Kinship and Calligraphy: Esther Inglis as a Daughter, Wife, and Mother

This post explores the family dynamics of Esther Inglis and their impact on her work. It is written by Jaycee Streeter, Outreach and Communications Intern for the Esther Inglis Project. Jaycee is an MSc History student at the University of Edinburgh with an interest in public history and engagement, as well as Early Modern religious history. This post is written with reference to original research by Jamie Reid-Baxter and Anna-Nadine Pike.

 

Esther Inglis (c. 1570-1624) is best known for her calligraphy skills and her role as a scribe. She was a pious Protestant woman, and many of her manuscripts are devotional texts, such as bible verses, psalms, or other religious verse, which were made to be gifts for others. While her religious devotion is a central theme of her works, her family relationships—shaped by her roles as a daughter, a wife, and a mother—deeply influenced her artistry. Her works hold clues to the kinds of relationships she had with her closest family members. This post will look at some of the references to her family in her manuscripts, and discuss the impact her family had on her work.

A Dutiful Daughter  

Esther Inglis was the daughter of two French Huguenot refugees, Nicolas Langlois and Marie Presot. To escape religious persecution in France, the family fled to neighbouring England before moving up to Edinburgh. There, Nicolas became the master of a French school and Esther began to learn the art of calligraphy. 

The first manuscript we know that Esther wrote dates to 1586, when she was sixteen years old. It is evident that her parents were an essential factor in guiding and instructing their daughter to develop her skill. In a manuscript titled, Livret traittant de la grandeur de Dieu…” (‘Booklet dealing with the greatest of God…’) in which Esther was experimenting with forms of calligraphy and print imitation, there is a reference to her parents, reading:  

Filia me scripsit mandante utroque parente, desidiae calamo taedia discutiens.”

“The daughter wrote me, at the command of both parents, dispelling the tedium of idleness with the pen.”

Folio page of LA.iii.440 with the words, "Filia me scripsit mandante utroque parente, defidiae calamo taedia difcutiens."

LA.iii.440, University of Edinburgh Library.

Esther’s obedience to her parents is evidence that she had early encouragement from them to hone this extraordinary skill. Though she did learn forms of writing from ‘writing manuals’, instruction books which gave direction on different type-forms of calligraphy, Esther’s primary teacher was undoubtedly her mother. Marie Presot was a calligrapher herself, with beautiful penmanship, and was known to give manuscripts as gifts. Only one piece of her writing survives, a letter of thanks from Nicolas Langlois to David Lindsay, who helped the family settle in Edinburgh, which Nicolas credited his wife for writing. In his voice but through her pen, they wrote:  

“Tale tibi munus quaeris cur scripserit uxor?
Virtutis fulsit splendida fama tuae.
Exiguum esto, tamen rarum est, quia foemina scripsit.
Quem nisi rarum hominem munera rara decent?” 

“You ask why my wife wrote you such a gift?
Report of your goodness has shone bright.
Small though the gift be, it is nonetheless a rare one, because a woman wrote it.
Whom but a rare man do rare gifts befit?”

Another thing Esther may have learned from her mother was to sign her name on work produced by her. In the letter to David Lindsay, Marie made sure to finish her letter with the words: Marie Presot Françoise escrivoit à EDIMBVRGH le 24. d’Aoust. 1574. Esther would go on to include her signature in nearly all of her manuscripts, and eventually even added miniature portraits of herself to them.

Picture of Marie Presot's signature at the bottom of letter to David Lindsay.

VAULT Wing MS folio ZW 543 .P922, Newberry Library.

It is worth acknowledging, or at least wondering about, the extent to which Esther might have been an overachiever in her practice. At the time, a woman of her age and status would not have been expected to be able to write to this standard– or anything approaching this standard. Though clearly prompted by her parents, the amount of advanced calligraphy techniques and styles Esther practiced, such as zigzagging letters, or letters with a rope running through them, is extraordinary. These techniques are beyond the scope of what her mother was capable of, as far as we know. It is fun to imagine Esther simply showing off by executing as many curious fonts as possible, just to show that she is capable.

