Bodleian Library, Oxford

We visited the Bodleian Library at Oxford which took us about an hour to get to from London. It is a depository library, and so includes materials on pretty much every possible subject in every possible language. Many of the buildings are very beautiful and have been in continual use since the Middle Ages. The Old Bodleian is the oldest section of the library. Scholars can come and use the very old books on site, but they cannot take them with them. It first opened for use in 1602. It incorporates an older library donated by Humphrey, Duke of Gloucester. Oxford had financial problems, and some of his donations were sold while some were unfortunately burned by reformers. Sir Thomas Bodley rescued the library during these turbulent times. He married a very wealthy widow, was able to purchase a large amount of books for the library, and fund the creation of the first catalog for the library in 1605.

The library continued to grow, and is now very modern and extensive including a vast collection of e-resources. Many visitors like to view the beautiful buildings and many scholars need to use the resources at the library, and they come from all over the world.

National Art Library, Victoria and Albert Museum

The Victoria and Albert Museum is a major museum which focuses on art and design. The museum, through its collections, gives insights into many different periods in history. The more religious time periods feature religious imagery in the decorative arts and more contemporary pieces reflect modern movements such as art deco and arts and crafts. The National Art Library is a major public reference library. It houses materials relating to decorative arts spanning many time periods and countries. It also includes information on the art, design, and craft of the book. The library includes information about specific artists and also periodicals covering current trends in design. The library also has a selection of artists' books that is searchable on their website. The library also houses a selection of original manuscripts of some works of Charles Dickens. His novels are not related to decorative arts, but the materials were a gift to the library.

I found the museum very beautiful. I especially liked the Chihuly sculpture at the entrance.

British Museum

The British Museum is the London equivalent of New York's Metropolitan Museum of Art in that it covers many different genres and time periods. The collection ranges from the ancient Greeks and Romans to the present, and everything in between including galleries arranged by themes like "Living and Dying" and "The Enlightenment". The museum also includes a central reading room to be used by scholars and researchers. Families and individuals who visit the museum can also visit the Paul Hamlyn Library. This library exists to augment the experience of visiting the museum with more information. It includes books on art, art history, the history of museums, and books about cultural history. It also includes biographies on specific artists. It also houses a selection of periodicals covering current trends in the art world such as some countries wanting their national treasures back from foreign museums, and the art world being affected by possible wars between countries. This library also allows users to use the internet for research purposes and searching their online catalog. The library seemed to be a good way for families to take a break as they browse the extensive museum, and also for adults to research issues that may interest them based on what they saw in the exhibits.

Greenwich National Maritime Museum Library

We visited the National Maritime Museum Library. Compared to the Shakespeare Library, it seemed much more well funded. They seemed to have much more of a professionally trained full-time staff, and took student interns or volunteers only when they needed them instead of relying on them as a regular part of the work flow. The library collects materials relating to naval history and the history of science (including astronomy and navigation). I found the signal book to be very interesting which had weights in the binding so that it would sink if the ship sunk. I also really liked the illustrated journals they had made by sailors during their travels. The library had very old wooden shelves which looked nice, but seemed hard to manage a collection. The library does not allow people to take materials out of the library, rather they have to come to the library (usually telling the staff what they would like to consult before they get there), and the staff will bring them the materials to consult while they are there. The patron can also only use pencil while they are in the library. The library also has many e-resources, but these can only be access inside the library. This seemed to be related to the librarians having worries about copyright infringement. I found their collection to be highly interesting and their staff to be incredibly informed and professional.

Shakespeare Library

We visited the Shakespeare Library in Stratford-upon-Avon, which was of course Shakespeare's birthplace. This library has materials surrounding the town of Stratford, Shakespeare's plays and poems, an the Royal Shakespeare Company. The library is not funded by the government, and is actually a charity. They receive money from donations and also from revenue created from the Shakespeare's birthplace which charges for admission. I found it a little curious that Shakespeare is considered by many to be the best writer ever in the English language, and yet the library seemed to be struggling for funding. It seemed there were a lot of projects they wanted to do and couldn't do because of lack of funding. They also relied a lot on volunteers. I find the question of volunteers interesting because they can really help a library, but are many times not professionally trained. Also, because they have no real motivating factor besides wanting to be there, there is no real way to improve their quality of work because its not like they can be fired or punished because they are giving their time like a gift instead of fulfilling a contract lie with paid employment. Obviously, many libraries rely on volunteers and they can really help, but it seems it should be more of an augmentation to trained professionals rather than seriously relied on to keep the library running.

It seemed an interesting relationship with the Royal Shakespeare Company. It seemed they gave the library many materials to house, but I was unclear as to whether the Royal Shakespeare Company helped in the funding. And if the library acts as an archive for the organization, shouldn't they help them out especially if they are struggling? I found it curious.

It was a very valuable library with many important early works relating to Shakespeare and the town of Stratford. I was just feeling a little bad for their funding situation.

