Library Knowledge Exchange Week

Friday arrived all too soon and before we knew it the first of our Knowledge Exchangers was having to depart for the airport. After a morning of workshops and metadata games in the hands of Claire, Scott and Gavin we had a final feedback and farewell session.

For me the week had been a great success with the group pulling together from the very start and allowing us to have a highly engaging and informative week. And a most enjoyable week too. A huge thank you to everybody for being part of Knowable Engage Week 2016 and for contributing so fully. We hope that there will be ideas and thoughts taken away and that the relationships built in Edinburgh will continue after everybody has returned home. A few seeds have also been sown for possible future collaborations and our doors remain firmly open for any follow up conversations, sharing of ideas and future visits.

A big thank you and a very fond farewell to Ruth, Kate, Bert, Anna, Rebecca, Katrina, Barbara, Siri, Belen, Nadja, Ryan, Özhan, Jürgen, Eleanor and Gordon.

….and to round it all off one final trip of the week took us to the Anatomical Museum for a very informative tour courtesy of Ruth Pollitt. And a final appearance by the infamous William Burke who has been popping up from time to time throughout the week!

To round off a very busy Thursday, packed with innovation fund project talks, musical instruments, a peek behind the scenes of the St Cecilia’s Hall redevelopment project and a lovely afternoon at the Botanic gardens, we made our way to the Grassmarket for the Edinburgh Literary Pub Tour. We took our seats in the Beehive Inn not quite sure what to expect.

The tour takes you on an amusing literary journey to a handful of Edinburgh’s better informed pubs. Our hosts were Clart and McBrain who question the importance of the pub in influencing the writing of some of Scotland’s great literary figures. They also taught us a thing or two about Edinburgh’s literary past along the way – although we may have proved a tough audience in this regard. An entertaining evening was had and we even managed to squeeze in some outreach work. The Centre for Research Collections can possibly expect to be issuing a couple of reader’s cards to Clart and McBrain in the future!

Following the full treatment in the CRC on Tuesday afternoon we braved the rather windy rooftop terrace to enjoy the views with a glass of something. The sun even peeked out for long enough to get the sunglasses out.

Library and University Collections is delighted to announce its first Knowledge Exchange Week to take place 20 June -24 June 2016.

The programme is aimed at Library and Cultural Heritage Professionals from all backgrounds and career stages and we are inviting applications from the Erasmus partner universities and other academic institutions across Europe.

If you would like to discover more about the University of Edinburgh’s library and collections and share your own experiences with international colleagues then please follow the link below for further information.

http://www.ed.ac.uk/is/kew2016

Applications will be accepted during the period 5^th February- 5^th March 2016