hours ogling the fabulous and rich displays from floor to floor. The pet section has a grooming spa, where you can watch dogs get a haircut and dry (and watch dog hair fly everywhere while it happens), and coo at the sleeping puppies next door. (Unfortunately you can’t take pictures of them.) The Toy Kingdom is so awesome, you don’t have to be a little kid to think it’s cool. The Harry Potter section alone is enough to send a reader into nerd heaven.

But what really was amazing was the food halls. Just look at the beautiful, delicious, neat rows of truffles!

You can buy essentially anything at Harrods. Name it, and they probably have it. And it’s all so classy. Even in the restrooms, they have perfume samples above the sink, in pretty, curvy glass bottles. And so I thought, well, why not smell of Chanel for once in my life?

When I tired of Harrods, I picnicked in Hyde Park. It was teeming with people enjoying the sun, boating, playing frisbee. Londoners just come out of the woodwork on sunny summer days, and I don’t blame them.

I walked from Hyde Park to Green Park to Buckingham Palace. With my music playing, and the sun shining, I felt like I could walk forever. Buckingham Palace wasn’t even as crowded as it normally seems to be.

From Buckingham Palace, I walked all down the Mall and into St. James Park, which I’ve never been to before, and which is extremely beautiful. Especially on days like this one.

From St. James Park to Whitehall, and then I found myself in the center of Westminster. This worked out well, because I couldn’t leave without saying goodbye to the big guy…

I stopped on Westminster Bridge, to take in the view, look out on the Thames, let the last two weeks wash over me. It was everything I hoped for, and more, and I feel like I am returning home with more knowledge than I am able to stuff into this ‘umble ‘ead of mine. I don’t know when I’ll get back, but this certainly will not be the last time.

La vie en rose

Sun, 02 Jun 2013 15:06:00 -0400

Well, I think you can guess where my Saturday adventure was… I almost didn’t make it. After two weeks of eating small meals from grocery stores, and croissants and biscuits every morning, the wonderful over-imbibing and over-indulging at the farewell dinner made my stomach yell, “What the HELL are you doing to me?!” It wasn’t the wine, as you might think, (we all had an average of 4 glasses each), but the delicious pesto penne I had, which was followed by the most decadent tiramisu with amaretto cookies on top. Combine that with red wine, and a serious lack of sleep, and your body is going to yell at you too.

I hardly slept on Friday night. I think also because I knew I had to be up at 4:30am to shower before heading to St. Pancras international station to check-in at 5:30am. I felt like I had been hit by a bus, and my stomach felt someone had punched it repeatedly. I felt light-headed from lack of sleep, and pale and disheveled despite my shower.

However, I made it onto the train (the Eurostar). I was smart the day before and bought snacks at Waitrose, and basically had food for an entire day. I’ve been feasting on these chocolate and ginger granola bars they have here (and ginger is really good for your stomach), and I had bananas, sugar snap peas, and almonds (I never go anywhere without raw almonds, it’s a problem). I slept the entire way there, and when I woke up in France, I felt a million times better. Adrenaline from being in a new place helped.

In no way was I going to miss my day in Paris. Not only because I had already paid for it, and it was nonrefundable, but because I was determined to see more of the city that I have only ever seen in the course of 24 hours.

The best part about my day was the hop-on-hop-off bus ticket I had that was included with the day trip package I bought. Once I figured out how to find the places where they stopped (which included some running frantically), it saved me miles and miles of walking from place to place. I hit all the big spots, the first being the Paris Opera House.

The last time I was there, I didn’t get a chance to go inside, so I paid the student rate of 6 euros to get in and walk about. I was disappointed to find that I did not have Phantom of the Opera on my iPhone, so I sang it to myself instead. My goodness, it is beautiful in there. I immediately wanted to see an opera, don a fancy ball gown (complete with tiara and binoculars), and sit in one of the balconies. Here is one of the halls, just to give a hint of some of the splendor:

And of course, if there’s a library in the building, I will find it. They had a small museum, and the library was filled with librettos of the operas that had been performed there.

From the opera house, I jumped on the bus. As it was a gorgeous day, full of sunshine, I rode on the second level, the open top, and took in all the sites from an elevated view, breathing in all the Parisian air. We rode all the way up the length of the Champs-Elysees to the Arc de triomph. A woman literally flung herself over me on the bus to get a picture as we passed by. It was a little unnerving, so I hope her picture was worth it. I kept thinking people were going to drop their cameras off the side of the bus into traffic below.

I got off at the Tour Eiffel stop. Now I have already been to the top of the tower, so I was not worried about seeing the view from above (which was good because at this point the lines were wrapped around the base). Instead, I ate lunch on the lawn in front of it.

It was a lovely place to sit and people-watch. There were two couples who had just gotten married taking photos on the grass, and everywhere people were lounging, taking in the view, taking in the sunshine. Paris is not the easiest place to travel to alone, being such a romantic destination, but fortunately for me, there were plenty of sites to see and absorb.

After lunch, I jumped back on the bus. The driver laughed at me as he saw me running and waving my arms, and ended up chatting with me the whole way to the Louvre. He was half Italian, half Polish, and his English wasn’t very good, but he was pleased to have someone to talk to for a few minutes. I imagine these drivers, going in circles all day long, can get pretty bored (some of them had earphones in). Robi (I believe his name was) pointed out various places that were dedicated to Napoleon (there are a lot of these), and warned me about pickpockets at the Louvre. He was to be the only person I would have a longer conversation with in the next 24 hours, so I appreciated the chat. He said, “Chao my friend!” as I left the bus.

Before seeing the famous pyramid at the entrance of the museum, I walked along the Seine for a bit. I had an entrancing moment on one of the bridges, where a man was playing “La vie en rose” on the accordion, and there were painters on either side. It was the bridge that one would come with a lover to, write a secret message on a note, stick in a lock, lock it to the side of the bridge, and toss the key into the Seine.

If you can tell from the picture, the bridge is covered with locks. The moment was everything you wanted France to be upon coming there: romantic, scenic, European (romance kind of goes with the territory), beautiful, etc, etc. It was lovely.

I strolled through the center square of the Louvre. Like last time, I didn’t have time (or 11 euros) to spend on exploring the inside of the Louvre, although someday I hope to. It is another museum that could take days and days to see all of it, or even parts of it, and with one day to use (and a sunny day at that), I just couldn’t spend it in a museum.

From there, I took the bus to Notre Dame. My intention was to visit the bell towers and sing “Out There” whilst swinging off the gargoyles, but the line was so long, my performance had to be cancelled. Ah well, c’est la vie. Next time. But I did wander through the cathedral, see the famous rose window, and sit in awe while a choir practiced on the main altar, echoing eerily and beautifully through all the gothic arches.

I then went across the bridge to find my main purpose of visiting Paris that day. For what would an adventure be during this trip if it didn’t involve something literary?? I rounded a couple blocks, but it didn’t take me long to find it:

This bookstore was made famous by the amount of American writers (and many others) that would frequent it, Ernest Hemingway being one of them. It is made entirely of books in English, old and new, and has a serious Beats-vibe to it. I have not read a lot of the beats authors, but this place made me want to put on a thick sweater and cat-eye glasses and read Jack Kerouac in one of their dusty cramp corners surrounded by books.

