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March 7, 2026
‘Emma Gillies: Rediscovered’ – Ceramics Exhibition at the Main Library
Emma Smith, Exhibitions Officer, writes about the 2014 winter exhibition at the University of Edinburgh Main Library
Over the last two years, significant research has been carried out into the Edinburgh College of Art Collection. The project has resulted in the discovery of a number of highly significant works that add further colour to the history of Scottish art. One of the many extraordinary finds has been a collection of ceramics stored in a cupboard nearby the Head of Painting’s office at ECA. It became apparent early on that this collection was linked to Sir William Gillies in some way. Pieces from the collection appear in many of Gillies’ still life paintings – some of which will be featured in the exhibition. Furthermore, this was an active ceramics collection – it was used for its original purpose as well as for the inspiration for art and, most importantly, they are fine works on their own merit.
Fancy a cuppa? The artists enjoyed their wares – as you can see for yourself at the exhibition.
As research continued into the collection, it became clear that the ceramics were created mainly by Emma Gillies, sister of Sir William Gillies. Emma sadly died in her 30s and, particularly in light of the illustrious reputation of her older brother, is a peripheral figure in our understanding of 20th century art in Edinburgh. She is more often remembered as a tragic figure, or the sister of Sir William Gillies, than a skilled artist in her own right. This exhibition seeks to revisit the art of Emma Gillies.
We hope you can make it along to visit.
The exhibition is free and open to the public from 5 December 2014, Monday to Saturday, 10am to 5pm.
Exhibition Opening: 5 December 2014 | Where: Exhibition Gallery, Main Library, George Square | Closing: 07 March 2015 |
Blog posted by:
Emma Smith and Steven Skeldon, Centre for Research Collections.
1914 voices from the New College Archives
On 11 November, there will be a short Act of Remembrance in New College, starting at 10.50am and gathering at the war memorial in the Assembly Hall. Come into New College Library this week, and you can see the voices of New College staff, students and alumni remembered in a display from the New College Archives.
New College War Memorial Album 1914-18. New College Library AA.1.14.1.
This is an official record of the New College students who fought in the First World War, including those who lost their lives.
New College Senate Minute Book, 1914-34 New College Library AA.1.1.4
This entry for 1914 records that, following appeals for chaplains to enter the Scottish Command, ten New College students have volunteered their service.
Faith on the frontier : a life of J.H. Oldham / K.W. Clements. New College Library BX6.8.O54 Cle.
Oldham, J.H. Letter to John R Mott, 4 Dec 1914. Oldham Papers. New College Library MSS Old 1/9
Joseph H. Oldham (1874-1969) was a missionary and pioneer of ecumenism. A theology student at New College, Edinburgh, he went on to become the organising secretary for the 1910 World Missionary Conference in Edinburgh, regarded by many as the starting point of the modern ecumenical movement. During the Second World War the meetings of his ‘Moot’ group initiated new thinking about Christian responsibility in modern society. This letter written in 1914 shows the tensions that the outbreak of war had created in the Church, both at home and overseas.
Christine Love-Rodgers, Academic Support Librarian – Divinity
We want more corpses
In 1828 the University of Edinburgh’s medical students were desperate to get their hands on cadavers – so they could study Anatomy from real subjects. This amazing document, measuring 190 x 60 cm, is a petition signed by the students to ask the authorities to provide more bodies. At exactly the same time, Burke and Hare were responding to this shortage by resorting to murder. This manuscript, which has arrived today as a potential purchase, shows very clearly how the success of Anatomy at Edinburgh created unexpected pressures on society. Joe Marshall
Explore your Archives!
Next week is Explore your Archives Week, join us in celebrating our archives at the Centre For Research Collections!
UKSG October webinar: The University Library as publisher. Can you? Should you?
This webinar was held on Wednesday 29 October 2014 and was jointly presented by colleagues from the Universities of St Andrews and Edinburgh. The idea of the webinar was to understand how open access publishing initiatives can be delivered for academic staff and for students and to give some practical advice on how institutions might want to consider setting up a service. Janet Aucock of St Andrews opened the webinar and introduced some of the main themes. Jackie Proven of St Andrews and Angela Laurins of Edinburgh gave in depth case studies of their journal hosting services and covered all aspects of setup, staffing, costing and sustainability. Both institutions have extensive experience in using OJS (Open Journals System) for journal publishing and this was the main topic for the session. It was clear from the questions that came in before the webinar that participants were also very interested in open access publishing for other material, especially monographs. So this looks like a topic for further discussion and exploration.
Further key themes were trying to decide who is the publisher. Is it the journal editors, the academic department or is it the Library? Both Edinburgh and St Andrews offer journal hosting services and do not “publish” but it was felt that distinctions about publishing roles are becoming blurred anyway and that this sort of publishing is often a collaboration of people. Another major theme was how a journal hosting service can give great opportunities for journal editors to learn about the publication process and gain valuable experience. Services are not so much about supplanting existing established journals but giving new journals and their creators the opportunity to get involved with ways of exchanging their ideas and learning new skills. Journal hosting services also work well when they are part of wider open access services because they can demonstrate open access in action.
