Death notice for Professor David Ridgway

We are deeply sorry to report that David Ridgway, Senior Research Fellow of the Institute of Classical Studies, and leading authority on pre-Roman Italy and the Etruscans, died very suddenly while attending a conference in Athens on Sunday 20th May.

The Australian Archaeological Institute at Athens intend to dedicate the conference proceedings to him, which will be published in "Mediterranean Archaeology".

For information on funeral arrangements, please contact Mark.Pearce@nottingham.ac.uk

Roman wooden roof uncovered in Herculaneum

Image via BSR

Update on industrial action at the British Library

From their website:

"Members of the Public & Commercial Services Union (PCS) voted for a one-day strike on Thursday 10 May 2012 over changes to public sector pensions.

The British Library at St Pancras is open for visitors to its public areas and exhibition galleries. However, there is likely to be significant disruption to our Reading Room services.

The following Reading Rooms will be open until 17.00:

* Humanities, Floor 1 

* Humanities, Floor 2 (access via the staircase within Humanities, Floor 1) 

* Social Sciences 

* Science, Floor 2 

* Science, Floor 3 (access via the staircase within Science, Floor 2) 

* Business & IP Centre, Floor 1

* Business & IP Centre, Floor 2

Unfortunately, all other Reading Rooms will remain closed.

Further, it may be necessary to restrict Readers to a maximum of five requests per person in those Reading Rooms that are open, and no transfers will be possible between Reading Rooms.

The St Pancras building will close to Readers and all visitors at 17.00 and our catering services will close at 16.30.

The Newspaper Library at Colindale and our Reading Room at Boston Spa are both open today and operating normally.

We urge you to check any changes to the Library’s opening hours and available services. We will keep you updated here, and via Twitter and Facebook.

We apologise for the inconvenience caused and thank you for your understanding."

Open access publications from the American School of Classical Studies at Athens

Check out this great list of free resources from the American School of Classical Studies in Athens.

Disrupted access to the British Library

Readers who also use the nearby British Library should be aware that they may experience some disruption next week due to industrial action:

"Members of the Public and Commercial Services Union (PCS) have voted for a one day strike on Thursday 10 May 2012 over changes to public sector pensions.

The British Library at St. Pancras plans to be open as usual for visitors to its public areas and exhibition galleries, but there is likely to be significant disruption to our Reading Room services with the potential of late opening and some rooms likely to remain closed.

Further, we may only be able to facilitate a maximum of five requests per person in Reading Rooms that are open on 10 May, and no transfers will be possible between Reading Rooms in St. Pancras.

Although every effort will be made to maintain opening hours of available rooms until 20.00, there is a possibility of early closure at 17.00.

We plan to open the Boston Spa Reading Room and the Newspaper Library at Colindale but there may be disruptions to our services.

We urge all Readers to check any changes to the Library's opening hours and available services. We will keep you updated on our website - please see the homepage at http://www.bl.uk/.

Thank you for your understanding.

Romania celebrates Roman heritage with...awkward naked Trajan and a levitating wolf in a scarf

From the BBC: "A statue representing the birth of the Romanian nation has been greeted with derision by the public and critics.

The sculpture, unveiled outside Bucharest's National History Museum, portrays a naked Roman emperor Trajan carrying a wolf.

It is supposed to represent the fusion of the Roman empire with the ancient tribes of Dacia."

Image from the Romanian Times

Any thoughts?

Why do old books smell?

A team of scientists from UCL and the University of Ljubljana, Slovenia, are working on a detector to investigate the composition of paper to assist in the conservation of old books without having to destroy part of them for chemical analysis. More on the Guardian's GrrlScientist blog.