A Collaborative Wife

Esther would have lived with her parents until she was married around 1596. Her husband, a Scotsman named Bartilmo Kello (c. 1564-1631), was part of the spy network adjacent to Anthony Bacon and later worked for the Church. The couple, though not noble, was involved with the royal court of King James VI and an extensive network of scholars, authors, Reformers, and other scribes around Edinburgh, which is the focus of the Rewriting the Script Exhibition. Many of Esther’s manuscripts were given as gifts to those in their circle, including the royal family, probably as a means of gaining political favour from them that would then help Bartilmo’s career. Esther also hoped that she would receive patronage from her recipients, which would come with a monetary reward. 

One example of their collaboration is a manuscript dedicated to Sir David Murray, dated 1608. When James VI ascended to the English throne, the family followed him and his court to London, where they lived for about a decade. There, Bartilmo secured the position as a rector of the parish of Willingale Spain in Essex, likely thanks to the help of this manuscript’s dedicatee. The manuscript, A Treatise of Preparation to the Holy Supper and of our only Saviour and Redeemer Jesus Christ, is a French text translated into English by Bartilmo, as indicated in the title page and preface, and then scribed by Esther to look like printed text.

Image of the title page of the manuscript: La.III.75: Esther Inglis, "A Treatise of Preparation to the Holy Supper and of our only Saviour and Redeemer Jesus Christ", which shows that it was translated by Bartholomew Kello

La.III.75, University of Edinburgh Library.

Several of Esther’s manuscripts were created explicitly at her husband’s request to present to figures in their lives. The stunning “Octonaries upon the vanitie and inconstancie of the world” (1607) was a gift to their landlord, indicating he must have been a good one. In the preface she indicates her husband’s influence, writing: 

“I have at the desyre of my husband prepaired this most singular work
of my pen and pensell for recreation of your mynd.” Title page of "Octonaries Vpon the Vanitie"

Dedicatory page of V.a.92

V.a.92, Folger Shakespeare Library.

Bartilmo even acted as a courier for his wife on many occasions, delivering her work to their intended recipients. An example of this early in their marriage is the journey that Bartilmo took to London to deliver one of Esther’s manuscripts to Queen Elizabeth I. There, he anxiously awaited a reward from the queen in exchange for his wife’s work.

His efforts are noted by Esther in “Argumenta in librum Psalmorum” (1606), when she writes (originally in French, but translated here): 

Whatever it may be, it is devoted to your Lordship, humbly beseeching you  
to graciously accept what I have formed and dedicated expressly,  
and I send it to you with all reverence by the hand of my husband, 
 hoping that it will bring you some enjoyment.” 
Title page of "Argumenta in Librum Psalmorum"

Dedicatory page of MS Typ 212

MS Typ 212, Houghton Library, Harvard University.

Their partnership is in many ways reflective of her parents’ collaboration in the Lindsay letter. Esther turned Bartilmo’s words into beautiful calligraphy to serve as gifts, in the process leaving behind traces of herself in both words and signature. In the manuscript “Les Proverbes du Roy Salomon” (1601), given as a gift to Henri du Rohan, the godfather of Prince Charles, the verses are followed by the phrase, “Hec scripsit coniunx dulci dictante marito” (The wife wrote this, with her sweet husband dictating’).

MS Français 14849, Bibliothèque nationale de France.

The endearment used gives an intimate glimpse into her relationship with Bartilmo, and the partnership they built. The support they lent one another should not be understated, and without each other, neither would have risen to the level of social and political prominence that they did. It is also important to emphasise that although Esther—perhaps strategically—included her husband’s voice in her manuscripts, she retained agency over every creative aspect of the gifts she made.

