Moving into the new Caird Library

04 Jul 2011

Over the past ten weeks, the new reading room facility in the Sammy Ofer Wing has been transformed from an empty white box into the new Caird Library.  Tables, chairs, lockers, a document scanner and even a touch screen viewer to explore the Museum's collection of sailing navy ship plans have been fitted into their new homes. 

One of the most exciting parts of the transformation is the arrival of the books that line the new Caird Library.  For two years the Library team have been carefully selecting the books that our experience suggests will be the most useful to have on open, immediate access shelves in the Caird Library.  Since the closure of the old Caird Library to the public at Easter, we have packed these selected items ourselves, ready for their installation by our removal contractors - and they are now in place, ready for our opening to the public on Thursday 14th July. 

There are approximately 5,500 individually published works in the new Caird Library.  Our modern books are no longer locked away behind cabinet doors and Caird Library readers will now be able to simply help themselves to books from the shelves. There is no need to order any items held in the Caird Library ahead of a visit to us.  The collections on the shelves really bring character to the new Caird Library.  With such a focused collection, there is no longer a separate "quick reference" section.  The books follow a single classification sequence around the room, which we hope will aid readers in resource discovery. 

A portion of our core reference resources such as Lloyd's List, Lloyd's Register, the Mercantile Navy List and the Navy List will remain in locked cabinets, due to their scarcity.  Staff will still be able to get these out for readers when needed.  More recent issues of these resources will need to be requested from the Archive Stores, once these become operational in the autumn.  As a rule of thumb, issues of our core references from 1950 onwards are held in the stores and will need to be requested.  Once up and running, the retrieval process from the archive stores should take around 45 minutes.  

Our most recent issues of the journals we subscribe to are also available in the Reading Room and ten public PCs are available for access to our electronic resources.  In the coming weeks, my colleagues from the Archive and Library will be writing a little more about these on our blog. 

This is an exciting time for the Caird Library and the National Maritime Museum.  We look forward to welcoming you to the new library when the Sammy Ofer Wing opens to the public on 14th July. 

Gareth

Reader Services Librarian