I just sent out a bulk email on behalf of an ELISA colleague… and was immediately hit by an avalanche of automated responses! Help me!!!
It’s the biggest out of office attack I’ve ever experience. Over 40 so far! Is nobody in Edinburgh at work today?
My report (with photos) of ELISA’s winter social last month. It’s taken me four weeks to get round to writing it, and some hours to fit all the photos in, but it was a lovely event and a fantastic exhibition. It’s on for another few months still. You should go!
Fiona scrutinising a particularly interesting display of Jacobite documents
Apologies for the delay in posting this report – I did mean to do it far sooner. Better late than never though, eh?
Group 1 enjoy after tour refreshments
ELISA’s Winter Warmer social 2015 took place on the evening of Monday the 9th of February.
Around fifteen ELISA members turned up to the National Library of Scotland, George IV Bridge for a special tour of the Game of Crowns: the 1715 Jacobite rising exhibition, led by Rare Books Curator Robert Betteridge.
I arrived at NLS a little after 5pm to find the first group had already set off on their tour round the exhibit.
I chatted with those left behind and enjoyed the very tasty snacks that were on offer – many thanks to Fiona for organising those…
Once Group 1 returned, me and the rest of Group 2 had our chance to view the exhibition.
Robert kindly gave…
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…and now I’ve gone and done one for the SWOP 25th anniversary AGM as well!
My ‘report’ on SWOP’s 25th Anniversary AGM
This afternoon SWOP held it’s 25th Anniversary AGM at Augustine United Church, George IV Bridge, Edinburgh. A gratifyingly large number of SWOP members, old and new, turned up to mark the occasion.
SWOP – originally the Scottish Working Group on Official Publications – held its first meeting in 1989. A few years later the first edition of the Directory of Official Publications in Scotland was published. I got a little geeky thrill when Fiona showed us a copy of this, since I spent a fair bit of last year building the current version of the Directory which lives on this site.
Once the official AGM business…
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The July edition of the BIALL newsletter is out and who do you think is featured in the ‘On the Spot’ section? Who indeed…
(It’s on page 25 btw)
Today I attended the ELISA Summer Gathering and AGM at the Royal Botanic Garden’s Library, Edinburgh. RBG’s librarian told us a bit about the history of the garden and the work of the library, gave us a wee tour and showed us a few items from their collections.
The Library at the Botanics
The RBG Library
It was great to be in the RBG Library again. I hadn’t visited since I did work experience there years (and years) ago. It’s a lot bigger than I remembered!
I was only there for a few weeks but it was a truly wonderful experience. The library staff were so welcoming, the work was interesting and fun – and the gardens! The view from the library windows is just stunning.
I loved hanging round with botanists in the staff room or chatting to horticulture folk in the glass houses. I’d see interesting plants at lunchtime then come back to the library where the staff would help me track them down in the books. Good times!
The collections
The librarian gave us an overview of the RBG collections. I believe she said 30-40 thousand items, made up of: journals, textbooks, floras and herbals (the last two are the beautiful, illustrated works detailing and describing various plant species).
They also hold a collection of original artworks recording specimens from RBG’s own herbarium and ‘living collections’.
The library is part of the Science Department at RBG. The librarian reports to the Head of Science who in turn reports to the Regis Keeper. The library works with staff from all departments of the Gardens – including the shop.
Journals
RBG produces two scholarly works: Edinburgh Journal of Botany and Sibbaldia Horticultural Journal. When I was there on work experience I learned that the library used these journals in an international exchange program. RBG would send out their journals to various institutions and, in return, get other journals back. I was pleased to hear that they still use this method today. They do subscribe to some journals but the exchange scheme is still in effect as well.
AGM
After the tour we had a (very) short AGM. There were reports from the treasurer and the heads of two of the working groups: ‘Access’ and ‘Education’. There was no report from the ‘ICT’ group. The members of the business committee all wanted to stay on for another year. This was accepted unanimously.
This was my first Edinburgh Library and Information Services Agency (ELISA) meeting. There were a few familiar faces (the Edinburgh library world is fairly small) but everyone was friendly. It seems like a jolly group – I think I’ll go again 🙂
A Very Fine Library 