A Loving Mother

Bartilmo Kello and Esther Inglis created a large family, having eight children. Half of them were born in Edinburgh, the other half in London after the family moved there in 1604. Their family tree can be found here. Perhaps now it is important to note that all of her children bear the last name of their father, Kello. Although it was traditional for Scottish women to keep their last name after marriage in this period, hence why Esther is never referred to as “Esther Kello”, all children assumed their father’s family name.

Unfortunately, not all of Esther’s children survived to adulthood. While the family was living in Essex in 1614, two of her sons, Joseph and Isaac, aged thirteen and nine, passed away from an illness. St. Andrew’s, the parish church that Bartilmo Kello preached as a minister, still bears two memorials for the boys that contain short epitaphs. The poems are similar to other of Esther’s short poetry, and it is possible that Esther herself wrote her sons’ tributes, showing her love and devotion to her children. They read:

This happy child adorned with gifts of grace 
His choice was dissolution. 
To sing with Simeon, to depart in peace,  
Unto Christs heavenly mansion.  

This godly child knew his originall,  
And though right young did scorne base cells of earth.  
His soule doth flourish in Heavens glistering hall 
Because it is a divine plant by birth. 

Shortly following the death of her sons, the family returned to Edinburgh in the summer of 1615. That fall, her oldest son, Samuel, left home to attend university. With him Esther sent her smallest known manuscript, measuring five by three centimetres, dedicated “to my well-loved sonne”. She even wrote him an affectionate verse, which reads:  

My l[oving] sone [your ] resoluti[oun] 
Your godly [pur]pose and you[r] full intent 
When[…]I did reed [the te]ares my [face] ran doun 
[Such] was my ioy [su]ch was my hearts content. 
Deare blessed child, who is so stayd and bent 
To feare the Lord in this your pilgrims race 
Gods sacred LAW to you I haue heere sent 
The full sowme: read oft; Lord incres yr grace. 

MS Typ 49, folio 2r , Houghton Library, Harvard University.

More is known about Samuel than any of Esther’s other children, as we have this record of him, and the only surviving personal letter of Esther’s that is known is regarding Samuel. The letter is addressed to none other than King James VI/I, who she had a personal connection to, and asked the favour of recommending her oldest son to sum fellowship either in Cambridge or Oxefoord as occasion shall fall out’. Just as Esther once leveraged her political connections to garner favour for her husband, she then extended the same care and consideration for her son. Here we get a glimpse of a mother willing to do anything to secure her child’s lot in life. 

MS 33.1.6, Vol. 20, no. 21 , National Library of Scotland.

Because Esther learned the art of calligraphy from her own mother, Marie, it is natural to wonder if she extended the same lessons to any of her own children. The short answer: it is unknown. The only handwriting sample we have of one of her children is from Samuel, who although not illegible, shows no great aptitude for artistry. Because the calligraphical skill was passed down through the female line in Esther’s experience, it is not impossible to think that one of Esther’s daughters took up the skill, but there is no evidence of that as of now. Regardless, Esther clearly had great love for her children and was invested in their success.  

 

Although Esther is often put her religious and political context, this look at her familial life shows that her intimate family relations were a driving force in her work and life. The deep connections she had with each generation of her family, from her parents to husband to children, give us the picture of a woman who loved and valued those closest to her, and that they inspired and encouraged her in return. Her manuscripts are more than just extraordinary examples of calligraphy—they are intimate artifacts of a life deeply intwined with family, faith, and creativity.  

Posted in About Esther Inglis | Comments Off on Kinship and Calligraphy: Esther Inglis as a Daughter, Wife, and Mother

Activism and Social Change in LGBT+ History

In February we celebrate LGBT+ History Month 2025 in the UK and this year the theme is ‘Activism and Social Change’. Throughout history and across the globe LGBT+ activists have fueled social change, advancing society for the benefit of all.

