Day 4: The Land of Princes
St. Andrews
Sign says: Where Kate met Wills (for coffee)
I have been to where Kate and William met. I stood on the quad where they stood. I went to the library where they studied. I even had fish and chips where they undoubtedly had fish and chips.
What a glorious day. Too bad no one else had any idea what I was talking about, but I assured them I was an expert as I have seen not one, but two made for TV movies about them and I watched the wedding. St. Andrew’s so pretty, and the cathedral ruins next to the sea were almost too much!
We are given a tour of the library, which has faced a huge budget cut. Despite this, the library has been able to do some minor renovations, like create study rooms and pods, and add more computers.
While the use of glass and metal gives the ground level a modern look, the upstairs and the backroom have not been given the same attention. They are working on renovating the upper level, but there are some complications. One of these is power supply, because when the building was originally constructed no one had a personal computer in tow. Also, the backroom is tight and cramped, full of people, books, computers, desks, and work to be done. I can’t imagine this is very efficient, but I have been in several backrooms in other libraries and most of them look the same, so maybe it’s the nature of the beast. Having thrown everything into a spare room when company comes over, I’m sure it’s a lot like that, except that people are expected to work in it.
We are taken to a room with a large conference table and served more coffee, tea, and biscuits. A girl could get used to this.
We are taken to a room with a large conference table and served more coffee, tea, and biscuits. A girl could get used to this.
We had several people talk to us for a very long time. It was very interesting, but it made me feel better to find out even the Dean had a hard time staying awake. I know I saw Paul’s head jerk back at least once and the writing in my journal became increasingly worse. It was all very interesting I found their weeding process to be similar to practices here in the United States. They said before they get rid of anything they check to make sure there is another copy someplace else in the UK, and if they have the only copy they keep it, if not they can get rid of it. I know that the librarian at Central Methodist University operates under similar procedures. In Missouri, we have MOBIUS, interlibrary loan between universities and some public libraries, and if she needs to weed books for some reason she will consult MOBIUS to make sure they are available for her students elsewhere.
The best and saddest part of our time at St. Andrew’s was spent talking about the archives. Their school has been around for 600 years and their archives are sitting in trailers. I just can’t believe that a university that has so much history is just letting their archives fall to ruins. I shouldn’t say that because our speakers described the great lengths they have gone to, to preserve what they have, but surely being boxed up off site isn’t good for the archives, the librarians, or the university.
It sounds silly, but I know that Kate and Wills met in an art history class (according to the made for TV movies) so if the archives has all these beautiful illuminated manuscripts wouldn’t the professor want the students to look at it firsthand. Maybe that’s not what art history is about, but I’m sure that if there was more collaboration between the library and the faculty they would not be sitting in storage containers (or at least someone would care if they were). Why not make a case to Kate and Wills about the situation maybe they could help. I’m sure they would want to preserve some of their school’s history.
I’m getting side tracked. I know that similar situations are happening in the US, but not to 600 years’ worth of stuff. It’s hard to imagine all those priceless artifacts being boxed up with 75,000 pieces of tissue paper, barely being used. I loved hearing about the WWII example of the library working with local classrooms, where they brought in artifacts from when St. Andrew’s was bombed including: journal entries, newspaper clippings, and parts of the bomb. Also the book they gave us with all the stories from the archives really made them come to life it’s sad to think that might be the only action they get. I know they said that St. Andrew’s library has always been overlooked for funding, but I think this is a prime example of what Edna told us at the parliament-make yourself irreplaceable. This seems like it would be an easy task for a rare books collection since they are by definition irreplaceable. But I have worked in an elementary school setting and know how hard it is for teachers to find time in their schedules to collaborate with librarians I can’t imagine what’s like at the university level.
On a fun note, the rare books and archives have their own blog: Echoes from the Vault, which I’m definitely going to start following their progress.
The best and saddest part of our time at St. Andrew’s was spent talking about the archives. Their school has been around for 600 years and their archives are sitting in trailers. I just can’t believe that a university that has so much history is just letting their archives fall to ruins. I shouldn’t say that because our speakers described the great lengths they have gone to, to preserve what they have, but surely being boxed up off site isn’t good for the archives, the librarians, or the university.
It sounds silly, but I know that Kate and Wills met in an art history class (according to the made for TV movies) so if the archives has all these beautiful illuminated manuscripts wouldn’t the professor want the students to look at it firsthand. Maybe that’s not what art history is about, but I’m sure that if there was more collaboration between the library and the faculty they would not be sitting in storage containers (or at least someone would care if they were). Why not make a case to Kate and Wills about the situation maybe they could help. I’m sure they would want to preserve some of their school’s history.
I’m getting side tracked. I know that similar situations are happening in the US, but not to 600 years’ worth of stuff. It’s hard to imagine all those priceless artifacts being boxed up with 75,000 pieces of tissue paper, barely being used. I loved hearing about the WWII example of the library working with local classrooms, where they brought in artifacts from when St. Andrew’s was bombed including: journal entries, newspaper clippings, and parts of the bomb. Also the book they gave us with all the stories from the archives really made them come to life it’s sad to think that might be the only action they get. I know they said that St. Andrew’s library has always been overlooked for funding, but I think this is a prime example of what Edna told us at the parliament-make yourself irreplaceable. This seems like it would be an easy task for a rare books collection since they are by definition irreplaceable. But I have worked in an elementary school setting and know how hard it is for teachers to find time in their schedules to collaborate with librarians I can’t imagine what’s like at the university level.
On a fun note, the rare books and archives have their own blog: Echoes from the Vault, which I’m definitely going to start following their progress.
Just for Fun:
While shopping on our lunch break (where we had really good fish and chips), I found royal cookie cutters (a tiara, teapot, and flag) which I have already used in honor of the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee!