Dunfermline Library Tour

The first tour on our second day in Scotland was across the Firth of Forth from Edinburgh, in Dunfermline: the Dunfermline Carnegie Library. This is Andrew Carnegie's birthplace, and the site of the first Carnegie Library. This library was a quintessential example of the paradox that I have found in many of the libraries we have visited thus far--a strong connection with the community of the often-distant past and an equally strong commitment to their present community.

The Dunfermline Library opened in 1883, and at that time, the librarian actually lived in the library. The library was so popular that on the first day they ran out of books and needed to apply to the town council for the money to buy more. Now, over 100 years later, the Library lends out 20,000 books per month. I was not surprised; even as early as our class tour began, we were already getting in the way of patrons coming and going with bags full of books.

Today, the Library's collections include fiction, nonfiction, a children's library, a family history library, special collections, and an exhibit space. The special collection houses an extensive Robert Burns collection comprised of images, books, papers, and artifacts.

Another area in which the Library would seem to be absorbed in the past is in their local history collection. However, this department's extensive collection of newspapers, books, census records, parish records, council minutes, and photographs is actively used by family history researchers, and records for most of the objects in the collection are available on a digital catalog with an extremely simple user interface. In this way, the Dunfermline library uses the history of the region to connect with 21st century patrons.

Edinburgh Central Library Tour

After our visit to the National Library of Scotland, we crossed the street for a tour of the Edinburgh Central Library. This visit was an incredibly positive experience--five staff members, each from a different part of the library, spoke to us about their work. Not only were they all very well-informed and passionate about their work, but they were also very glad to speak to us about what they do at the Edinburgh Central Library.

The Central library opened in 1890 and has expanded from its original building to two adjacent buildings. The Central Library has Scottish, Music, Art, and Children's Libraries, in addition to the standard reference, fiction and nonfiction departments. Further, they have special collections and a digital library. Our tour began with a talk by four staff members, followed by a tour with the fifth.

Like the library where I work in the U.S., the Edinburgh Central Library is heavily invested in keeping relevant to their patrons. Putting a portion of their photographic collections online, communicating with patrons via a blog, and tracking patron comments online is one approach they have taken to staying relevant. The other, however, is to place reading--reaching out to readers and serving their reading needs, be they for fun or information--at the centre of their work. As the librarians spoke to us about how they geared their programming and collection development to meeting these needs, I was impressed by what a strong sense they had of who they were as an organisation, and where this organisation was going.

Postscript: These brilliant librarians also gave us tea and biscuits, in real cups with saucers. At that point in the day, we had all been going since breakfast (or rather the time at which one normally eats breakfast), so having a pick-me-upper was absolutely brilliant.

Snappies Versus Photographs

Hello! I'm Allison, and this is the blog I will be keeping as part of my coursework for the USM British Studies Program.

As you might have inferred, I am very pleased to be here, and over the years watching British TV programs, reading British books, watching British movies and listening to British bands, I have amassed a small arsenal of British English words with which to express this and many other things besides.

I have maintained another blog, Shop on the High Street, for a few years now, but I chose to add this blog to divide the two different types of blogging I hope to do while in London. Photography is another one of my hobbies, and similarly, I take two types of photography I engage in. On one hand there are the snappies, quick photographs snagged on the street in just a little time and often with little care. On the other are the photographs, images that I carefully compose in my mind's eye to bring together the lines, colors, and shadows so they capture for the next viewer what caught my eye.

In the same way, Shop on the High Street will be where I chronicle little snappies of my month, quick and unstudied impressions. Here, on Chuffed!, is where I will take the time to focus my mental images in an attempt to capture what I see so I can better its beauty or significance for others.

To ground these experiences in the context of their place, I have included a map of several of the places I will visit in class and in the course of my own exploration, and a BBC weather widget for London. Living in a consistently hot, dry, place, I know I was surprised at how often London weather changes!

Thank you for reading--I hope you are just as chuffed to see London as I am!