To help you discover more we’ve pulled together just a small selection of Library resources that will allow you to start to find out more about activism and social change in LGBT+ history, herstory, theirstory.

1) Books (we are a library after all!)
2) Digital archives and primary sources
3) LGBT collections at Lothian Health Services Archive
4) Dissertation & Thesis Festival Discovery Day : Exploring LGBTQ+ History

Books (we are a library after all!)

The International Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission (IGLHRC) was founded in 1990 as the first NGO devoted to advancing LGBT human rights worldwide. Transnational LGBT Activism : Working for Sexual Rights Worldwide asks how is that mission translated into practice? And what do transnational LGBT human rights advocates do on a day-to-day basis and for whom? Arguing that the idea of LGBT human rights is not predetermined but instead is defined by international activists who establish what and who qualifies for protection. Read More

Posted in Dissertation Festival, Online Library | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Comments Off on Activism and Social Change in LGBT+ History

Dear Library, I love you / I am breaking up with you because….

Happy February all!

With Valentine’s day fast approaching, the Law Library has decided to run again the very successful ‘Love Letters to the Library’.

The idea for these Love Letters is taken from Andy Priestner’s A Handbook of User Experience Research & Design in Libraries.

Library users are asked to write letters to the Library, and it can be about anything that they love or hate. It has been very successful  as Priestner says “the method is universally understood and very willingly participated in”.

So, you are given the option to either declare your love or break up with the Library. The letters are written specifically to the Library and not to staff and you can give your reasons for your choice. Your responses help us have a very informal and often funny but instructive idea as to how you feel.                                                                                                                                                                                                                        We will run this from the 10th till the 16th February; you can pick up your love or break up letter from the foyer at the Law Library and fill it in at your leisure.
Table with 3 transparent small stands. There are 2 read trays with pieces of paper in them. The is a small bowl with chocolates
Responses are private and are judged by Law Library staff. When winners are chosen from each category they are contacted for permission to anonymously post the letters on social media.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                        And there will be a £20 book token for a winning love letter and a winning break up one!                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                              So, go ahead and pick up your love or break up letter from the Library and let it know how you feel and what you like or don’t like about it.

We are looking forward to reading your replies; and remember to address them to the Library.

Have fun!

Posted in events, Library building, News | Tagged , , , , , , , , | Comments Off on Dear Library, I love you / I am breaking up with you because….

New to the Library: Bibliography of the History and Archaeology of Eastern Europe in the Middle Ages

Following a successful trial the Library now has a subscription to Brill’s Bibliography of the History and Archaeology of Eastern Europe in the Middle Ages. A fundamental source of information for the study of the history and archaeology of medieval East Central and Eastern Europe, the bibliography aims to encourage further research, but also to provide guidance through an enormous amount of information available in a variety of languages and a great multitude of publications.

You can access this database through the Databases A-Z list or via the History or Archaeology subject guides. Access through DiscoverEd will also be available soon. Read More

Posted in Library, New, Online resource | Tagged , , , , , , , , | Comments Off on New to the Library: Bibliography of the History and Archaeology of Eastern Europe in the Middle Ages

Meet the RESP Fieldwork Interns

Written by: Katie Shepherd, RESP Fieldwork Intern

Hello world! I’m Katie, a Masters student at the University of Edinburgh studying Musicology. In collaboration with Ailsa, a final-year undergraduate student in Ethnology, we are Fieldwork Interns for the Regional Ethnology of Scotland Archive Project! Following in the footsteps of interns before us (see James’s and Rebekah’s posts), I’ve begun a diary-style record of our time working with the RESP.

Fieldwork intern Katie stadning in front of a 16th century chapel arch. She has long bornw hiar, a white jumper, ankle length black skirt and white trainers.

Fieldwork Intern Katie

Fieldwork intern Ailsa playing Banjo on Arthur's Seat. She has long brown hair, a brown checked shirt and blue jeans on.

