Rare Books in Scotland business meeting
Thursday 17 May 2018, National Museum of Scotland
Present
- Helen Beardsley — Stirling University Library
- Robert Betteridge — National Library of Scotland: minutes
- Ines Castellano-Colmenero — National Museum of Scotland
- Aaron Fleming — Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh
- Mark Glancy — National Museum of Scotland
- Graham Hardy — Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh
- Marian Kirton — Napier University
- Elizabeth Quarmby Lawrence — Edinburgh University Library
- Andrew McAinsh — Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Glasgow
- Colin McDowall — Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh
- Fiona Menzies — National Galleries of Scotland
- James Mitchell — National Library of Scotland
- Robert MacLean — Glasgow University Library
- Jane Pirie — Aberdeen University Library
- Karen McAulay — Royal Conservatoire of Scotland
- Mhairi Rutherford — University of Dundee
- Angela Schofield — Advocates Library
- Helen Vincent — National Library of Scotland: Convenor
1. Apologies
- Almut Boehme — National Library of Scotland
- John Crawford — Leadhills Miners Library
- Lara Heggarty — Library of Innerpeffray
- Graham Hogg — National Library of Scotland
- Wendy Kirk — Glasgow Women's Library
- Stuart Harris-Logan — Royal Conservatoire of Scotland
- Duncan Chappell — Glasgow School of Art
- Finlay West — Edinburgh University Library
The business meeting was opened by Helen Vincent (HV) at 13.15.
2. Minutes of previous meeting
- The minutes were agreed with no amendments.
3. Matters arising
The possibility, mentioned previously by John Crawford, of having a small voluntary libraries sub-group of Rare Books in Scotland was discussed. Marian Kirton said she has a colleague who may be interested. The existing Historic Libraries Forum was mentioned, as was the forthcoming Independent Libraries Conference to be hosted by the Leighton Library and Innerpeffray from Friday 7 — Sunday 9 June 2019.
4. Future forum activities
4.1 Meetings
Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh on Friday 11 October 2019.
University of Dundee — May 2019.
Aberdeen University Library and the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh were also offered as future venues.
4.2 Workshops
Prior to the meeting HV circulated a form with a list of 12 potential workshop topics and asked attendees to rank these in order of interest. The results will be circulated when collated. However, it can be seen that there is no current appetite for cataloguing training. Robert MacLean (RMacL) noted that there may be more interest once there is further clarity around the adoption of RDA.
4.3 Social media
Andrew McAinsh (AMcA) summed up the group's social media presence and the switch to Twitter from Tumblr. The Twitter account has over 160 followers. AMcA has kept to tweeting about rare books events etc. happening in Scottish libraries and noted that the most popular tweets were on training, job opportunities and meetings. He asked if anyone else would like to contribute and RMacL said he would be happy to contribute.
5. Music in special collections: report from the working group
Karen McAulay (KMcA) distributed copies of the report, emphasising that there were not enough respondents to provide a full picture, but that there were no surprises in the report's findings. Collections are not fully catalogued and so it is hard to say how many copies of a work exist. It was also noted that it is difficult to arrange performances from music held in collections. HV emphasised the importance of being able to perform or listen to music in collections and the attendant copyright issues. HV will take the report to CILIP RBSCG. KMcA will circulate the report by email. RMacL noted that the London Rare Book School is offering a course with a music element. HV reported that CILIP RBSCG is offering a cataloguing music course in London. IAML's 'Music for the Terrified' course was also noted. Elizabeth Quarmby-Lawrence (EQL) suggested checking the London Rare Book School programme to see if we can do something similar in Scotland. HV pointed out that courses are usually meant for students so would be more difficult for librarians to attend. Ways to promote collections were discussed such as creating programmes for choirs and groups to use the collections but it was recognised that this would be very time consuming. Full catalogue records are also needed to bring out the content of publications and the benefits of this would need to be sold. HV asked what next for this discussion. KMcA emphasised the need for more responses and HV thanked her for the work done on the survey. KMcA's project Claimed from Stationers' Hall was also noted.
6. Discussion topics
HV reported that she had taken the discussions from the last meeting (on modern special collections and ephemera) to CILIP RBG who showed interest in continuing this discussion with the possibility of including archivists.
There was some discussion of born-digital archives, how web archivists developing special collections could benefit from discussion with existing special collections librarians. EQL reported that EUL archives have born-digital special collections. AMcA explained that RCPSG is receiving born-digital material and carrying out a scoping exercise to form a cloud based digital repository. Does anyone have any experience of this and of how the digital preservation cycle works in practice? Angela Schofield raised the question of GDPR issues with cloud based storage. AMcA cited Article 89 of the EU General Data Protection Regulation. Costs for this type of storage are currently prohibitive but there is a business need and a consortium could make it more affordable.
7. Reports
7.1 CILIP RBSCG / ESTC / CERL / SCURL / IFLA RBSC / CIGS
CILIP RBSCG — HV had nothing to report other than that conference booking would be opening soon.
ESTC — Anette Hagan (AH) had nothing to report.
CERL — AH has circulated a report to the cluster. NLS to have an intern working for two months from 21 May adding data from the Library's incunabula to Material Evidence in Incunabula.
SCURL — No report.
IFLA RBSC — HV reported that a cataloguing survey has been sent out to gather information on RDA use and recommended IFLA's Global Vision report. Work continues on competencies for rare book librarians. If you would like to contribute to the IFLA RBSC blog then contact Daryl Green.