They also have a rare-book shop that I stopped in, although most of the titles there were too expensive for me to buy. It was interesting to eavesdrop on other customers though because of my rare book class. These were book collectors, real bibliophiles, searching for rare gems to add to their personal library. If only I were that rich, to own copies of Dickens that cost 700 euros. But honestly, what would I do with all of it? Obviously the provenance would be fascinating, but I’d be too afraid to read them, for fear of damage.

I then wandered about the winding streets and alleyways of St. Michel. St. Michel is no longer the slums that Gavroche so proudly describes it as, but is full of little shops and eateries for the tourist and local alike. Like a European Greenwich Village. I did not purchase “crumbs of humble piety” (alright, I’ll stop), but I did purchase the most delicious freshly made crepe stuffed with Nutella, all warm and oozing with chocolate and hazelnut. Oh my lord, my mouth is watering just writing about it…

Once the late afternoon hit, I decided to head back to the area where the train station was, just to be close by (plus Montmartre is within walking distance of the Gare du Nord), so I braved the Metro at essentially rush hour, even though it was Saturday. It’s a nerve-racking experience to be alone in a country where you are not fluent in the language, and the crowds push past you, knowing where they have to be, and you pause uncertainly to ascertain the signs, and figure out which direction to go. Once I was in the metro station, I was crammed into a train so full, I nearly had my arms wrapped around a stranger to hold onto a pole for balance. It was hot and sticky, and full of strange smells and sounds, but I put on my local “subway riding” face that everybody has, no matter what city you’re from, and that seemed to do the trick. I could pretend I was a local, waiting impatiently for my stop, and then shout “Pardon! Excusez-moi!” when it’s time to get off. Which is what I did.

I was losing steam by the minute by the time I got back to the station. I still had two hours before check-in for the return trip, and the lack of sleep was starting to creep on me again. But I knew from the map that Montmartre wasn’t far, so I used my wonderful sense of direction (it really has been fine tuned this trip, I’m quite proud of myself), and found Sacre-Coeur with little trouble. I climbed up every single one of those stairs and braved the crowds, to take in the wonderful view:

Sacre-Coeur is the first catholic cathedral I’ve gone into on this trip, and there were nuns singing a service in French when I walked in. I sat, grateful to rest my feet, and listened to their calming music. When it was time to leave, I paused at the top of the steps to take in the view of the city, hardly believing I had made it there, and knowing that there was very little left of my trip. I was both sad and happy about this. My feet were secretly rejoicing.

I made it back to the station without using the map at all, and felt a strange rush of relief when crossing back over the UK border. It must just be the change of language that makes continental Europe slightly more intimidating than England, or perhaps just that I’ve spent two weeks in London and so it’s been my temporary home, or I was just so tired I couldn’t even think straight, but I was so happy to step back in St. Pancras station, head across the street to my hotel, and collapse into the deepest sleep I’ve ever had.

What a day. :)

The Final Stretch

Sun, 02 Jun 2013 13:46:00 -0400

Friday was the last official day of the seminar and one that was a lot more loosely scheduled. The group of us were taken down to South Kensington station, outside the Natural History Museum, and were let loose from there, free to wander in whatever museums we chose. And nothing else was scheduled until the farewell dinner at 6:30.

So a group of the girls and I went over to the Victoria and Albert museum, which is one I’ve never been to before and spent several hours trying to focus on putting one foot in front of the other, but still finding plenty of interesting things along the way.

The collection at the V&A is extensive, so that, like many large museums, it is just impossible to see everything. But we walked through their fashion exhibit, where they showed clothing beginning from the turn of the 19th century to modern times (complete with Alexander McQueen). They have long corridors of gold and silver, and how these items are made, and you wouldn’t believe the intricate and delicate procedures it takes to make a watch case (the seat in front of the screen was really comfortable, so I ended up watching the whole video, and was actually fascinated in spite of myself).

We wandered through the two floor display of jewelry, spanning over three hundred years. My favorite display I think was the music and theatre exhibit. We saw items such as the guitar that Pete Townsend broke, a set model for the staging of Sweeney Todd (and you could play with the light box buttons!), the original holster from the first showing of Peter Pan that made Peter fly, and Richard Burton’s costume when he played Henry V.

We also saw a first folio of Shakespeare, but at this point we were like, “another Shakespeare folio? Who doesn’t have a Shakespeare folio?”

I can’t imagine how anyone does more than one museum in a day, because once we were done with the V&A, everyone was shot and went their separate ways for lunch. For my part, I had to move my luggage to the other hotel that I had for the weekend after the seminar, so I had a leisurely lunch back at the Mentone Hotel, before checking out, and heading 0.3 miles down the road to the hotel I’m currently at.

I have a teeny, tiny room, however, it is literally across the street from King’s Cross Station, so I can go to Hogwarts anytime I want. I did visit, and I was sad to see that they have transformed Platform 9 3/4 to a more touristy scene. When I was here five years ago, the platform was tucked away, and you had to search for it, and it just stood there, looking innocent. If you hadn’t read Harry Potter, you would have no idea what it meant. Now, they have poles set up for lines in front of it, and an employee of the station assists with pictures, even providing you with props, like a Gryffindor scarf. I think it takes away some of the magic, if you’ll excuse the phrase.

Our farewell dinner was at The Spaghetti House by Goodge Street station, and we had a long table upstairs ready for us, with bottles of red and white wine, and various buckets of starters. It was an awesome time, several people made toasts, the wine was poured frequently and in large quantities, there was lots of laughter, and Andy, our seminar leader, provided us with certificates and little UCL teddy bears at the end! It was so fun, and a great way to end the seminar. These people, these wonderful fellow librarians, are a pleasure to be around (as you’ll find most of us are!).

I felt a little sad to go back to my other hotel alone that night, but I had more adventures to complete before I headed home…

"Let the rain pitter-patter, but it really doesn't matter if the skies are gray"

Fri, 31 May 2013 12:53:03 -0400

Thursday was a an hour trip via the tube down to Kew for the day’s activities. As you can tell from the picture above, our first stop was the National Archives. This was particularly exciting as I had just finished a class where my final paper discussed a lot of the National Archive’s work on digital preservation.

Of course, here was another place where we couldn’t really take photographs, and, as it is an archive, we had to check our bags, and carry only pencils (no pens, for the safety of the records) if we planned on taking notes. The National Archives is huge, and the main reading room is sectioned off into color-coded areas. One pertains particularly to family history, as this is a really popular topic that people come in to research. Another section focuses on the military, being another area with a vast amount of records. We were taken into the rare book room, which has become part storage space for other various items, as even the National Archives are tight on space.

The little exhibition they had was pretty interesting. They had some records from when Tolkien was in the army, and diagrams on how dead rats were used as explosives during the world wars. (Who knew?) But one of the best parts of the National Archives was:

(“I’m a SWAN!”)

Anyway, we had lunch in the cafe at the National Archives before walking over to the Royal Botanical Gardens library. I think everyone was particularly excited for this, and we were especially glad that it didn’t rain (even though it threatened to do so all day).

One of the librarians took us around the library and archive. It was interesting to find out that they are still one of the few libraries that does not have automated checkouts. Their archive room was particularly impressive-looking though:

Love that spiral staircase!

After the tour, we were released out the back gate to the Kew Royal Botanical Gardens. Oh my goodness, what a beautiful place. As I, and the rest of our group, am essentially brain-dead from all the heavy touring, I am going to let the pictures speak for themselves. All I’ll say is that I have never seen azaleas in such colors before!

I spent a happy hour and a half, just walking and listening to nature, breathing it all in. Then I joined one of the girls to head back to central London, as I had gotten tickets to see the musical Top Hat in Covent Garden that night.