Fieldwork Intern Ailsa

While the rest of this blog and the RESP website (which you can find here) give a good description of the RESP Project as a whole, I’d like to first give you a little context about our internship specifically. RESP have previously worked in Dumfries and Galloway, and also with the John Gray Centre in Haddington, East Lothian. Ailsa and I will be continuing to work with a community group hosted at the John Gray Centre in Haddington, called the Active Memories Group. Some of the group had previously taken part in a project called Jumpers for Goalposts, which resulted in a physical publication of their sporting memories in the form of an A4 booklet. Dick Short, David Elder and John Peters have all completed earlier interviews with the RESP Project, and are available on the archive. All are amazing sources of oral and community history! 

The group in Haddington were such a vibrant source of oral history that the RESP have decided they’d like to hear more! After an initial meeting with the group (over a Christmas cuppy and a very competitive quiz!) and a further discussion, the theme of working life arose. The group brought in some photographs and memorabilia to frame some of their working memories, and it seemed a rich topic to explore in individual and paired interviews. 

A view of Haddington town centre including the John Gray Centre and a steepled building. The buildings in the photograph are made out of borwn stone and brick with a steeple.

John Gray Centre

So what’s next? Everyone in the group is keen to discuss memories of their careers, and while group discussions generate many insights, and a good deal of hilarity, recorded interviews offer an opportunity to share in-depth recollections and provide an accessible format to be uploaded to the RESP Archive Collections. 

At the time of writing this post, Ailsa and I are set to begin recording interviews with group members in the next few weeks. The RESP project aims to facilitate the community in Haddington to create their own record of their life and society, and to do so by uploading audio recordings and photographs onto the archive website where they are available for everyone to view: the participants, their close friends and family, the public, the next generation…

There will be a number of outputs from this project, mainly an A4 booklet-style publication similar to Jumpers for Goalposts. The group at Haddington expressed a desire for a physical version of the interview recordings, along with some visual content to accompany excerpts. Ailsa and I will keep this blog updated during the process, will be posting on RESP social media accounts, and aim to release a few mini-podcasts and short videos. Watch this space! 

Find us on Instagram: @resparchiveproject 

 

Posted in Archives, RESP, Uncategorized | Comments Off on Meet the RESP Fieldwork Interns

DataShare spotlight: Human MotionLess Dataset (HuMoLs) and the creative potential of research data

For the second installment of the spotlight on DataShare blog posts, I would like to showcase a fascinating item containing videos of people not doing anything!

The dataset in question is titled “Human MotionLess Dataset (HuMoLs)” and was created by researchers Longfei Chan, Muhammad Ahmed Raza and Robert Fisher, who are based in the School of Informatics’ Institute of Perception Action and Behaviour. While on the face of it, people being still might not seem very dynamic, the research behind this dataset is trying to solve a difficult problem with a very useful outcome. Simply put, how do you tell when someone is lying still because they are doing something like sleeping, or if it is because they are unwell or have fallen? The videos in this dataset aim to try and train healthcare monitoring systems to help determine whether it is the former or the latter of these possibilities, with the priority being to uncover any critical medical conditions or to analyse chronic conditions.

A selection of still images taken from the videos in the dataset.

What struck me while reviewing the videos for submission was that beyond the usefulness of these videos to the research project, there was the potential for them to be adapted creatively. The videos have a deliberately “uncanny valley” aspect, due to using AI to deepfake participant’s faces in order to preserve their anonymity. The amusingly odd character to the videos made me imagine them being used in an Adam Curtis documentary, or in an Aphex Twin music video. Possibly even in an Adam Curtis documentary with Aphex Twin music over the top of it.

This raises the fascinating idea that there are rich sources of research data stored in open access repositories that could have a life beyond being reproducible, but could also be reused, repurposed and remixed into creative new pieces, adding value to both the research itself, and to the repositories where the affiliated data is stored. To demonstrate this possibility, I have edited some of the videos together, see below, and set them to music. The piece of music, “Redolescence” by Other Lands, has a dreamlike quality to it which both complements and recontextualises the videos into something beyond their originally intended use.

