A New Hope...
- Jan 1, 2016
- 4 min read
Updated: Jan 3, 2021
New Year's Day seemed as good a time as any to reflect on a busy few months.
Changes are happening, not least because 2015 turned out to be the year when I finally decided to hand in my notice after some 11 years in my current role. I've also jumped on the Star Wars bandwagon, as you can see....
....ooh - just had an idea! Maybe I could do an entire blog post like this:
(Generated via the Star Wars Crawl Creator)
....Nope? Not feeling that? Well, alright then... never mind - let's just forget this!
So - I will be leaving my job at Kingston to start at the Royal College of Nursing later this month - something I am very excited about! I'll obviously miss the people I have worked with (some for over a decade!) at Kingston but it also feels like the right time to move on. I am sure it will also be something of an adventure, not least as it will be the first time I'll be venturing into Central London on a daily basis! I have already had the chance to explore RCN's Library & Heritage Centre which is a located in a mansion building on Cavendish Square (...just behind the big John Lewis!) and was refurbished in 2013. It's an impressive facility ("Europe's largest nursing-specific collection", no less!) and I very much look forward to starting work there soon!
My new workplace!
Also in 2015 I finally Chartered as a Librarian and I managed to visit some eight different countries, including the Czech Republic, Poland and Portugal. I also enjoyed/survived(!) my third Cycling for Libraries tour - The New Nordic Tour - easily the toughest of the lot so far due to some pretty unforgiving weather, combined with some even less forgiving hills!
My latest trip took me to Switzerland and Liechtenstein. This included a visit to Zürich Zentralbibliothek, a stately building which houses both the capital's Central Library and main University Library collection. It is a historically significant collection comprising some 7 million volumes, housed within a former Friars' Abbey in the old quarter of the city:
The grand facade of Zürich's Central Library
Security was tight, perhaps due to the nature of the collection - some of which dates back to mediaeval times and includes some 1,600 incunables! Visitors go through a black curtain inside the main entrance before being greeted by a guard outside the main reading room's doors. The interior is surprisingly bright and modern, however (the building was refurbished as recently as 1995) with windows of different shapes and sizes featuring prominently:
Looking down towards the entrance of the main reading room of Zürich's Central Library
Having a peek through the round window!
New technology mixes seamlessly with old (card catalogues could be
found nearby) within Zürich's Zentralbibliothek circulation space
Zürich University is also home to a fantastic Law Library, designed by Santiago Calatrava. It reminds me a lot of Aberdeen University's Sir Duncan Rice Library (by Schmidt Hammer Lassen Architects) which I visited a couple of years back, with contoured layers similarly leading up to a beaming skylight in the centre. Here's some video footage of the interior of this impressive faculty library which gives a good idea of the slightly sci-fi-esque feel of the place:
An elevator ride up the Zurich University Law Library
The rest of my short weekend away was a real whistle-stop tour as I successfully managed to cram a great deal into what worked out to be less than a 36-hour trip! Here are some potted highlights:
The amazing library bar at the B2 Hotel just outside Google's Swiss HQ
The Central and University Library, Lucerne (ZHB)
designed by Swiss architect Otto Dreyer [Opened 1951]
The famous wooden Kapellbrücke (Chapel Bridge) in Lucerne, Switzerland which was destroyed by fire in 1993 but has since been faithfully restored
This cultural centre was the closest thing I managed to find to a library in tiny Vaduz, Liechtenstein (although this website suggests I simply wasn't looking hard enough!)
Snowy scenes! It's the winter we've all been missing here
in the UK where it's been unseasonably mild, thus far...
I don't know how much I will get the chance to travel in 2016 but one of my main aims is to attend my first IFLA Congress. The International Federation of Library Associations' main annual conference is due to take place in Ohio this August and I very much hope to be a part of it. Cycling for Libraries 2016 also looks likely to be somewhere on the North American continent which gives me even more reason to want to get out there! I am also pleased to have very recently joined the International Librarians Network as their Data Officer - another new role I look forward to getting my stuck into as the year unfolds...
In the meantime Happy New Year everyone and best wishes for 2016!!
A festive creature at the Zoologisches Museum, Universität Zürich!
Video reference:
Clemenslee (2009) Santiago Calatrava Zurich Law Library - Elevator Ride. Available online: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c2_k5qHR73Q. [Accessed 01.01.2016]
Image reference:
Pavilion Publishing and Media Ltd 2015 (2013) RCN Nursing History Centre opened. Available online: https://www.jfhc.co.uk/uploadedImages/Redbox/Pavilion_Content/Our_Content/Social_Care_and_Health/news/JFHC_News/SAPNHA/nursingheritagecentre.jpg. [Accessed 01.01.2016]
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