L'Année Philologique in danger

The German office of the Année Philologique is due to have its funding withdrawn at the end of the year, seriously jeopardising the validity of the publication as a comprehensive bibliographic source.

From their website:

The Année Philologique, a critical and analytical bibliography of Greco-Latin Antiquity, has existed since the 1920s : over the years, its generalist orientation has made it a working tool that is useful for all, whatever one's specialty may be. Since its creation and its dissemination on paper, it has been a bibliographical tool that is universally recognized, utilized, and appreciated by students of Antiquity throughout the world. Since 2002, its dissemination online has facilitated the access of an ever-broader public to the bibliographical data it offers.
However, this irreplaceable tool is threatened, in the very near future, with disappearing in its current form, and perhaps with simply ceasing publication.
The cause of this threat is simple : the German office of the Année Philologique, the Zweigstelle Heidelberg, must close its doors at the end of the fiscal year 2012, unless a durable source of funding is found. The Heidelberger Akademie der Wissenschaften, which has funded it until now, has let it be known that it will cut off all subsidies at that date. In so doing, it is applying the government's decision to no longer fund continuing projects and positions, but to henceforth grant funds only to short-term scientific operations, answering to invitations to tender. If it were to take effect at the planned date, this programmed closure would have disastrous consequences for the entire project : with it, the totality of German-language research, whose importance for the classical humanities is known to all, would cease to be covered by our publication. Quantitatively, this would mean a decrease of approximately 30% of the bibliographical items made available to the public.
Unless a solution is found, the consequences will boil down to a sinister alternative : the transformation of a project of high scientific value into a bargain-basement search engine, or the outright disappearance of the publication.

For more information, and to sign a petition in support: http://anphil.org/en/forms/petition

Bodleian and Vatican libraries to digitise ancient texts

Image via Flickr user adrienpoly

The Bodleian Libraries and the Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana have received a £2 million grant from the Polonsky Foundation to launch a collaborative digitisation project, with the aim of making over 1.5 million pages from their collections freely available to the wider public. Over the next four years, the project will digitize Greek manuscripts, incunabula, early printed books and Hebrew manuscripts from both collections, allowing them to transcend the limits of time and space!

L'Osservatore Romano provides some information on the texts to be digitised from the Vatican collections.

Electronic Resources Room Closed on Monday

Image via Flickr user cafenut

On Monday, March 19th, the electronic resources room will be closed for training. We apologise for any inconvenience this may cause.

Further information on accessing the library during the Olympics

Image via Flickr user Peter Schauer

 As Russell Square will be made into the Media Transport Hub for the Olympics, there will be some access restrictions throughout July and August. Half of the square will have 24 hour restricted pedestrian access, including the Senate House side. Malet Street will remain unaffected.

There's a plan of vehicle and pedestrian access to Russell Square during the Olympics, and a list of FAQs for access in Bloomsbury.

TfL has a page describing changes to public transport services during the games. Please do have a look at this if you reach us by public transport, particularly by bus, as the Russell Square media hub means that some routes have been temporarily changed or will be experiencing significant delays.

The Library will be remaining open as usual during the Olympics, as will Senate House. If you have any concerns, please speak to a member of staff.

For more information on access during the Olympics, please look at the Olympics website.

Ancient and Modern Olympics events in London

Image via Flickr user failing_angel

Museums, universities, societies and institutions all over London will be holding Olympics-related events in June to celebrate the ancient roots of the competition.

The Roman Society says:

2012 is a great year for athletics. And for the history of athletics. The whole concept of peaceful international competition through sport has its origin in the ancient world. To celebrate the return of the games to London after 64 years we are offering a rich programme of events dedicated to sport and competition, ancient and modern. Through exhibitions, public lectures and conferences our programme looks not just at events and sites but at the idea of competition, the pursuit of excellence, motivation, rewards and prizes; we look at the way the ancient games have travelled across space and time, from a small site in ancient Greece to worlds then undreamt of. We look at the rebirths and revivals, at the different shapes the original idea has taken in different periods and cultures down to today.

 To find out more, have a look at the calendar of events.

Book launch in Edinburgh

The author of "Roman Camps in Britain", Rebecca Jones, will be holding a book launch in Blackwells Bookshop, South Bridge, Edinburgh, on the 22nd of March from 6:30-8pm.

Electronic Resources at the Library

Want to peruse Google Maps 4th century AD-style? Find out what's been published on a particular subject? Search dozens of classical texts at the touch of a button? 

The notice board in our computer room has had a revamp! The new board gives information about the wealth of electronic resources available both from the library and online.

If you would like more information about the resources available and how they can help you, check out our website or speak to a member of library staff.