What other audio and visual materials are there contained in research data repositories waiting to be repurposed in a creative manner? Time (and much more talented creators than me) will tell!

The full dataset can be found on DataShare: Human MotionLess Dataset (HuMoLs)

The paper which the dataset supports: OPPH: A Vision-Based Operator for Measuring Body Movements for Personal Healthcare

Permission to use the music featured in this video was kindly granted by Gavin Sutherland, performing here under his artist name of Other Lands. The album which contains this track can be purchased on Bandcamp: Other Lands – Riddle of the Mode 

Posted in archiving research data | Tagged , , , , | Comments Off on DataShare spotlight: Human MotionLess Dataset (HuMoLs) and the creative potential of research data

Knowledge Exchange with Japan

Two members of the Research Data Support team recently had an adventure visiting Japan in order to provide practical lessons to library students and librarians studying in a research data management (RDM) course.

When Professor Emi Ishita had visited the team in 2023, she was preparing a new syllabus for research data management for her library students at the Kyushu University iSchool. Struck by the strong engagement our team members had with researchers through training, supporting data management plans, and moderating data deposits, she returned in August, 2024 with a delegation of practicing librarians to learn from the Universities of Edinburgh, Leeds, and Oxford. The group spent a full day with various members of Library Research Support, going over a question list they had sent in advance, about Open Access (OA) and RDM support, and our approach to training researchers.Staff and visitors eating lunch

At the end of the session, Emi revealed that a grant was available to pay for two RDM practitioners from UoE to come to Kyushu University in Fukuoka to contribute to an October, 2024 public symposium and a two day-long in-person training sessions for her students. The students would include Masters students enrolled in the iSchool at Kyushu, as well as practicing librarians looking to reskill themselves following government policy directives embracing immediate open access and data sharing for research publications.

bento boxThe speakers for the hybrid symposium on OA and RDM in Japan were myself with Dr Simon Smith, along with long-time RDM service provider Jake Carlson from the University of Buffalo (New York), and the Library Director from Chiba University, and the Research Data Service Director at Kyushu University providing a Japanese context for OA and RDM. Dr Ishita introduced the symposium and chaired the panel session – her team also provided all the speakers with beautifully presented bento boxes tailored to each person’s diet for lunch.

While the symposium was exciting, with about 60 people in attendance and about 130 more watching and listening online, it was the practical training that myself and Simon found truly inspirational. The students overcame their customary reserve to answer Simon’s open-ended questions about supporting researchers with data management planning in a classroom setting. Later, they formed into small groups to try out depositing data in DataShare, and evaluate each other’s metadata for quality. The technology worked, the students were curious and engaged, and the Kyushu instructors were pleased with the outcome.

library trainers at Kyushu University, Oct 2024

Japanese hospitality lunchDuring the week of the event, Simon and I visited prior and new contacts at Tokyo University, Chiba University, Kyoto University, Nagoya University and NII. In addition to the excellent company, we were pleased to be visiting such a beautiful country and eating the wonderful food.

NII staff outside restaurant

Mount Aso volcano

Posted in events, External developments, Funder compliancy, RDM training | Tagged | Comments Off on Knowledge Exchange with Japan

Symbolae Scoticae

Today we are publishing an article by Ash Mowat, a volunteer in the Civic Engagement team, on the Symbolae Scoticae: a set of eight purpose-bound scrapbooks containing more than 2000 items relating to Scottish history, geography and culture.

In this blog I will explore the Symbolae Scoticae[1] (Scottish Contributions) volumes of scrapbooks containing images of Scotland as compiled by the 19th century Scottish naturalist Adam White, held at the University of Edinburgh’s Centre for Research Collections.