British Library

The British Library was my favorite part of the entire trip. It is a depository library, which means that everything that gets published in the United Kingdom gets deposited here. Therefore, it has a vast amount of books on a vast amount of subjects in all languages. The reading rooms do not actually contain books. Rather, the patrons register as a reader, go to a reading room, and then find the books they need in the catalog. When they find the materials they require, they order them and the person working downstairs (the library goes underground many floors) takes the printout of the order and goes to retrieve the materials. There is a special type of device similar to a conveyor belt that runs all around the library. The person puts the materials (rare and old materials are not handled in this way) onto the device and tells the machine which reading room to take the book to. The patron can then work at their station but they cannot take materials home. Sometimes people come in to the library believing it to be a lending library and become disappointed. It is not similar to a public library even if anyone can become a reader. It is more similar to the main research library on 42nd street in NYC.

They also had a gallery of important manuscripts. This really affected me. There are works of literature by British authors which really affected my life and how I think about things. I went into the gallery and all of these books were all in a row in the form of original manuscripts. They had Virginia Woolf's journals which gave her the idea for Mrs. Dalloway, Jane Austen's Persuasion, Sylvia Plath's poetry, Charlotte Bronte's Jane Eyre, and also a Shakespeare first folio and orginal Beatles lyrics. They also had Jane Austen's writing desk. To me, I have always had this very strong connection with Virginia Woolf. I have always felt that if she met me she would totally understand me and how I think. I have felt like she is like my long lost best friend in history. To view her journals, paper that she actually touched and wrote on, made me remember everything about her writing that really affected me, and it was a very moving experience. It was similar to when I tried to find where she lived. She lived in Bloomsbury and a hotel has been built where her house was. Still I remembered her mentioning Tavistock Square in her journal when she came up with the idea for To the Lighthouse, and so to be somewhere where she had walked, thought, and lived really affected me in a deep way.

The British Library also had on display the Magna Carta and many religious documents. They also had screens where one could digitally turn the pages of very old books, zoom in, view text versions, and rotate images. All in all it was a very enriching experience for me.

We also toured the conservation studio. They taught us about the processes that are involved in repairing and preserving old and valuable works. They first estimate how many hours a project will take, and discuss with the curators what is worth doing based on the estimate. If something is not that important and will occupy a whole team for a year, they may not decide to start the project. Since conservation can also be very mundane it is important for them to mix up activities for the employees so their spirits do not get crushed. They seemed to be very professional and competent, and it made me wonder in the future about possibly taking some kind of professional workshop or continuing education class to learn about practices and concepts of conservation.

The building of the British Library was designed to have many features similar to that of a ship. It was controversial when it was built, but I really rather enjoyed it. There was also a huge column in the center filled with books originally donated by George the 3rd. He really wanted his collection to stay in one piece and they are mostly housed together. If a patron requests one of these books, a librarian goes inside the column to retrieve it. Our guide said the column is fireproof and if the librarian was inside during a fire he or she would have to exit through the roof. That does sound rather dangerous.

I found this visit to be highly informative and incredibly interesting.

Museum of London

The Museum of London tells many sides to the story of the city of London. It includes information and objects on prehistoric London, Roman rule, medieval London, and even modern aspects like an exhibit on apartheid in South Africa. The curator of the prehistoric exhibit spoke with us. He explained that the existence of the city is directly related to the River Thames. He also spoke about how humans in prehistoric times were smarter and more innovative than many modern people give them credit for. He explained how museums are good at showing objects, but not as good at telling a story. He said in this exhibit he tried to tell a narrative, and get visitors to think of the prehistoric people as actual individuals. In this way, he included poems, sounds, photographs of the terrain, and also objects relating to their lives. One ceramic pot actually had the finger prints where the creator had pressed their fingertips in for sculptural effect. Seeing that object helped me to think of the prehistoric Londoners as individual humans. In furthering his theme of the river being integral to the existence of the city, he tried to remind visitors of the river throughout the exhibit. In this way many panels were curved, there were blue lights, and sounds reminding the visitor of the river. I had previously visited the National Freedom Center in Cincinnati, Ohio which covers the Underground Railroad during slavery. This museum was also created with one of its intentions being to remind the visitors of importance of the river (the Ohio River being the boundary between free states and slave states), and the buildings of this museum were curvy like the flow of the river, including the interior and staircases. The design of this exhibit to me was similar and really made me think about how water ways can really influence human history.

Listening to the curator made me feel more aware of the way information is selected and conveyed. He wanted to tell a narrative that would influence the way the visitor experienced the content of the exhibit. I think he was very successful in accomplishing his goals with the combination of methods that he used. I found him to be very thoughtful. I liked that he tried to imagine the way that the exhibit would be experienced from a visitor point of view. I thought those efforts could be felt as I wandered through the prehistoric London exhibit.