If you’d like to continue the literary shipwreck theme we started with December’s item of the month, the New Zealand Electronic Text Centre has recently published some more online books with a shipwreck adventure theme. There’s quite a chronological range, from Francois Raynal’s Wrecked on a Reef (1880) to Crusoes of Sunday Island (1957), Elsie Morton’s account of the Swiss Family Robinson style adventures of the Bell family.

Don’t think you’ll have to be glued to your PC to read them though – these books are all available as ePub eBooks, downloadable for mobile devices such as the iPhone or iPod Touch. So, if you’re lucky enough to be getting one of these for Christmas you’re all sorted for your maritime holiday reading.

Merry Christmas from everyone here at the Caird Library – we look forward to seeing you in the New Year.

Renee (Digital Resources Librarian)

This is just to notify readers and enquirers that the Historic Photographs and Ship Plans Section will be closed from 23 December 2009 to 4 January 2010.  

All enquiries should be made to either plansandphotos@nmm.ac.uk or in writing to the section c/o the Museum address. The curators will respond in the new year.

We trust that you all have a good holiday.

Jeremy (Historic Photographs & Ships Plans Manager)

Just a reminder to our regular readers – the last day for ordering archive and other material stored offsite is Monday 14 December. Any material ordered after this date won’t be available for viewing until Thursday 7 January.

Please see the website for a full list of last order dates.

Renee (Digital Resources Librarian)

The library catalogue will be unavailable overnight on Wednesday 9 December due to essential system maintenance. We apologise for any inconvenience this may cause.

Renee (Digital Resources Librarian)

December’s item of the month is somewhat hard to categorise: part fiction, part autobiography and part instructional guide for sailors, William Falconer’s poem The Shipwreck is a must-read for Patrick O’Brian fans. Fair enough, there’s no Jack Aubrey character – but the combination of high seas drama and technical detail makes for a surprisingly compelling read.

If you’d like to take a look for yourself, stop in at the library (do check our Christmas opening hours) and ask staff to request it from the Rare Book collection. Or, you can read a digisitised version of the 1772 edition of The Shipwreck courtesy of Google Books.

Renee (Digital Resources Librarian)

Due to staff availability, the last day to order Crew Agreements before Christmas will be Friday 11 December. If you order an agreement or logbook before this Friday the material will be ready to consult on Tuesday 22 December.

The next last order date after Christmas is Monday 11 January.

For other off-site material please check the full list of last order dates on our website.

Renee (Digital Resources Librarian)