Adam White (1817 to 1878) was born in Edinburgh and developed a specialism in insects and crustaceans, practising as a zoological assistant at the British Museum in London.[2]

He was aged just 18 when he started this work having only been educated up to high school level, and developed expertise in the identification, naming and cataloguing of a wide variety of species of insects and crustaceans. He published many papers and reports of his findings and was very well regarded, having been praised by and commissioned work by Charles Darwin, amongst other esteemed colleagues. Despite his achievements and regard, he did not rise above the level of zoological assistant, potentially due to striven relationships with his supervisor. He further contributed by campaigning and petitioning for the creation of the National Museum of Scotland in his birthplace of Edinburgh.[3]

The Symbolae Scoticae collection consists of 8 large scrapbooks approximately 17×14 inches. I focused my inspection on the first two volumes which were dedicated to the Edinburgh and Lothians regions of Scotland. The books contain artworks in a variety of media dating from the 18th and early 19th century.

The image of 1838, an etching and engraving, shows a relatively unchanged view down from Edinburgh’s Hanover Street facing onto the building that is now the gallery and home of the Royal Society of Artists.

The above image from 1814 shows a dramatically different view from Edinburgh’s Princes Street, facing onto the towards the Old Town, attributed to the artist Dan Mcintosh. It depicts a very selective view of the times with the finery and wealth of the privileged classes on display, with the grime and sometimes squalid conditions of the Old Town in the background not featured.

In the etching and engraving above, the view is taken from the Greyfriars’s cemetery in Edinburgh, facing onto what was the Heriot’s Hospital but currently George Herriot’s School, with the dramatic backdrop of Edinburgh Castle. The rendering of details and capturing of varying lights, tones and textures are exquisitely crafted, more so than would be conveyed in the later development of photography.

The above image, selling fish, is by the renowned Scottish artist Walter Geikie (1795 to 1837) and dated to around 1830.[4] Born in Edinburgh, he overcame a disability that had left him deaf, learning how to speak and developing his natural talents as an artist to study and practice as a celebrated illustrator of the ordinary citizens of Edinburgh going about their wares, often featuring the Old Town of Edinburgh as their location. There is always much humanity, humour and affection in his works for his working-class subjects, at a time when many other artists would focus on creating images of the wealthy and powerful.

An illustration of Edinburgh’s South Bridge above left from the 19th century, alongside contrasting photograph of the location today.

Dated to 1832 by the artist G Barret and engraver E Finden, this spectacular composition shows a sunset over the ruins of St Anthony’s Chapel situated upon Holyrood Park in Edinburgh. The chiaroscuro lighting effects give the image a haunting quality.

Above left is an aquatint of the runs of Dunbar Castle in East Lothian outside Edinburgh, alongside a photograph of the location today.

The quality and diversity of the images held in this collection are incredible, I was only able to explore two of the 8 volumes held. I would urge anyone with their interest spiked to consider exploring these further, and staff have helpfully created a useful map to outline the locations and content covered.[5]

I should like to thank mu supervisor Laura Beattie (Community Engagement Officer) for support, and to the helpful staff at the centre for research Heritage Collections in enabling access to these materials.

[1] Collection: Symbolae Scoticae | University of Edinburgh Archive and Manuscript Collections

[2] Adam White (zoologist) – Wikipedia

[3] Adam white Archives – Innerpeffray Library

[4] Walter Geikie | National Galleries of Scotland

[5] https://symbolae.neocities.org/

Posted in Uncategorized | Comments Off on Symbolae Scoticae

Systematic review search strategies – training and resources

Are you developing a search strategy for a systematic review or other evidence synthesis? Here we have collated a list of useful training and guidance resources to help you.

An image of a cartoon laptop.

Image by José Miguel from Pixabay

The Learn course LibSmart II: Advance Your Library Research has a whole module on Literature Searching for Systematic Reviews.  LibSmart II can be found in Essentials in Learn. If you don’t see it there, contact your Academic Support Librarian and we’ll get you enrolled. You can work through LibSmart at your own pace, and return whenever you need.