CIGS — No report but James Mitchell noted the upcoming CIGS September conference.
7.2 Members' reports
Napier University
Helen Williams is undertaking a PhD based on the Clark Collection. Glass slides are being digitised.
Stirling University Library (including Leighton Library)
As mentioned above the Independent Libraries Conference will be hosted by the Leighton Library and Innerpeffray in June. The archive store is being reorganised. A wikimedian is working with the Library.
Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh
The College has set up an Instagram account. It took part in the Edinburgh International Science Festival in April. A new exhibition space, allowing for a permanent exhibition and major refurbishment of the conference centre should be ready in October.
Royal Conservatoire of Scotland
There has been a workshop on legal deposit music in connection with Claimed from Stationers' Hall. Collaborating with university libraries to see what kind of overlap there is with legal deposit music collections.
Edinburgh University Library
EQL and Alasdair MacDonald gave a paper at the April IAML conference in Edinburgh on the Reid Music Library. Team Pigment will be coming in June. The current exhibitions are 'How? Why? What? — educational illustration from University collections', 'Dawn of a new era — 70 years of the NHS', 'Travelling images — Venetian illustrated books', curated by Laura Moretti. Forthcoming exhibition in the main gallery is 'Expect the Unexpected'. CRC is running workshops during the Book Festival. The Book History and Material Culture MSc course has a record number of 17 students. EQL will be attending the Rare Book School in Virginia thanks to an Erasmus for staff grant.
Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh
The College has joined SCONUL. A placement from RGU is working on an indexing project. The College participated in Rare Books Edinburgh. The Library put on a display for the RCSEd Triennial Conference in March and will put on a display for the Orthodontic conference in June.
National Museums of Scotland
Records going into COPAC and adding holdings to ESTC. A student from the Edinburgh University Book History and Material Culture MSc has been on placement with the Library. The National War Museum library collections are being investigated. The Society of Scottish Antiquaries material has been added to.
Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh
A student from the Edinburgh University Book History and Material Culture MSc has been adding catalogue records from the rare book room and the total catalogued is 1245. The student is now volunteering to continue the work. Recent acquisitions include work by artist John Doughty and a copy of 'Hepaticae Britannicae', 1847 by William Graham McIvor. Henry Noltie has retired. His book 'The Botanical and Forestry Library of Hugh Cleghorn of Stravithie' has now been published. The 'Connect with Nature' writing festival begins this weekend.
Dundee University
Mhairi Rutherford reported on her research into the Brechin Collection on deposit from the Episcopal Diocese and which is held in Archive Services. The modern books await cataloguing. There are 5 incunabula and relevant books are being reported to ESTC.
National Galleries of Scotland
The reading room has reopened and material is being moved. The archives of Paolozzi researcher Robin Spencer and of Michael Drucks have been acquired. Forthcoming exhibition on Dada. Planning for the 2021 facility at Granton with storage and a reading room continue. The research resources assistant has gone and there is a new archivist position.
Advocates Library
Sara Berry has been appointed to replace Andrea Longson. 182 volumes of Session Papers are to be digitised as a pilot project with EUL. The Abbotsford Trust has a new display on Scott and William Turner. Planning is under way for the 2021 celebration of the 250th anniversary of Scott's birth.
Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Glasgow
Refurbishment of the College is now complete and includes a new permanent exhibition space. An exhibition on the College is due to begin in January. The next exhibition is on imaging the human body. New heritage webpages are live. Events numbers continue to rise. Events include: an artist in residence funded by SGSAH and Listermania, dedicated to Joseph Lister. There are now 4 heritage staff and AMcA has been promoted to Collections Manager. Hoping to get funding for collections assistants.
Aberdeen University Library
Following a prolonged period of fluctuation in staffing and organisation things are beginning to settle. Special Collections has been merged with Museums. There is a new academic engagement post to look at research resources, a new learning outreach officer and a new curatorial assistant. A placement from RGU has been working on a provenance database. School work placements have been taking place with great success. The current exhibitions are 'Age of Oil: artworks by Sue Jane Taylor' and 'Seeing Euclid', a display as part of the Oxford University Reading Euclid Project. The Library is taking part in the May Festival with a collections close up featuring botanical books and a bookbinding workshop.
National Library of Scotland
The Library is in the process of allocating specific roles to Rare Book curators. Hazel Stewart has been appointed as the Special Collections Reading Room Manager and reading room figures continue to rise. Blake Milteer's survey of the Library's photographic collections has revealed over 300,000 photographs. The Library is taking part in the Europeana Rise of Literacy project. In-house digitisation is being up-scaled. 90% of the planned content is to come from Rare Books, Maps and Music and the majority of that from Maps. The British Library has given support to plans for the National Bibliography which will be a linked open data database. The Library is preparing to move to the Alma and Primo LMS. The Conservation department has drawn up rules for a Destructive Testing Policy. Loans have been made to the V&A in Dundee. Rare Books have hosted interns from Edinburgh College of Art and Edinburgh University's Book History and Material Culture MSc. Rare Books are supporting a collaborative PhD on 'The People's Friend'. The MacKinnon photographic collection has been purchased in collaboration with the National Galleries of Scotland. The Library has purchased parts of Early European Books and will be promoting rare book e-resources through blogging and social media. The Library is planning to host an incunabula seminar on 24 October.
8. Forum organisation
As of May 2018 the mailing list has 84 subscribers
9. Any other business
There was no other business and HV closed the meeting at 15:00 with a vote of thanks to the host.