Card catalogues - a relic from a bygone era in libraries.

Before the internet, before computers, before typewriters and the skill of typing was commonplace, there were handwritten catalogue cards. What few people realise is that librarians developed a distinctive handwriting style specifically to make these cards easily readable and therefore functional. Enter the ultra-clear written script of ‘Library hand’.

The Enquiries team have been doing something unusual this week. We’ve been talking about ourselves. This isn’t something that comes naturally, and it can seem a bit awkward, but as part of the Library’s staff development programme, we’ve been presenting …

What do the Enquiries team do? Read more »

He’s black and white, soft, and walks closer to the floor than most visitors to his library. No, not Pablo our resident penguin, but Library Cat, frequenter of Edinburgh University Library. Just like Pablo though, Library Cat *does* have a unique …

The Tale of Library Cat (and his penguin reviewer)… Read more »

More books!  Our students demand it.  So do their lecturers for that matter. All the orders from academics and the Faculty Librarians are fed into a big computer in P&M that talks to another computer owned by a big book supplier “across …

Pablo in P&M – We must have more (books)! Read more »

I asked one of the nice Library Assistants why we still had any journals in print. “Is it because some people like to harken back to “ye good olde” days when electronic resources were limited to light switches and portable heaters?” …

Pablo in P&M – The stamp of approval Read more »