For self-paced training on the whole process of conducting a systematic review, Cochrane Interactive Learning has modules created by methods experts so you build your knowledge one step at a time.

If you are a student conducting a systematic review, we can highly recommend the book Doing a Systematic Review (2023). With a friendly, accessible style, the book covers every step of the systematic review process, from planning to dissemination.

We also have several recorded presentations on systematic reviews on our Media Hopper channel, including Building complex searches for systematic reviews and How to test your systematic review searches for quality and relevance as well as introductions to databases like Medline and Web of Science.

For even more advice about systematic review searching, see the library’s subject guides on Systematic reviews

—–

What’s so different about a systematic review search strategy?

An image of a funnel.

Image by Mugé from Pixabay

According to the Cochrane Collaboration, a leading group in the production of evidence synthesis and systematic reviews;

systematic reviews are large syntheses of evidence, which use rigorous and reproducible methods, with a view to minimise bias, to identify all known data on a specific research question.1

This is done by a large, complex literature search in databases and other sources, using multiple search terms and search techniques. This might include Boolean operators, truncation, phrase searches, and database subject headings. Find out more about these search techniques on the Library subject guide to Literature Searching.

Traditional literature reviews, such as the literature review chapter in a dissertation, don’t usually apply the same rigour in their methods because, unlike systematic reviews, they don’t aim to synthesise all known data on a topic. Literature reviews can provide context or background information for a new piece of research, or can stand alone as a general guide to what is already known about a particular topic2.

—–

You can contact your Academic Support Librarian for advice on literature searching, using databases, and managing the literature you find.

—–

References

  1. Higgins, J., et al., Cochrane Handbook for Systematic Reviews of Interventions version 6.4 (updated August 2023). 2023, Cochrane.
  2. Mellor, L. The difference between a systematic review and a literature review, Covidence. 2021. Available at: https://www.covidence.org/blog/the-difference-between-a-systematic-review-and-a-literature-review/. (Accessed: 20 March 2024).
Posted in Information Literacy & Library Skills, LibSmart, Subject Guides | Tagged , , , , , , | Comments Off on Systematic review search strategies – training and resources

Happy New Year and Welcome back

Happy new Year all and welcome back!

2025 has landed and the new semester is already underway. Teaching has resumed and the Law Librarians are busy delivering new information literacy classes to postgraduate students.

The Law Library is now open but still on reduced hours until this Sunday. Please check before planning your trip there to avoid any disappointment. Normal opening hours will resume on Monday 13 January. The Main Library has resumed its normal opening hours.

3 students in the entrance of the Law Library, in the Old College

As always, we are here to help you with any enquiries you have about resources, referencing and literature searching. We offer one to one appointments most weeks; visit the MyEd Events Booking system and look for ‘literature search clinic’ and select the option relating to Law. And if you can’t see a bookable slot that suits you please email us on law.librarian@ed.ac.uk.

Posted in Library building, News, Opening hours | Tagged , , , , | Comments Off on Happy New Year and Welcome back

Follow @EdUniLibraries on Twitter

Collections

Default utility Image Archival Provenance Project: Emily’s finds               My name is Emily, and I’m the second of the two archive interns that...
Default utility Image Archival Provenance Project: a glimpse into the university’s history through some of its oldest manuscripts               My name is Madeleine Reynolds, a fourth year PhD candidate in History of Art....

Projects

Sustainable Exhibition Making: Recyclable Book Cradles In this post, our Technician, Robyn Rogers, discusses the recyclable book cradles she has developed...
Default utility Image Giving Decorated Paper a Home … Rehousing Books and Paper Bindings In the first post of this two part series, our Collection Care Technician, Robyn Rogers,...

Archives

Subscribe to Blog via Email

Enter your email address to subscribe to this blog and receive notifications of new posts by email.