Exclusus Lector no Longer!

No longer must our readers ask assistance to use complicated combination locks- we have finally got keys! Lovely, simple keys. Additionally no pound is required although there is a £10.00 fine for any lost keys.

As a disenchanted member of staff put it, when this trial began:

Through the windows the faeries throw

Lockers which made us feel so low
May a faery strong and kind
Find us the keys for which we’ve pined

 After Easter, may our dreams be

Forever after locker-free
And may our readers dance a conga
When combinations are no longer

All the library staff would like to both apologise for the disruption, and to thank our readers for their patience during this time. Hopefully now full friendly service can resume. Conga lines are optional but discretely encouraged.

Keys, of course, are an ancient concept; the earliest surviving examples coming from Egypt in the form of Pin Tumbler locks. The Romans improved these by replacing the traditional wood with metal and inventing smaller, wearable keys. Types of locks outlined by Manning include latch-lifters, lift-keys, slide keys, lever-locks and barb-spring padlocks as shown below:



From Manning, 1985

Anyone interesting in discovering more about the history of locks (who wouldn't be?!) can begin with the list below:

Birley, Andrew, The small finds. Fasc. 2, Security: the keys and locks : including an outline report on the results of the excavations to date, Hexham, Vindolanda Trust, c1997. Library: X116D VIN

 De Vries, Marc J; Cross, N. & Grant, D.P. (Eds.) Design Methodology and Relationships with Science: Proceedings of the NATO ARW, Eindhoven, The Netherlands, September 29-October 2, 1992, Springer, 1993

Manning,  W.H., Catalogue of the Romano-British iron tools, fittings and weapons in the British Museum, London , British Museum Publications, c1985. Library: X135E LON

New Scanner (it's actually here!)

 
At the risk of becoming technologically advanced the Joint Library is delighted to announce that our new Zeta scanner has been installed and will be ready for use on Monday.

The scanner gives the option either for black and white printing (10 pence per page) or saving to USB (5 pence per page). Re-usable cards can be purchased for a pound and topped up with credit at the desk. 

It's living in the photocopy room and if you need any assistance feel free to ask a member of staff- we cannot guarantee they'll be entirely competent to begin with...

New Lockers!

To finally end the days of pound swaps and key hunts, the Joint Library of the Hellenic and Roman Societies will be having new lockers installed the week beginning 24th March. The new lockers will work by having a code programmed in so start thinking up something memorable!

All lockers will need to be emptied by 8.00 pm on Tuesday 25th March so the existing lockers can be removed. It is not permitted to use lockers for overnight storage, so any items not removed will be disposed of by Library staff.

Lectores salvete libenter dona ferentes

This week the library is incredibly grateful to Dennis Blandford for his generous gift of an early edition of Virgil’s extant works:

The book was printed in Basel in 1613 and has been rebound probably in the early 19th century. Mr. Blandford purchased it in Bristol during the Blitz and it has miraculously remained in excellent condition.

Although the text does feature some annotation we would like to remind readers that it remains unacceptable in the library

This is the library’s earliest edition of Virgil so far, and we cannot extend our thanks enough!

For more information see the library catalogue.

Accessions mailing list

A preview of our new books mailing list.

Want to keep up to date with the Library's new books? We now have a mailing list for our monthly accessions. You can sign up here or in the sidebar.

New electronic resource on Pompeii

A fantastic new resource for those researching Pompeii is now available at the Library.

'The World of Pompeii' edited by John J. Dobbins & Peter W. Foss contains essays on Pompeii, all by renowned Classicists and also contains a CD-ROM of very detailed maps of the sites at Pompeii and Herculaneum. These maps have been added to our computers - please ask one of our staff for advice on how to use this very useful program.

Publisher's website on the book:

http://www.routledge.com/shopping_cart/products/product_detail.asp?curTab=CONTENTS&id=&parent_id=&sku=&isbn=9780415173247&pc=