I had dinner at Garfunkel’s, because I was starving and it advertised burgers and shakes. But I don’t think the burger was beef, and I don’t think I noticed until halfway through due to hunger. Ah well, a chocolate milkshake made up for it. Again, I ate on my own, read my book, and people-watched, killing time before the show.

Top Hat was pretty good. I didn’t love it. I think just because no one can really replace Fred and Ginger. And there’s something that just works better when you’re watching them in black and white, the jokes don’t seem as cheesy and over-the-top. But they did so on stage. I thought the girl was quite good, a nice amount of sass and great dancing feet, but the guy playing Jerry (Fred’s part) looked like Ed Helms, so I couldn’t get the idea of Andy Bernard playing a Fred Astaire role out of my head. It was weird. And of course they added numbers so there could be chorus scenes. The dancing was great, and of course the costumes! I wanted all the dresses for myself. They even created a version of Ginger’s feathery dress (not nearly so feathery of course).

Everyone and their mother must go to the theatre on Thursday nights, because I had quite a time cutting through crowds to get back to the hotel afterwards. It was cattle being herded into the tube stations.

My roommate and I had a great discussion when I returned, going over the two weeks and how lucky we feel for the opportunity to participate. We did think that the program could have spaced out their activities a little bit, because we felt a little bad for the poor guy who had to give the tour at the botanical gardens library. At one point I looked around, and half of us were falling asleep. However, despite our crazy schedule, it’s been a great time.

litographs: Anne of Green Gables

Fri, 31 May 2013 04:36:35 -0400

litographs:

Anne of Green Gables

"For the incurably curious"

Wed, 29 May 2013 17:01:55 -0400

Today was the day for the medical librarians of our group, and I think there’s only a couple of us. I got the feeling that the majority of us, me included, were dragging our feet a little for our activities today. Tiredness had a great deal to do with it, I’m sure. We’re coming down to the end! And constant touring can really weigh down on a person, physically and mentally. I’ve spent the last 24 hours trying to make sure everything doesn’t become a blur.

Wellcome Trust and Library

Well, regardless, I ended up finding our first tour really interesting. The Wellcome Trust is a huge medical library and archive, and their exhibition had a lot of great displays, both scientific and artistic.

They had a whole display on obesity, and this sculpture I found particularly interesting (even if it is rather grotesque), as it is supposed to represent the manifestation of our emotions, as opposed to physical manifestations. Here’s the information on it:

The other display that I got completely caught up in was a video project of an experiment done over the course of 10 years. Some schoolchildren in Essex were videotaped for 15 seconds and simply told to express themselves in any way they wished. Ten years later, they were filmed again for the same amount of time, but after viewing the original recording of their past selves. The video that the display showed was a split-screen of both recordings playing at the same time. It was mesmerizing to watch. Nearly 100% of the time, each person videoed as an elementary school kid was making faces at the camera, crossing their eyes, laughing, goofing off. And the second video, of ten years later, the majority of them simply stared at the camera, or just smiled, looked uncomfortable, sometimes imitated their past selves. While these videos were playing, there was a recording in the background of the people being interviewed, and being asked about what they were doing in their lives, their career, if they think they’ve changed at all in the past ten years. This is fascinating stuff.

It’s amazing how we evolve as we grow. And how innocent and carefree we were as little kids.

We were taken around the library and reading room, which was beautiful, and really extensive. The medical material they have, from specific diseases to psychotherapy to Chinese medicine, is incredible.

Royal College of Surgeons

After lunch on our own, we were taken to the Royal College of Surgeons. There was a hubbub going on outside the place because they were filming on location for The Vampire Diaries. But inside, we were provided with a presentation on the college, which is not exactly a college as much as it is a collegiate group of people, and its focus on materials regarding surgery, and the history of surgery. We were then given a brief tour of the library and reading room, which has been there since about the 1830s, as well as the rare book room and some of the library offices.

It was especially cool to see a first edition of Gray’s Anatomy.

I decided to take it easy today, but I did take myself over to the British Museum, as it was on the way back from the RCS. It was super crowded, and I basically was walking around as if on a moving sidewalk, looking at everything, but I got to see the Rosetta Stone, and some Egyptian mummies, and the room of clocks was really cool. It was hard to get to the Rosetta Stone because there were so many tour groups surrounding it, being given in several different languages from what I could hear it (which was quite satisfying to me given their location). The museum closes at 5:30 (which seems so early!) and I had gotten there just after four, so it was possibly the breeziest, most highlighted trip anyone has ever taken through the British Museum, but I did it. Absolutely worth it. Even having “A Foggy Day in London town” stuck in my head all day. :)

Goodnight, all.

"Oh, we're all mad here."

Tue, 28 May 2013 18:29:00 -0400

Today was Oxford (part deux)! Bonus points if you can recognize the room in the picture above. I’ll let you know in a second.

This morning we all dragged ourselves out of bed to meet at 6:15 in the hotel lobby, so we could walk together to the tube station, and then to Marylebone Road from the Baker Street station, to catch a bus to Oxford for the day.

It was a miserable, cold and rainy day again (London’s mood swung once more), so we huddled together under our sea of colorful umbrellas. It’s about a 90 minute ride to Oxford and when we got there, we began our damp and drizzly tour with a quintessential British man with a full gray beard, named Antony. He was a Cambridge man in his youth, but spent quite a bit of academic time at Oxford, and spent the majority of his career in publishing. He took us first to the Ashmolean Museum, to kill time while he worked out our schedule, so we were released into the museum to wander for an hour.

Now, many of my close friends may gasp in horror, but museums are not my favorite sightseeing adventure. There are always interesting aspects that I can find everywhere I go, because I am open to them, but there is only so much time I want to spend looking at collections of plates and spoons from the Renaissance period, or coin collections from China and Japan. I did, however, spend quite a bit of time playing with the Egyptian symbol blocks, forming the sentences the display case asked you to try out. I’m fairly certain this was a kid’s activity, and somebody seemed to have stolen the ‘love’ block, so I couldn’t complete the sentence they asked, but ah well. Hieroglyphics are fun.

The Ashmolean does have a great collection of musical instruments (although you can’t touch them), and some of the paintings were really gorgeous. I also have a weakness for Greek and Roman sculptures (I think it’s the detail in the stone carving, it’s amazing to me). So, like I said, always something interesting to find.

The next activity was certainly the highlight of the day. We went inside the famous Bodleian Library of Oxford University. The very first room we were taken into was the room in the picture above. Have you guessed what it is? Well, historically, it’s the Divinity School, which was completed in 1488, and is the school’s oldest examination room. But, perhaps more in a pop cultural sense, it is the room that they used as the Infirmary in the Harry Potter films. (!!)

We were separated into two tour groups, so that we’d be in smaller sizes and wouldn’t disturb those who were using the library. Our tour guide was fantastic, and told the history of the library in such an engaging way. Thomas Bodley, the innovative Oxford graduate, was essentially the first person in history to advocate for open source libraries. After a career of serving Queen Elizabeth I abroad as a spy, he finally was allowed to return, and spent all of his earnings into building up the collection of the university library, and ensuring that the books were available to anyone who wanted to learn. And when he died, he left the remainder of his money to the university, on the condition that they continue to expand to fit the continuous amount of books coming in from printers and publishers. (He had encouraged printers to send one copy of every book they printed to the library. Free advertising for them, and a larger collection for the rest of the world.) And to this day, the library still receives one copy of everything that gets published in the UK.

We were taken into the Duke Humphrey reading room, named after the first person who left his collection to the university. Unfortunately Duke Humphrey’s books were destroyed during the reign of Edward VI, because they all contained references to Catholicism, but the library remains as it has been since Bodley refurbished it in 1610. When the group of us walked into this reading room, all of our jaws dropped. Unfortunately, it is another place where you cannot take photographs, but all you have to do is watch Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone, for it is where they filmed Harry’s scene prowling about in the Restricted Section of the Hogwarts library. I think we all had a seriously nerdy moment after that bit of information was shared.

We also were shown the private court rooms that have had a long list of famous people stand inside them to hold court, the majority of them kings and queens dating back to King Charles I. The history and tradition of the Bodleian is incredible. I somehow need to think of alternative adjectives before the end of this trip to really express how awesome everything is.

We had lunch together at the King’s Arms, and I tried some Addlestone’s Cider (which is delicious). I had a chicken and bacon pie (the English do love their meat pies), and it was quite delicious and rib-sticking, a definite must on a miserable rainy day.

After lunch, we walked through the rain to the Oxford University Press. We first were provided with a presentation on the history of the making of the Oxford English Dictionary, before we were taken to the little museum they had on the ground floor, led by their head archivist.

This is a first edition of Alice in Wonderland. They also had a first edition of the complete set of Chaucer’s works, and, of course, a first edition of the Oxford English Dictionary, which took over 50 years to complete. The main researcher on the project only lived to the letter ‘T.’ How Tragic!

The archivist also demonstrated on a life-size replica of a printing press. This was amazing because of my rare books class that I just finished last semester. We spent a lot of time learning about early book binding, and printing, and so to see it in action was so cool. Needless to say, this has been a real geeky day.

We were given one more presentation on how OUP is doing their marketing in the digital age, which of course is almost exclusively online. They don’t even have plans in the future to publish any more editions of the Oxford English Dictionary in print because it is so expensive, nobody would buy it, and new words are being collected monthly. So much is made easier by technology.

By this time it was 5:00, and some of us were wet and tired, so decided to make our way back to the bus station to head back to London. Unfortunately, my friend was traveling herself and was no longer in Oxford today, so I also decided to take the bus back with the group to the hotel, to put on warm, dry socks, and make sure my travel log was up-to-date. This was our last day trip, and only three days left of the seminar! It has gone by so fast. I am trying not to let it all become a blur, because we have all absorbed so much knowledge in the past ten days, within the seminar activities and without. What an amazing experience.

"Lord, what fools these mortals be"

Tue, 28 May 2013 17:25:21 -0400

Monday started out slow for everyone. I think we all were recovering from our various weekend travels. This morning’s three lectures focused on the changing roles of the library, both in terms of technology, and in terms of the job of the librarian. I have heard a lot about this already, that libraries are no longer what they used to be, can’t be what they used to be, and either we embrace the new, or we disappear. Some of the statistics scared the crap out of me, but after everything I have learned so far in library school, it is that ultimately libraries are not disappearing. They are simply transforming. Printed books are certainly not going anywhere any time soon, but at the same time, libraries now, and in the future, need to become epicenters for technology, whether it is so users can gain access to it, learn about it, or be in a community space and use it. And the important part for librarians, that I think is especially crucial, is to keep our knowledge up-to-date, and fresh, so that we can be guides to others. No longer are librarians the gatekeepers of knowledge, but we are the facilitators and the guides to carry all this wide-spread knowledge (hopefully) in the right direction. When I say right direction, I simply mean well-directed research. Users need to know there is more out there than Google and Wikipedia. And we are here to show them.

Stepping off my pedestal, I continue on with my day.

As it was a bank holiday, there were no further scheduled activities for us, so we all went our separate ways. I have found that most of us have our own plans for sightseeing, but occasionally (and it’s quite fun when it spontaneously happens) a group of us will do something together. And even though I spent the weekend doing my own travels, everyone remembered on Monday where I went and eagerly asked about my experience. It is such a pleasure to be in a group of such kindred spirits.

This Monday afternoon, however, I had scheduled plans so I went off on my own. This was the first time I began to feel the faint twinges of travel weariness. London was having another mood swing, and it was much warmer, but incredibly windy, and so you couldn’t decide to bring your coat because if you did you’d sweat through it, but if you didn’t the wind would numb your bones. However, it was a sunny day, and I will take what I can get.

One of the places I wanted to go on this trip was the Charles Dickens Museum. And as it is very close to UCL, I headed there first after lectures. It’s a fascinating place. It is actually set up in one of the houses that Charles Dickens used to live in. I had no idea that, not only was Charles Dickens a prolific writer, but he also enjoyed acting out his novels, reading them aloud in his living room for crowds of entertained guests, and then became one of the most famous solo performers of the time. This man was incredible. As was his life. Due to his father’s debts, his father was sent to debtor’s prison, leaving Charles to work in a factory at a young age. It is no wonder he is known as the true empathizer to the lower classes. And even when he became famous, he was paying off his father’s debts, but yet always remained loyal to him. I couldn’t help but purchase a palm-sized copy of A Christmas Carol, which is now the smallest book in my collection.

After the museum, my afternoon had less decisions. I had hours to kill before my evening plans, and therefore tried to pack in as much as I could before then. The trouble the group of us in the seminar have found is that London has too much stuff to see. And even though I saw some places on my first visit, it was not even the tip of the iceberg. It’s overwhelming, and forces good planning, and prioritizing, so you can make the most out of your trip. So far I’ve done well. But yesterday, the travel weariness got the better of me.

First I went back to Covent Garden because I ran out of Lush shampoo. The crowds were thick and stampede-like. Somehow I was always the only one going in the opposite direction.

Then I went to Oxford Circus in search of, not clothing shops, but the big huge Waterstone’s bookshop that is apparently 4-5 floors. But I lasted about ten minutes before getting back on the tube. The touristy crowds were clothing crazy, and it felt like Times Square.

So I made my way slowly towards my evening destination, stopping first at St. Paul’s, thinking I could at least stroll through a calm cathedral and get my bearings back. But it was fourteen pounds to get in, and there was a line, and I thought, I’ve already been in St. Paul’s, so let’s not spend fourteen pounds on a place I’ve seen before. Instead I bought the most expensive ice cream cone I’ve ever purchased, from a cart outside the church, and made my way towards the Millennium Bridge.

If you’ve never seen the Millennium Bridge, it’s definitely worth a trip across (although it made me slightly nervous this time around because of that scene in Harry Potter). There is the dome of St. Paul’s towering above on one side, and the Tate Modern and Shakespeare’s Globe Theatre on the other. My excitement was rekindled a bit at this point, seeing the Thames for the first time this trip, and walking the bridge again. I ended up walking the whole length of South Bank, just to see the London Eye, and Big Ben from across the river, which killed time, but exhausted me. The crowds are unbelievable, but of course are to be expected in these touristy spots on pleasant days.

I stopped at a Starbucks to use the free WiFi, to see if I could FaceTime with anyone, but it didn’t seem to be working. My exhausting afternoon, and the lack of company from anyone but my own thoughts was wearing me down, and I wanted some reassurance before the evening. But technology forced me to forge ahead on my own, and I did so, with a fierce determination. Getting food in my stomach was key. I ate dinner at a pizza place by the Globe, which, I realized upon sitting down, was my first time eating at a sit-down restaurant alone.