The webinar also picked up on themes first posted to the LOCH blog in August 2014 when the “University Library as publisher” was a themed workshop at this year’s Repository Fringe. We were particularly pleased to be able to deliver this webinar knowing that both St Andrews and Edinburgh are part of the Pathfinder projects and are collaborating together on the LOCH project with Heriot Watt. Collaboration and best practice are important themes in the LOCH project “which seeks to provide case studies of evidence of best practice in relation to OA workflows”. Models for good practice for open access compliance are built on author awareness about open access issues. Both St Andrews and Edinburgh can see real value in their Journal Hosting Services from the perspective of developing open access awareness among their journal editors and submitting authors. This theme came through very strongly in the webinar and we believe that our services will continue to develop these skills among our users, especially undergraduates and postgraduates who will become the next generation of academic authors and who will be much more familiar with open access publishing.
Slides from the presentations are at:
http://www.uksg.org/libraryaspublisher
and also archived at:
http://hdl.handle.net/10023/5617
Edinburgh’s Journal Hosting service is at:
http://journals.ed.ac.uk/
St Andrews Journal Hosting service is at:
https://www.st-andrews.ac.uk/library/services/researchsupport/journalhosting/
Blog post written by Janet Aucock, Jackie Proven and Angela Laurins
The Most Beautiful Book in Scotland and the Oldest Scottish Manuscript?
The new Ms 39 Book of Hours available in LUNA Book Reader
We are delighted to announce that 2 manuscripts have been added to our growing collection of Book Readers in LUNA!
The first is Ms 39, an amazing early 15th century Book of Hours, with rich gold work, detailed miniatures and vibrant colours. See http://images.is.ed.ac.uk/luna/servlet/s/d4wx22 for the Book Reader. A note in the front of the book claims this is the most beautiful book in Scotland, what do you think? What are the other contender’s? Read More
Jisc MediaHub – ETV collection removal
We have received notification from JISC that the ETV (Educational and Television Films) Collection has been removed from Jisc MediaHub following the end of the licence period and instruction from BFI.
Authorised users at the University of Edinburgh who have downloaded films from the collection may continue to use them for teaching, learning and research as long as no further copies are created.
The collection contained 100 hours of films from the political Left from around the world. If you have any questions about this removal or would like advice on a replacement resource, please contact the Library.
Update – This collection has been reinstated for 2015 following discussions between BFI and JISC – see http://wp.me/p4JPXA-cK
New books for Social and Political Science: October 2014
Thanks to recommendations from members of staff and requests via RAB from students the Library is continually adding new books to its collections both online and in print. Here are just a small number of the books that have been added to the Library’s collections in October 2014 for Social and Political Science.
Sexuality, rurality, and geography edited by Andrew Gorman-Murray, Barbara Pini, and Lia Bryant (e-book).
India’s Foreign Policy edited by Kanti P. Bajpai and Harsh V. Pant (shelfmark: DS480.853 Ind.)
Statistical Modeling and Inference for Social Science by Sean Gailmard (shelfmark: HA29 Gai.)
Effective writing for social work making a difference by Lucy Rai (shelfmark: PN146 Rai.)
The Buganda factor in Uganda politics by Phares Mukasa Mutibwa (shelfmark: DT433.29.B8 Mut.)
Limits of Gendered Citizenship: contexts and complexities edited by Elżbieta H. Oleksy, Jeff Hearn, and Dorota Golańska (e-book). Read More
What do you want to learn today?
Come along to the Pop-up Library between 2-4pm on Wednesday 5th November to find out about free taught courses and online resources in information technology from IS Skills.
We have learning opportunities in:
- Basic IT, library and bibliography
- Learning technologies
- Posters, presentations and design
- Programming and operating systems
- Spreadsheets, data analysis and management tools
- Web publishing
- Working collaboratively
- Working with text
Our courses can help you to create an engaging presentation, format your thesis in Word 2013, learn a new programming language, and get your referencing right.
You can also help influence the courses we provide in the future by filling in our short survey to tell us what you want to learn about and how you prefer to learn.
Catherine Koppe, IS Skills team
Finding and using China-related library resources
Are you curious about China? Do you need to find relevant resources but don’t quite now where to start? Are you looking for primary sources?
If any of these questions have popped up, please come along on Friday, 7 November, 10.00am-12.00pm to the First Floor of the Main Library for our Pop-up Library session!
We will tell you all about both Western and Chinese language materials available through the Library. We will show you how to use our different databases on China, which contain both English materials (for example, British Foreign Office Files on China, Chinese laws, etc) and Chinese sources (classics, e-books, newspapers, journal articles, etc).
Whether you are just curious about China or need some help with a specific research question: we are there to help, so please ‘pop up’ to the First Floor on Friday!
Engage: #LibraryPop
Collections
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Projects
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Archival Provenance Research Project: Lishan’s Experience
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