Library Account Downtime - 18.7.17

This is a brief notice to make you aware that, due to maintenance taking place on our library system, you will be unable to log in to your accounts from 11pm on Tuesday 18th July (tomorrow) until 11am on Wednesday 19th.

This means that during that time you will not be able to renew or request books, but given that most of the improvements will be made overnight, we hope it will not cause too much inconvenience.

Former Librarian: Gertrude Rachel Levy

Late last month, the library received a very exciting envelope from Richard J.B. Stein, containing a book by, photo of, and postcard from, Gertrude Rachel Levy (1883-1966). She was a Classical scholar and archaeologist, but she was also librarian of the Joint Library of the Hellenic and Roman Societies (there was no Institute at that time!) from 1939/40 until July 1949, when she retired. Several of the books she wrote are still on our shelves now, including The Violet Crown and The Gate of Horn.

The photograph we received is of her c.1900, so before her time as our librarian, but it is still wonderful to see her, especially with such beautiful books in tow!

Also in the envelope was a postcard from the Diyala Region sites of Tell Asmar, Khafaje, and Ishchali, in which she records that there have been "No exciting finds so far".

Needless to say that these finds have greatly excited library staff, and we are very grateful to Richard J.B. Stein for sending them to us. We will treasure them. If anyone knows anything further about G.R Levy, or her work at the library, please do get in touch, as we would love to hear from you!

Hellenic and Roman Societies' Sculpture Day

In honour of the Sculpture Day, held by the Societies on 28th June, our Deputy Librarian, Paul Jackson, raided the Rare Books collection and did a display of the library's sculpture-related treasures. Sadly such displays cannot become regular occurrences, as the cases were only loaned to us temporarily, so here are some highlights in case you missed the exhibition. Full details of what was shown can be found here.

One of the brightest treasures on display was this reconstruction of the Parthenon Frieze by Shirley Pickett (below), illustrating her theory that in ancient sculpture the male figures would be painted in darker colours and the female figures left pale.

Pickett, Shirley. The Elgin Marbles in Colour: a reconstruction of the Parthenon frieze (1997)

We were also very lucky to have two 17th century engravings on display, which form part of a recent bequest from Dr. P J Casey (1935-2016). The first shows the sculpture from the Arch of Septimius Severus, and the second from the Arch of Constantine.

Thank you to everyone who attended the Sculpture Day, and we hope you enjoyed looking at the displays as much as we enjoyed setting them out!

Deputy Librarian, Paul Jackson, setting out the first case!

New Vending Machine!

Just in case you haven't seen it, we wanted to make you all aware that there is now a vending machine in the cafe area on the Ground Floor. It is called 'Lisa', and stocks a variety of healthy crisps/snacks and soft drinks.

We thought this might be particularly useful for readers using the libraries on evenings and Saturdays, as they'll be able to get something to eat/drink even when the cafe is closed.

It (she?) takes coins, or debit/credit cards. However, be aware that if you use a card to purchase anything from the machine it costs 6% more than the hard currency price.

Happy munching (though, of course, not in the library!)

Dates for your Diary: Summer Closures

Thursday 8th June is the Joint Library's last evening opening of the summer, and after that date the library will close at 6pm every day until the new term. 8pm closing (on Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays) will start again on Tuesday 3rd October, until Thursday 14th December.

The library will be closing as usual for two weeks at the end of August. We will close at 6pm on Friday 18th August, and re-open at 9:30am on Monday 4th September.

Please also note that we expect building work to be starting around the end of July, since the lobby will be being refurbished. While these renovations are happening the library will not be accessible through the normal entrance, but instead through the doors by the service lift (which open on to the Atlas section near Numismatics). We will give you further details and more specific dates when we know them.

Library Survey 2017

The Institute of Classical Studies/Hellenic and Roman Library Survey is now live, and the team would really appreciate it if you would take a few minutes to fill it in. It's just 10 questions, 9 of which are multiple choice, and a box at the end where you can make any comments you wish to.

The survey can be found here, and is open until Sunday 21st May - just before the new librarian starts on 22nd! It will therefore be a really useful way for us to know how to proceed after the summer break, and how we can keep the library the best it can be for all of you.

Many thanks in advance for your feedback!

Dates for your Diary: May Bank Holidays

Due to upcoming Bank Holidays, the library will be closed on the following dates:

Monday 1st May

Saturday 27th May

Monday 29th May

The team hope all readers manage to have a restful few days while the library is closed! :)