As the public return to the Cutty Sark, June’s item of the month recalls the ship’s first royal opening in Greenwich, 55 years ago this month.

Gareth (Reader Services Librarian)

On Thursday 14^th July the new Caird Library opened to the public, two days after the formal opening of the Sammy Ofer Wing by the Museum’s Patron, HRH the Duke of Edinburgh.

The Caird Library is open on Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays from 10am – 4.45pm for access to the 6,000 selected modern books on open access shelves, most recent issues of journals, electronic resources and selected core reference works such as Lloyd’s Register of Shipping and the Navy List.

Access to the Library is by Reader’s Ticket.  You can register for one ahead of your visit by filling out an online form at www.nmm.ac.uk/aeon.  You can also register in person in the Library – but pre-registering online helps you to beat the queues!

To celebrate the opening of the Sammy Ofer Wing and the new Caird Library, we have a range of Library tours and Archive Journey sessions taking place this weekend (16^th and 17^th July).  There’s no need to book, but sessions are timed and places are limited.  For more information, please see our website: www.nmm.ac.uk/visit/events/introduction-to-the-archive. 
                

Gareth (Reader Services Librarian)

Over the past ten weeks, the new reading room facility in the Sammy Ofer Wing has been transformed from an empty white box into the new Caird Library.  Tables, chairs, lockers, a document scanner and even a touch screen viewer to explore the Museum’s collection of sailing navy ship plans have been fitted into their new homes. 

One of the most exciting parts of the transformation is the arrival of the books that line the new Caird Library.  For two years the Library team have been carefully selecting the books that our experience suggests will be the most useful to have on open, immediate access shelves in the Caird Library.  Since the closure of the old Caird Library to the public at Easter, we have packed these selected items ourselves, ready for their installation by our removal contractors – and they are now in place, ready for our opening to the public on Thursday 14th July. 

There are approximately 5,500 individually published works in the new Caird Library.  Our modern books are no longer locked away behind cabinet doors and Caird Library readers will now be able to simply help themselves to books from the shelves. There is no need to order any items held in the Caird Library ahead of a visit to us.  The collections on the shelves really bring character to the new Caird Library.  With such a focused collection, there is no longer a separate “quick reference” section.  The books follow a single classification sequence around the room, which we hope will aid readers in resource discovery. 

A portion of our core reference resources such as Lloyd’s List, Lloyd’s Register, the Mercantile Navy List and the Navy List will remain in locked cabinets, due to their scarcity.  Staff will still be able to get these out for readers when needed.  More recent issues of these resources will need to be requested from the Archive Stores, once these become operational in the autumn.  As a rule of thumb, issues of our core references from 1950 onwards are held in the stores and will need to be requested.  Once up and running, the retrieval process from the archive stores should take around 45 minutes.  

Our most recent issues of the journals we subscribe to are also available in the Reading Room and ten public PCs are available for access to our electronic resources.  In the coming weeks, my colleagues from the Archive and Library will be writing a little more about these on our blog. 

This is an exciting time for the Caird Library and the National Maritime Museum.  We look forward to welcoming you to the new library when the Sammy Ofer Wing opens to the public on 14th July. 

Gareth

Reader Services Librarian

March’s Item of the Month is a little different: .. -. -.. .. .-    – —-    -.-. …. .. -. .- (or India to China). To learn more, and to decipher the story of Tom and Gwen, visit the Item of the Month page.

Gareth (Reader Services Librarian)

Due to the bank holiday on Monday 31 August affecting deliveries from our offsite stores, we will require more than the advertised four days’ notice to retrieve items to be consulted on the following days:

Date of Library visit            Last order date
Tuesday 01 September        Monday 24 August
Wednesday 02 September    Monday 24 August

Please accept our apologies for any inconvenience that this may cause.

A full list of last order dates is available from the Reading Room Enquiry Desk or on our website: http://www.nmm.ac.uk/researchers/library/visiting/library-last-orders

Gareth (Readers Services Librarian) 

After a fortnight of shaking hands and introductions all around the National Maritime Museum, I’d like to introduce myself to readers of The Caird Library Blog: I’m Gareth Bellis and I have joined the Archive and Library Team as Reader Services Librarian.  For the past four and-a-half years I had been Assistant Librarian at the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst.  I have joined the Library at a time of change and development as we prepare the collections for their move to the Museum’s new Sammy Ofer Wing in 2012.  I look forward to the challenges that this will bring and the opportunity to get to know both the Caird Library’s readers and its world-class collection better.

Gareth (Reader Services Librarian)