This was not an uncomfortable or disturbing experience by any means, I had just never experienced it before. But as I was seated outside, with a nice view of St. Paul’s and the London Bridge, it was not so bad. I sat and read my book, photobombed a couple of tourist pictures, and enjoyed the pleasure of sitting down after all that walking.

Now onto my evening activity! I bought five pound tickets for the yard at the Globe Theatre to see A Midsummer Night’s Dream. The yard means the groundling area, where you stand (hence the cheapness) for the length of the show. Now this is not a short play, it was a full three hours, but I was mentally preparing for the standing all day. Plus, you do enough years singing in choirs, you learn to stand for long periods of time. You don’t lock your knees, you bend them occasionally, and hydration is very helpful.

Well, I don’t even think I noticed how long I was standing, because the show was AWESOME. I mean, I expected no less from the Globe Theatre, but the actors had the crowd engaged from the very beginning. It was all traditionally done, in Renaissance costume and set, and the musicians all carried instruments from the time period. It is so worth it, especially to see a show like Midsummer on an early summer night, where you almost feel like you are transferred back in time (ya know, except for the airplanes that flew over every once and a while). What a fun experience.

Because we had to be up really early for our Tuesday activities, I booked it out of the theatre and back to the tube. Monday wasn’t the most perfect of days, but it had a great ending (and middle, with Dickens!). And besides, nobody expects a trip to be 100% at level 10 the whole way through. Believe me, there are more than enough moments to make up for it.

"It is a truth universally acknowledged..."

Tue, 28 May 2013 16:05:00 -0400

…that sunshine makes exploring ten million times better.

This is the city of Winchester, which, like most places in Europe, has a wonderful mix of ancient and modern, of old and new. This picture is of just one of the many shopping areas around town, all stroll-able, all pedestrian-friendly. And as it was a beautiful day, everyone was out and about.

Much like Chatsworth the day before, this trip I planned entirely on my own. I had no agenda coming here, I only knew I wanted to see the cathedral. My ticket back to London was good all day, so I was free to wander until I was too tired to carry my weekend backpack around.

Traveling by yourself is very exhilarating, especially as you don’t have to wait for anyone, and the day is made up essentially of whims, whatever your heart desires at that very moment. And when you have all the time in the world, and an open mind to whatever you come across, well, simple joys await you.

I walked from the train station, simply following the signs to the city centre, which is where Winchester Cathedral was supposed to be. My first whim I acted upon was entering the Winchester Public Library. I happened to pass by, saw the word “NOVELS” in big block letters through the windows, which of course made me pause, and decided to check it out.

Guys, the Winchester Public Library is AWESOME. Just like the city, there’s a cool blend of old and new. The outside has the traditional stone pillars, like a miniature version of the New York Public Library, with the words “Public Library” engraved at the top. But as you walk through the open doors, the center reference area is a large circular room, with two floors, and you could not possibly get lost. Being a library employee, and in the collection management department, I am always curious to see how other libraries catalog and shelve their books. This library certainly had a bookstore feel to it.

As you can tell from the picture, each shelf had the subject printed on its end, in large black lettering, so you can easily find the subject you are looking for. At the same time, as far as I could tell, they still used Dewey. In fact, in the children’s department, they had a poster at child height that had a long alphabetical list of subjects with the Dewey number next to it.

The other part that struck my interest, as I am in collection management, was that all of their paperbacks had plastic slip covers, down to the tiniest juvenile chapter book. This was interesting because we had recently had a presentation given to our department not too long ago on these very covers. And I have to say, they looked very neat.

But the best part of this library, which you can’t really tell from the picture above, was all the quotes on the walls. EVERYWHERE.

This was in the children’s department.

I wish I had thought at the time to ask one of their librarians about their collection, and how they manage it, but I suppose my mind was too preoccupied on exploring. I have more pictures and general observations on the library for those who are interested, but for the sake of the length of this entry: it’s time to move on.

From there, I continued to follow signs towards city centre, and found myself in the midst of a plethora of town activities. There was a group of musicians, and dancers in traditional costume (what kind of tradition I don’t know, but they looked traditional), performing in the square in front of the city museum. I watched a bit, filmed a bit (I’ve been doing that occasionally, to try as best I can to capture what I’m experiencing), and then wandered through the city museum, which was free (yay!).

Winchester is a surprisingly old city. I was visiting under the idea that it was where Jane Austen spent the last few weeks of her life (and lies there still, in the cathedral), but Winchester goes back to the Dark Ages. There is a huge statue of King Alfred the Great in town, as a tribute to his bringing Winchester out of the Dark Ages and into prosperity. The cathedral itself, in its current location is 1000 years old, but there are still remains, directly adjacent to its current location, of where the cathedral stood even 600 years before that.

There were still services finishing up when I reached the front doors, so I walked past in search of the remains of Wolvesey Castle, one of the greatest medieval castles in England, and home to one of the wealthiest bishops in Winchester (I had picked up a visitor’s brochure at the city museum). The remains reminded me of the Roman forts I had seen on my first trip to England, up near Hadrian’s Wall, but this castle was built in the 1100’s. All that’s left are remnants of stone walls, and wildflowers creep out of the cracks here and there, so it’s really beautiful to walk around. The bishop was actually one of the first to have an early type of plumbing system, very much like the Romans used, with the building of aqueducts to keep the water moving. As it is simply a series of crumbling walls, I find it does require a certain amount of imagination to visit sites like these, to try and picture what it must have looked like in its prime, 800 years ago, which in and of itself is a staggering amount of time. For we baby Americans, who have nothing so old in our country, the sheer ancientness of it all doesn’t quite register right away. And it certainly puts history in perspective.

On the way back to the cathedral, I passed by Jane Austen’s last home (now privately owned). It was under scaffolding for renovations, and the private owners don’t do tours, but there is a plaque stating that Jane Austen spent her last days there, and died on July 18th, 1817.

The thrill of entering a cathedral never diminishes for me. I don’t know whether it is because it never looks that big and tall from the outside, or because the detail in the stonework is always so incredible, or because it has stood there for hundreds of years, or the amount of airy space that is enclosed there is so great, I don’t know. It could be all of these. But I am forever in awe. And could never tire of exploring cathedrals. Winchester Cathedral is lovely and grand, with towering windows of stained glass, and tributes everywhere to those long gone. I found Jane Austen’s grave towards the end of my exploration, almost stumbling upon it, and read the kind inscription below her name. They had a small display of her life alongside it, giving a bit of the history of when she lived where, and how old she was when she came to Winchester. She only lived there six weeks, and she was 41 years old when she died. Tragic indeed.

I had lunch in the cathedral refectory (I’ll say one thing for British cuisine - they make great soup), and enjoyed the outdoors before deciding to go to choral evensong back at the cathedral. The choir there sounded gorgeous, and there is nothing like feeling the organ pipes vibrate the stone under your feet, and getting a wave of organ sound to just wash over you. There’s something cleansing about it. And Grinch moment-y.

After evensong, I decided I’d had enough exploring. I was tired, and ready to head back to London. I rode back into Waterloo station, listening to music, and on a complete natural high, feeling independent and at peace, and ready to start the second week.

"What are men compared to rocks and mountains?"

Sun, 26 May 2013 18:19:45 -0400

Despite the obvious drawbacks, there really is something magical about England in the rain, especially London in the rain. There’s something comforting about the idea that it is doing what it is supposed to do in England. All the time. Everyone told me before leaving, don’t forget your rain gear! Or your brolley! And so then, when it does rain, it is as if it is fulfilling your expectations (or at least everybody else’s expectations), completing the picture. Plus, all the greenery somehow appears greener, and more lush, which makes a lovely contrast against all the gray, wet and dreary buildings. However, do not walk on the edge of the sidewalk above the puddles, and for god’s sake, be aware of being poked by hundreds of menacing pointy umbrellas and folks who don’t know how to walk with them!

Chesterfield

I am glad that I did not have to deal with the wet and the cold (and the danger of umbrella spikes) at all this weekend. I got up at 5:30 Saturday morning to the dim, pinkish light of dawn, and the promise of sunny skies. Yawning and bleary-eyed, I walked to Oxford train station (unfortunately my friend is in the middle of her exams and couldn’t join me). My train pulled into Chesterfield in the Peak District about 9:00.

Isn’t the picture above wonderful? I didn’t spend much time in Chesterfield, as it was not my goal destination, but the main parish (appropriately called the Crooked Spire) was a lovely and quirky landmark. Doesn’t it look like the Sorting Hat?!

I found my own way from the Chesterfield train station to the coach station (feats which I am proud of, traveling on your own in places you’ve never been gives you a fantastic feeling of daring and independence). As Chatsworth House is a very large estate, it is not a place you can walk to from the nearest rail station. But taking the bus, while it can be confusing sometimes, is a great mode of transportation for people-watching the locals. My 10am bus was filled with little old ladies who had finished their Saturday morning shopping. One old, and particularly proud, local decided to give me a tour of the landscape as we made our way up the winding roads into farm country (I seem to have a knack for getting old locals to randomly speak to me). The bus takes you to Baslow, a neighboring village of Chatsworth, where you then take a public footpath about two kilometers long to get to the house.

Chatsworth House

I wish I could describe to you exactly what I felt and saw on this 2k walk. I’ll show a picture, but my goodness, it can only do so much…

It was one of those ten best days. Temperature warm, breeze light and cool, and the blue sky just stretches on and on, seemingly encircling the rich greens below. The picture above went for as far as the eye could see for some time along the path, and as you got closer to the house, there were more and more sheep grazing everywhere, minding their own business, completely fenceless and free.

The first thing I did when I finally reached the house was tour the inside. Chatsworth House has actually a long and rich history, once the home of the Cavendish family, and is currently home to the 12th Duke and Duchess of Devonshire. But I, in my nerdiness, know it purely as: Pemberley. Supposedly, Chatsworth House was Jane Austen’s inspiration for the famous home of Mr. Darcy, but there’s no knowing if she actually saw it in person, as she didn’t travel much. However, its grandeur could have been described to her. And it certainly is grand. An element that stood out to me was the number of sculptures. The sculpture gallery inside the house is famously shown in the 2005 film adaptation of Pride and Prejudice, where Keira Knightley gazes at a bust of Matthew MacFayden’s head. I tried to find it, as apparently Chatsworth was able to keep it after the movie, but alas, it must be in their private collections.

Now the house is grand and rich enough, for sure, but what is really impressive, is the grounds. Joseph Paxton was the head gardener at Chatsworth in the first half of the 19th century, and my goodness, did he have an eye for beauty and architecture. In fact, his outdoor work in the gardens at Chatsworth was so inspiring, that he was commissioned to design what became the famous Crystal Palace at the Great Exhibition of 1851 in Hyde Park. Bill Bryson, in his book At Home: A Short History of Private Life talks a lot about Paxton and Chatsworth, and its worth a read, if you want to learn more.

The gift shop of course is the last part of the inside tour, and has wide French doors opening to the back gardens and refectory. As I made my way outside with my Pride and Prejudice souvenir (of course), I heard music, and stopped short. “Don’t tell me that’s live?!” I heard myself say. And indeed, as I rounded the corner towards the cafe and outdoor seating area, there was a string quartet playing in an alcove off to the side, completing the 19th century ambiance. It was almost too perfect.

I ate lunch outside, with ducks skittering about my feet in search of food, and then made my way into the gardens for what would turn into a lovely, idle ramble through manicured hedges, and trails of wildflowers. One could spend hours here, basking in the sunshine on the grass on the main lawn, meandering over footpaths in the backwoods with patches of wildflowers that sneak up on you, and giant rhododendron bushes with powder puffs of frothy pink blossoms, and precarious stone pathways that arch over secret brooks. There’s a rock garden (created by Paxton), and a maze, and sculptures (both ancient and modern) scattered everywhere, so that you stumble upon them unexpectedly. There’s a perfect combination of neat lawns and wild undergrowth. There are benches set up in particularly scenic corners. Everything was dappled with sunlight, everything was naturally vivid and full of life.The beauty is overwhelming.

I left feeling completely enriched and at peace. I made my way back by foot, by bus, by train, and spent a fun evening back at Oxford, kicking back with frozen pizza, cheap white wine, and David Tennant as Benedick in Much Ado About Nothing, which, trust me, is a must-watch. :)

And P.S. an odd note: Americans have this idea that the British are so refined, and proper, and stiff-upper-lipped. While that stereotype certainly exists, spend some time watching some trashy British television, and you will realize that Americans are the ones that are rather uptight. My friend and I sat in amazement while watching Alan Carr: Chatty Man, the late night talk show, on British cable. This is seriously worth a looking up on Youtube, because this man is outrageous. During this episode, he interviewed the guys from Hangover III, and Ed Helms, who does so much of what we think of ridiculous and stupid over-the-top fantastic comedy, was sitting SO uncomfortably while Alan Carr prattled on in an outrageously effeminate manner on a number of inappropriate topics. Look it up. It’s definitely enlightening to see how insecure America can be against British and European culture.

"Not all who wander are lost."

Sun, 26 May 2013 16:31:00 -0400

I have so much to update on, that I’m going to split my weekend of adventure into separate entries, one for each day.

Friday, May 24th

The menacing-looking building above is the Senate House (and the Senate House Library). This is one of the main large buildings that did not get bombed during World War II, as the rumor was that Hitler wanted to use it as his headquarters. But more likely the reason was that it was a large enough landmark for the planes throwing the bombs to look for. This building was also the inspiration for Orson Welles’ 1984 and his Ministry of Truth. Not hard to imagine why.

Wiener Library for the Study of the Holocaust and Genocide

Along these morbid lines, our morning museum visit on Friday was to the Wiener Library for the Study of the Holocaust and Genocide. Founded by Dr. Alfred Wiener, a German Jew who fled to Amsterdam in 1933 with disturbingly accurate hunches of what horrors were to come, this collection is the world’s oldest, and possibly most extensive, Holocaust memorial institution. Dr. Wiener collected evidence over the years of the persecution of Jews, and because of his efforts, this library greatly contributed to the success of both the Nuremberg War Crimes Trial and the Eichmann Trial.

We were given a brief tour of the library collection, where they have their own cataloging system (as it is so specific a subject, and yet has a wide range of titles), and then we were taken to the archives on the lower level and shown some really interesting artifacts.

