Monthly Archives: February 2014

Innovative Learning Week – Online Quiz

Poster_ART_060114We’ve been running an online quiz during Innovative Learning Week with questions based on many of our different online resources.  The first nine questions have already been posted on the CRC Facebook page, the 10th and final question will be posted at 3pm this afternoon ( https://www.facebook.com/crc.edinburgh ).  For anyone who has missed the questions so far, here is a quick recap:

Question 1:  Looking at our image collections here:   http://images.is.ed.ac.uk/  In the Roslin Institute Collection, what is Mr Anthony H Wingfield riding?

Question 2: Using the English Short Title Catalogue (http://www.ed.ac.uk/schools-departments/information-services/library-museum-gallery/finding-resources/library-databases/databases-a-z/databases-e ), search for “Perverting divine truth”.  What is the title of the book you find, and where is the nearest copy located?

Question 3: In 1915, father and son William Henry and William Lawrence Bragg won the Nobel Prize for Physics for their foundational work published in the book “X-rays and crystal structure”.  Using the library catalogue, where is the 1915 edition of this book held? http://catalogue.lib.ed.ac.uk/vwebv/searchBasic?sk=en_US

Question 4: Reputedly, we have the first drawing of a Native American in the Laing Collection in http://images.is.ed.ac.uk/ .  What is his name?

Question 5: Using the Archives and Manuscripts catalogue (http://www.archives.lib.ed.ac.uk/), which post would Arthur Darbishire have filled had he not died in the First World War?

Question 6: Browse through the UoEArtandArchives blog (http://uoeartandarchives.tumblr.com/).  Who was Monster Hunting in 1934?

Question 7: Bugles are instruments that have been used as signalling devises in the military for generations.  MIMEd has a bugle in its collection that is said to have been taken off of a German soldier at the battle of the Somme.  Using the MIMEd website http://www.ed.ac.uk/schools-departments/information-services/library-museum-gallery/museums-and-galleries/musical-instrument-museums/mime , can you find the name of the maker and the German town in which it was made in c 1914?

Question 8: What was title of the article/paper that was prepared for the University Court by a Rector who went on to become Prime Minister?  The date the paper was laid before the Court was 26th May 1975. Again look in the archive resources here: http://www.archives.lib.ed.ac.uk/

Question 9: Which collections held by Lothian Health Services Archive (http://www.lhsa.lib.ed.ac.uk/) were inscribed into the UNESCO Memory of the World Register in 2011?

To submit your answers at the end of the week, use the form here: http://www.emailmeform.com/builder/form/1HI905dJ87

Volunteer of the Month – January 2014

Beth Dumas, CRC Taster Day Volunteer

Since October, I have been volunteering with the CRC, doing one or two day sessions with each department and discovering how every job contributes to the task of running the University of Edinburgh’s Special Collections. Just by volunteering one day a week, I was able to jump right into assisting with book collections, responding to queries for information or digital images, and the beginnings of rare books and archive cataloguing. Among other highlights, I discovered a fascinating drawing in a late 19th century casebook from the Lothian Health Services Archive, encountered more books in Icelandic than I’d ever imagined would be in Edinburgh, and spent a rather poignant day sorting materials associated with alumni who fought in WWI.

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As a student in the MSc Material Cultures and History of the Book programme, the experience has proved invaluable in my understanding of how the modern library handles rare books, manuscripts, and archives, and the varied professions associated with an institution such as the CRC. This practical information has dove-tailed nicely with my academic interest in book history, and rounded out my studies in a way that simply completing my course-work never would. When I started volunteering, I knew I wanted to work in a library but wasn’t sure where I would be the best fit, but by learning about every department, I was able to determine that my strongest interest is in rare books, which led directly into my new position as one of two cataloguing interns in the rare books and manuscripts division of the CRC, which I am eagerly looking forward to as the next step on my career path. I would strongly suggest that anyone with an interest in literature, art, history, or, obviously, book history, take the time to volunteer at the CRC, because it’s a rewarding way to see how your academic interests can be applied to managing and preserving the wealth of material culture available at the University.