As you probably know the Caird Library is closed this week and I thought you might be interested in finding out what exactly we’re up to.

Preparations for the new research centre are continuing apace and we’re using this week to audit the library collection that will need to move next year. A library audit is much like a shop stocktake allowing us to confirm what we have before we move any of it. Today, Renee and I along with Nat, Jeremy, Helen, and Heather from the Museum’s collections documentation department began auditing the books our store. This involves taking a book from the shelf and entering the item number (essentially our in-house barcode) into our library management system. From the resulting report we’ll know which books are where they should be and which aren’t.

Obviously auditing one book this way takes a matter of seconds, but it’s doing it nearly 9,000 times that’s time consuming! That said, we’re very grateful for the laptops and Wi-Fi access of IT department has arranged for us. Otherwise we’d be lumbered with the task of creating enormous handwritten lists which we’d then have to transfer to computer – as ever with technology we’ve had a few glitches but everything is working smoothly now.

I must get back to where we left off before lunch (PBF5546 wasn’t it?) but there’ll be more updates from the library team throughout the week and the manuscripts team have promised to let us know what they’ve been working on too…

Gary (Assistant Librarian)

Regular researchers and readers of our Caird Library may have noticed an increase in user numbers in our reading room. This is due to the 5th International Congress of Maritime History which is being held in the inspiring surroundings of The Old Royal Naval College.

The international congress is running from 23rd-27th June and will cover every aspect of maritime history, spanning every time frame. More than 250 papers will be presented from a host of expert speakers from over thirty countries. Subject areas covered include piracy, maritime disasters and naval history.

It is an absolute honour and pleasure that the people taking part in this congress are finding their way to our library and we welcome them and any research needs that they may have.

If anybody wishes to request items that are not available in our reading room, you can follow this link. To ensure the smooth running of the request system please make sure that you give advanced warning for your chosen items to be retrieved.

We hope that all participants of this special five day event find it to be productive and enjoyable.

Mary B (Library Information Assistant)

As valued users of the National Maritime Museum Library, we want to hear your views on the Library’s revised opening hours that will begin in June 2009.

The South West wing project is an exciting opportunity for us to enhance the quality of provision of the Archive & Library. The new Research Centre, which opens in 2012, will offer users a large modern reading room and improved access to the paper-based collections of the museum, including the Archive & Library collections, the prints and drawings collections, and the ship sailing plans.

Many modern printed books and key reference works will be browsable in the reading room, where there will also be a greater provision of electronic access to the collections. The majority of the collections, located in controlled storage accommodation close to the reading room, will allow speedier ordering and retrieval times. Education facilities, a Treasures Gallery to show off highlights of the paper collections, and enhanced refreshment facilities will be adjacent to the Research Centre, making it a flexible and comfortable environment in which to come and study.

Building work on the south west wing is expected to begin in mid 2009 which will entail the Archive & Library collections currently stored in that part of the building to be moved temporarily to one of our outstores. These collections will be ordered in advance by users, retrieved from the outstore and taken to the Library on a regular basis each week. With this in mind, we need to revise our opening times, and because of seating requirements, access to the Library will be by appointment.

We value your input in planning this temporary service. With our existing resources, we aim to be open three days a week during the building period. These three days will be either:

Tuesday to Thursday
or
Wednesday to Friday
or
Thursday to Saturday

We would value your opinion as to which of these options you would prefer. Please let us know either by commenting here on the blog, or by contacting me by email or phone: +44 (0)20 8312 6507.

Your opinion really matters to us. We look forward to receiving your responses by 20 June 2008. Thank you.

Eleanor (Head of Archive and Library)

I was excited to see the exhibition catalogue for the Museum’s new art exhibition Turmoil and Tranquillity arrive on my desk this week. The exhibition focuses on Dutch and Flemish painting from the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries – an era I particularly like – and will showcase our collections plus several significant loans.

I was even more excited to see that it includes a painting by Andries van Eertvelt: The Return to Amsterdam of the Second Expedition to the East Indies – the very same voyage I just wrote my item of the month about.

It’s a lovely catalogue – a nice mixture of scholarly essays plus well-written and illustrated catalogue entries. It’s just been catalogued and will be on the new books display in the Reading Room from Tuesday, so if you’d like a sneak preview of the exhibition, come and take look.

Renee (Digital Resources Librarian)

June’s item of the month is from our rare book collections: a journal of the voyage of eight Dutch ships to the East Indies, commanded by Cornelis Van Neck and Admiral Wybrandt Van Warijck.

The journal contains detailed descriptions of the key ‘spice islands’ of South East Asia, providing information on their geography, politics and society to aid Dutch merchants in future voyages.

Renee (Digital Collections Librarian)