The laboratory
Or more properly, the University Library, where I spent the last 23 years of my career. This isn't a long time in the history of the UL, which has been on this site since 1935 and in the centre of the city before that. It's not even a long time in staff terms as quite a number of people have clocked up 40 plus years, and one, in the time that I was there, did over 50.
The building was designed by Sir Giles Gilbert Scott and is still a relevant building today I think. It's surprisingly efficient in energy terms, which is surprising as much of the space has no double glazing, and was designed to accommodate as many books as possible - a lot of the original shelving space has relatively low ceilings as space that an average person (OK, man) can't reach is wasted. All in all it was an immense privilege to work here, with, generally, superb colleagues.
The title, by the way, comes from something said by an emeritus professor, Gillian Evans, who described libraries as laboratories for the humanities and social sciences.
[D3_01039]
The laboratory
Or more properly, the University Library, where I spent the last 23 years of my career. This isn't a long time in the history of the UL, which has been on this site since 1935 and in the centre of the city before that. It's not even a long time in staff terms as quite a number of people have clocked up 40 plus years, and one, in the time that I was there, did over 50.
The building was designed by Sir Giles Gilbert Scott and is still a relevant building today I think. It's surprisingly efficient in energy terms, which is surprising as much of the space has no double glazing, and was designed to accommodate as many books as possible - a lot of the original shelving space has relatively low ceilings as space that an average person (OK, man) can't reach is wasted. All in all it was an immense privilege to work here, with, generally, superb colleagues.
The title, by the way, comes from something said by an emeritus professor, Gillian Evans, who described libraries as laboratories for the humanities and social sciences.
[D3_01039]