Reflections

Image originally from: www.mimifroufrou.com/scentedsalamander/2007/03/

I am not keen on pursuing new technology so it’s the first time to build up my own blog. Using blog help me to conduct my research step by step, and web 2.0 is really helpful to integrate text, image, hyperlink and video in a whole. The blog looks very interesting and gorgeous - precious images, useful online resources and especial videos. It’s not difficult for me to build up a blog just following the simple instructions of wizard and help pages. But the real problem is how to improve research skills. Instead of using google, I search from library database and some official websites. The most important things are locating key words, refining databases, and choosing reliable sources.

After finishing my first blog, I changed my original idea that a public library does not need to keep up with the web 2.0 tools. Both libraries and librarians should be more involved in new technologies for providing better services for patrons. It is especially significant if a librarian always keeps an open mind on promoting new technology to clients.

Definitely I will use blogs again not only for my study but also for my life. It is a good way to record the growth process of my daughter, as well as my everyday life. Sometimes I search for and visit blogs on the web, such as some blogs of famous economists and experts on parenting.

The beginnings of the National libraries

The British Museum was established in 1753, largely based on the collections of the physician and scientist Sir Hans Sloane. The foundation collections comprised some 40,000 from the Sloane collection including literature, medical and scientific side; about 9,000 from the Royal library consisting of early works and notable bindings and 2,000 antiquarian from Cottonian Library. The museum first opened to the public on 1759 in Montagu House in Bloomsbury, on the site of the current museum building.

The British Museum Reading Room of 1838

Image originally from: www.britishmuseum.org/images/oldlibrary.jpg

For meeting the requirement of increasing collections, in 1895 the trustees purchased the 69 houses surrounding the Museum with the intention of demolishing them and building around the West, North and East sides of the Museum. The expansion over the following two and a half centuries has resulted in the greatest public museum in the world and a predominant force in the U.K.’s intellectual life. (From Wikipedia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/British_Museum)

Here is a video from Youtube about a British Museum Tour.

Endowed and subscription libraries

Without the support of public funds, there are three ways in which a library may be provided. One is by gift or endowment; another is by subscription; and the third is by attaching a library to an institution which exists also for other purposes.

Endowed library - The Bray libraries

Dr. Thomas Bray played a key role in the development of the parish library movement. He promoted the parochial Libraries Act of 1709, provided that an incumbent should give security for the preservation of a parish library before being permitted to use it ; he should make a catalog of the books; and books should not be removed without consent and then only if there were duplicates. The Bray library movement focused its attention on the needs of the rural areas. Altogether about 160 libraries were founded between 1680 and 1800 (Gray & Baggs 2000).

A portrait of Thomas Bray

Image originally from：www.churchtimes.co.uk/content.asp?id=55833

Subscription library – Nottingham subscription library

Image originally from：www.thorotonsociety.org.uk/events.htm
Nottingham Subscription Library was founded in 1816 and moved to its present home, Bromley House, in 1822.

Online resource:
Wikipedia provides a concise lending library history: Endowment libraries, Parish church libraries, Municipal corporation libraries, Social libraries.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lending_library

Public library history in United Kingdom from Wikipedia:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Public_library#United_Kingdom

The Christ Church library history
http://www.chch.ox.ac.uk/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=30&Itemid=64#Chaining


I was puzzled for there are many same place names in England and America so sometimes I got the excellent material but they are not what I want.

Online Journal: Library History

I found the online journal ‘library history’ in EBSCOhost database. I searched ‘England’ in this journal and got many interesting articles about the early library history in Britain.

1. Simpson, M 2001, ‘You have not such a one in England’, Library History, vol. 17, Issue 1, March, p41-57


2. Webster, J 2004, ‘Don’t have a library rate thrust upon you: the libraries acts debate in Whitby, 1878’, Library History, vol. 20, Issue 2, July, p117-135


3. Manley, K A 2003, ‘Scottish circulating and subscription libraries as community libraries’, Library History, vol. 19, Issue 3, Nov, p185-195


4. Purcell, M 2003, ‘The private library in seventeenth-and eighteenth century surrey’, Library History, vol.19, Issue 2, July, p119-128

5. Purcell, M 2001, ‘Books and readers in eighteenth-century Westmorland: the Brownes of Townend’, Library History, vol.17, Issue 2, July, p91-107

6. Allan, D 2001, ‘Eighteenth-century private subscription libraries and provincial urban culture’, Library History, vol.17, Issue 1, March, p57-77

The Bodleian library in the Middle Ages

When I tried to search online resources using ‘early library Britain’ I almost got nothing. But when I changed the search keywords into ‘Bodleian library’, I got this video from Youtube.





From the book "Early public libraries" I got this information:

By 1620 the Bodleian library with some 16,000 volumes was one of the largest libraries in Europe. It was arranged into four faculties – Theology, Medicine, Law and Arts. Within each faculty the books fell into three groups according the size - the folio volume, a few large quartos and the remaining quartos and the octavos. The books were arranged in alphabetical order of authors in each faculty and each size.

Dr. Thomas James, the first librarian of Bodley, compiled the first large scale catalogue in 1620 which was an alphabetical author index of all the books in the library, irrespective of size or faculty. It included each entry the author, brief title, place and date of publication, and the size. There was some attempt at alphabetical arrangement beyond the first letter of the author’s name. James’s author and subject catalogues laid the foundation of modern library cataloguing.


Here are two articles about the history of Bodleian library for further reading.

http://www.ouls.ox.ac.uk/docs/historybodleian.pdf

http://www.ouls.ox.ac.uk/bodley/about/history

Mediaeval libraries in Britain

From the first chapter of the book ‘Early public libraries’ I found some interesting things. Nowadays public library means the library is supported from public funds and available for public free use. But back to mediaeval ages most books were written in Latin just for a monopoly of clergy. At that time the books were quite expensive and tremendous labor consuming. For example, a bound volume may equal to two cows, a dozen sheep or an agricultural labor working ten weeks. And transcribing a single volume could take six months. The catalogue was divided onto nine classes: Bibles (1); theology (4); civil and canon law (2); logic, philosophy, rhetoric, medicine, chronicles and romances (1); poetry, grammar and dictionaries (1).

The chained library at Hereford cathedral
Image originally from：impossiblenecessity.wordpress.com/about/

Description: The volumes are shelved with the fore-edge outwards, the chain being attached to the fore-edge of the cover.

I searched online journal using Swinburne library databases and got this article ‘Early British public library annual reports: then and now’ exactly meeting my topic.

A new start

Image originally from: www.gutenberg.org/files/26378/26378-h/26378-h.htm

Description: Wall bookcases at the bodleian , built in 1610-1612. The books on the upper shelves were unchained.

My research topic is early public libraries in Britain. I got a book 'Early public libraries: a history of public libraries in Great Britain before 1850' from Swinburne library. It seems very helpful to my research but unfortunately I haven’t finished this book for two weeks. I looked through other students’blogs that definitely gave me some ideas about how to build my first blog.