I’m not sure if I can post the pictures, so better safe than sorry, but we were shown some really disturbing Nazi party propaganda in the form of children’s books and board games. The board game, whose English translation is “Jews Out!”, has the main objective of getting Jews outside of the city walls (carried by tiny German policemen). We were also shown photographs given to the archive from a family, which were incredible to peruse through. Much of their photo archive comes from families whose members have grown old and don’t know what to do with all their memorabilia. Well, all the better for us, right? :)

Paddington Station —> Oxford Station

As it was a miserable, cold and wet day, and I was still trying to kick off whatever fatigue/cold that was slowing me down, I did not go to our afternoon activity (which was the Ideastore in Whitechapel), and instead rested for a couple hours back in the hotel, so that I could take my time getting to Paddington Station, and ensure a healthy weekend. It was the best decision I could have made, because by the time I had dried off, had a restful train ride, and saw an old friend’s smiling face at the Oxford train station, my energy was beginning to return. I decided to head to Oxford (even though we are touring with the seminar there on Tuesday) because a close friend from high school is getting her masters there, and it had been three years since we had seen each other.

Oxford

After a wonderful, hug-filled reunion, we walked through the rain and the cold (and the glorious old buildings of Oxford), to her apartment to dry off, have tea, and catch up. After dinner, we went and got pints of cider at The Eagle and Child, the old stomping ground of J.R.R. Tolkien and C.S. Lewis (and possibly Lewis Carroll). My nerdiness was kicked up several notches for obvious reasons:

Needless to say, as amazing as Oxford’s general historical significance is, its literary history is incredibly rich. The list of hundreds of famous names that have passed through these colleges would blow your mind (and believe me, mine certainly was). It is not just the Harry Potter filming locations that you will want to visit, but the college where Lewis Carroll taught (and met Alice), the tribute to Lord Byron even though he never ended up getting a degree, the house where Winston Churchill was born, even the pub where Radiohead first got together, and so many more.

After a fantastic evening, despite the horrible weather, we went to bed, as I had to get up ridiculously early to start my amazing Saturday.

Something New and Something Old

Thu, 23 May 2013 13:36:46 -0400

The above picture is pretty much how I make my decision to eat cake at any time.

Today was both looking into the future, and diving into the past. Our morning lectures were on digitisation issues (side note: the British don’t like the letter ‘z,’ do they?). The first lecture was given by Peter Findlay, a program manager for JISC, which used to be an acronym for Joint Information Systems Committee, but now they simply say Jisc. Peter described the progress the UK, and the rest of the world, has made in regards to digitization projects, not only for libraries, but for any kind of innovating research. A whopping 130 million pounds of public money has been spent in the creation of digital content since the mid-1990s, and is, of course, still ongoing. The actual digitizing is an important part of the project, however sustaining the preservation of the digital content is what we are trying to improve now. Access to digital content is the main focus, but Peter stressed the importance of improving the way the researcher gets to that digital content, of making the action of searching a more enlightening process, not only for the researcher, but for others who follow him.

The second lecture was given by Claire Warwick, a professor of Digital Humanities at UCL. This was extremely interesting, because she showed not only how digital content is important and helpful to the researcher/public, but also provides perspective to those providing the digital content. She used this fun example:

Yes, this is a jar of moles, the most popular display item at the Grant Museum of Zoology in Bloomsbury. Presumably, these were used for an anatomy class in the Victorian period, so these moles were, in fact, pickled and put in a jar for a specific reason. The reason the museum knows how popular they are is because users can follow the jar of moles on Twitter. Yes, these moles tweet. The museum has a number of iPads throughout the institution where users can respond to questions about a variety of items and issues discussed at the museum. This technology has allowed the museum to discover what their users are most interested in, and therefore, create a better experience for them. So, better learning for both parties involved! (And apparently, people really like moles.)

London Metropolitan Archives

After a quick lunch, we walked to the London Metropolitan Archives, which, I realized upon entering, is the first legitimate archives I have ever been to (archives student slap-on-the-wrist). Archives certainly have a different feel to them than libraries, as the majority of their materials are either in storage, open storage, or kept where only a reference librarian/archivist can retrieve them. Only a small amount is shelved for the public to peruse. Also, there are many more computers, as much of the research is done online first, before requests for records are made.

This was a fascinating place. We received a brief Powerpoint on the definition of an archive and archiving (and I patted myself on the back for knowing all this and much more from my archives classes), and then a tour around the archives. The LMA is actually about to have a Shakespeare display, where they will be showing a document with Shakespeare’s signature! There are only about six or seven of these documents in existence, and the LMA is about to have one of them. The BBC is heading there on Tuesday to document it (we should have gone then…).

At the end of the tour, we got to look as some sample archives in the staff area, and this is where it got extremely interesting. Unfortunately, I am not allowed to post pictures, but I’ll describe them to the best of my ability. One of the records we viewed was a series of letters to the Foundling Hospital in the late 1800s. The Foundling Hospital, which actually is close to where we are staying in Bloomsbury (there is now a Foundling Museum), was a place where unwed mothers could take their children when they were unable to care for them themselves. The letters of admission were really quite sad. As the mothers normally couldn’t read or write, they would leave half of a piece of fabric (and keep the other half) or a specific trinket with their child, so that they could hopefully find the child in later years (also, the hospital usually ended up changing the children’s names). One letter we looked at actually said the father was the milkman, which is rather tragically funny.

I wish my father could have seen the next few records because we looked at a thick book from the Fire Brigade in 1940. This thick book housed records of only three days in September of that year, following World War II bombings. Each fire that broke out across the city had to be documented, including how serious the fire was, the cause (usually incendiary bombings), and what was damaged as a result. The other records were huge maps of London where someone had colored in the parts that had been affected by the Blitz. The parts colored black were totally destroyed, the purple areas nearly destroyed, the orange and pink areas only partially. Needless to say, they were darkly colored maps.

Bea’s of Bloomsbury

As it was a cold and wet day today (although the sun came out as we left the archive), some of us felt it was a good day for a cream tea. So one of the girls and I set out to find Bea’s of Bloomsbury, just a place we saw online, and found to our satisfaction that it was a lovely, casual, and affordable, place for some tea and scones with clotted cream. There isn’t anything much better than good conversation over hot tea and delicious warm scones. Puts some spring back into your step.

I’m calling an early evening tonight, as the constant run around is making me feel rather rundown. And as I have an awesome, fun-filled weekend ahead, I’m going to settle into a book, load up on Vitamin C, and relax. Until tomorrow, then.

anneblythe: fyeahbroadway: Bend in the Road, A New Musical...

Thu, 23 May 2013 12:54:26 -0400

anneblythe:

fyeahbroadway:

Bend in the Road, A New Musical Based on Anne of Green Gables

Playing July 18th - 28th at the New York Musical Theatre Festival

More Info & Song Demos Here

I can’t decide how I feel about this…

In the meantime, Downton Abbey fans, watch this. It’s...

Wed, 22 May 2013 18:03:29 -0400

In the meantime, Downton Abbey fans, watch this. It’s hysterical. Trust me.

A Day in Cambridge

Wed, 22 May 2013 17:35:00 -0400

I’m convinced that England has not realized yet that it is less than two weeks till June, and is still stuck wandering aimlessly around March, like it’s searching for something but can’t remember what. Then again, we are farther north, and when I was here for the holidays during my last visit, it was consistently around 50 degrees. So, well done, old chap, you’ve achieved in putting me in a constant state of environmental bewilderment.

The Scott Polar Research Institute

This morning, we woke up earlier than usual to take a coach out to the University of Cambridge. Shivering with cold and sleepiness, we got off the bus at our first stop: The Scott Polar Research Institute. What a fascinating place this was. They have the largest collection of archives and materials on the polar regions in the entire world, and yet still, part of their collection is on a card catalog system. Every day, there is a bell in the stairwell (that used to be on one of the expedition ships), that gets rung at 10:30am and 4pm, and everyone stops what they’re doing and is invited to have tea and coffee. It’s a way for the staff to get to know each other, network, and of course, grab a cuppa and a biscuit. I’m certain this should be part of the daily routine at my own library. I think it could be an even happier place.

It’s amazing how much they rely on outside funding, and grants, to proceed with the projects they wish to accomplish. In the years since the current head librarian has been there (she was our tour guide), it seems she has assisted in raising millions of pounds for various projects, sometimes within the time limit of a few days. It’s wonderful to see the dedication, and of course the benefits of that hard work, in such a small institute.

The Wren Library

Afterwards, we walked through the center of Cambridge towards the Wren Library, on Trinity College campus. Not much is open to the public, as students are still taking exams, but as long as you are silent and turn your phone off (and swear on your first born that you won’t take any pictures inside), you can wander about and see the marvelous objects the Wren Library has to hold. This includes a Shakespeare folio, and the first manuscript of Winnie the Pooh, among other things. The room is full of cool black and white marbled flooring and soft wood shelving, and marble busts of important contributors to Cambridge. It is so silent that dropping a 20p coin reverberates around the room for several seconds. I may know from experience. That may be slightly exaggerated.

Cambridge: a college town

The grounds of the University of Cambridge are just stunning, like walking onto a Jane Austen movie set. If time allowed, I would have taken advantage of the river boat tours, which look like gondola rides. We strolled back into the town center, where we had a group lunch at the Bath House, and then had about 90 minutes of free time to explore. Cambridge center is a grand old college town, full of cobblestone streets and meandering alleyways, and tiny shops with tiny winding staircases inside. A couple of the girls and I stopped in a couple of bookshops (of course), including the Cambridge University Press, bought a few souvenirs, and ended our exploration at a bakery for something sweet to eat on the bus ride home.

The most wonderful part was departing from the pub where we had lunch to find that the sun had come out! What is this bright and shiny orb in the sky?! And what a difference it makes…

I think everyone was beat by the time we got back on the bus, as it was a sleepy ride home. A quiet evening was spent getting some vegetables and apple slices from Waitrose, the local grocery store in Bloomsbury, and of course some shortbread with chocolate and caramel, to gear up for tomorrow’s adventure: the London Metropolitan Archives, and perhaps a librarian afternoon tea.

"Reader! Your library needs you!"

Tue, 21 May 2013 18:30:00 -0400

When carb overload, overstimulation, and the tail end of jet lag create an exhausting trifecta, they have some disturbing effects. The worst by far is a lethargic kind of apathy. “Oh hey, the Magna Carta…meh.” “Oh, lyrics hand-written by John Lennon…whatever.” “Oh, Jane Austen’s writing desk and spectacles…*yawn*”

Luckily, these are temporary symptoms, and the awesomeness did in fact sink in, unfortunately just not instantly. And my lord did I have a lot of incredible experiences today. But first! A word from our sponsor: (or a word about one of UCL’s sponsors)

This, my friends, is Jeremy Bentham. And underneath those clothes, is his actual skeleton. Except for the head, which we’ll get to in a moment. Jeremy Bentham was a philosopher who donated lots of money to University of London, but under one rather odd condition: that his body be preserved and be on display for all the fresh-eyed future generations of students to come! And they used to have his real head in this display (the above is a wax head), but they took it away because it started to freak out some people:

I can’t imagine why. Also, the story was that King’s College of London (their rivals) kept trying to steal the head. So it’s in a safe now. And saved as a mental image in your brain forever.

Onward and upward… this morning we had two lectures back to back, both dealing with the history of libraries, both monasterial and academic. The first lecture was given by Tony Trowles, the Head of the Abbey Collection and Librarian at Westminster Abbey. He discussed the monasteries of the 13th century and beyond, and how they were not simply places of prayer, but great places of learning. Before William Caxton, and the age of printing, monks copied manuscripts by hand. Occasionally, the monasterial libraries would chain their books to the shelves, to prevent monks from taking off with one. The second lecture was given by Karen Attar, a rare books librarian at UCL, and she discussed the history of the Senate House library (formally called the University of London library) up until World War II. It’s amazing the difference in tangible history between here and the United States when it comes to the World Wars.

British Library

After lunch, we walked over to the British Library. Once inside, and the gift/book shop presented itself on our left, everyone in the group oohed and aahed in hushed tones, and once told we had fifteen minutes to kill before the tours started, it was like a stampede. Anyway, that wasn’t even the coolest part. We were separated into two groups for our tours, and, after a brief introduction of the long building of the British Library, we were taken into some staff areas (!!). (On a side note, it was only in recent years that the British Library allowed access to more of the general public. For quite some time, if you were not a PhD researcher, you were not seeing any books. Now, with over 20 million books housed in that location alone, you just have to have research to complete, and probably some titles to search for, to register as a Reader.)

So. We were taken into one of the rooms that had the coolest machine I’d ever seen. They use a MBHS, or a Mechanical Book Handling Service, which basically is conveyor belts all throughout the walls and the basement. If, from the 20 million books, you request a title, a ticket is sent for it to be retrieved. Once it has, one part of the ticket is placed on the shelf where the book should be, the other part is placed in the book. It is put in a bin (which has its own barcode), and a barcode for the ending location is scanned on the machine, and the book is sent into the bowels of the building, getting to you in approximately 70 minutes tops. Think Monsters Inc with all the doors. Or Toy Story 2 in the airport!

We were then taken around to peer inside the various reading rooms, specially the Maps Reading Room, the Business Reading Room, and the Humanities Reading Room. You need to be a registered Reader to enter completely into these rooms, but we looked in from afar. The Humanities Room is so quiet, the silence is nearly tangible. Outside the Maps Room, in a giant case, is the largest atlas in the world but one, and it is bigger than me. When people request it, which is rare but it happens, they need helpers to assist in turning the pages.

At the end of the tour, we took a look in the “Treasures of the British Library” display room, which indeed has some amazing treasures, some I’ve already mentioned. From the Beowolf manuscript, to Beethoven’s Violin Sonata in G Major, from Da Vinci’s drawings to the Magna Carta, this is an astounding collection. Perhaps so much so, that the effect is overwhelming, and you don’t quite realize the value of all these objects until they’ve eventually processed in your head some hours later.

Trafalgar Square and Piccadilly Circus

The afternoon was free, so I headed over to Trafalgar Square and wandered aimlessly through the National Gallery, pausing to gaze in wonder (and exhaustion) at Claude Monet’s Water Lilies, and unfortunately I can’t quite remember what else (there was definitely some Seurat and Van Gogh in there) because I was so dead on my feet. But somehow I made it to Piccadilly Circus in search of something to eat before seeing The 39 Steps. For me, the food has been secondary to experience, so I’ve been stopping at grocery stores for fresh veggies, and coffee shops for sandwiches and tea, and tonight was the same. The Brits don’t really like vegetables I’ve noticed, and if you’re not careful, you’ll find yourself as doughy and pasty as the cream puff you’re stuffing your face with.

The 39 Steps was hysterical and so much fun, and I had a fantastic seat (fourth row, center, from the stage). My dad had just recently played Richard Hannay back at home, and so it was so entertaining to see the little differences of comedy in the cast. And man, what an exhausting show it is for all four members! I was close enough to see the sweat.

My experience in Piccadilly, for various reasons, put some spring back in my step, but hopefully I can settle down into sleep, for tomorrow we depart for Cambridge.