HeadLines, the LSC&M Newsletter

HeadLines Issue 8, February 2012

Welcome message

It is almost a year since we published issue 7 of HeadLines and what a year it has been! Since March last year we’ve opened King’s Museum and have since seen over 8700 visitors through the doors. The new library opened its doors on 12th September and has proved to be immensely popular with staff, students and visitors. We’ve had as many as 5,000 visits in the new building in a single day and have seen average occupancy increase by over 105%! The Gallery was opened by our Chancellor in November and there have been over 5,900 visits in eight weeks up to the end of January 2012. The Wolfson Reading Room opened in December and there were over 180 visits in that month alone. Oh, and we moved around 26 miles of stuff between August and December. But that’s not all, as you’ll see with this, the 8th issue of HeadLines. It is another bumper one and includes everything from Anthropology to QR codes with some Databases, Doric, Ebrary, Events, Rebels and Returns en route. Enjoy the read!

Views from the new Library

Georgia Brooker, Communications Co-ordinator
g.brooker@abdn.ac.uk

The University Library continues to gain positive feedback from visitors, as well as complimentary media attention. 

There's always room for improvement though, and there are just a couple of days left to help us make the library even better by responding to the LibQual Survey, which is open until midnight on Wednesday 29 February. Please do take ten minutes to let us know what you think at University of Aberdeen Library Survey 2012.

We've been gathering your views in other ways too, with feedback from a series of forums for the Students' Association Class Representative helping us to make facilities and services more user-friendly. Contributions from around 100 Class Reps have helped library managers to address suggestions from students directly and stay connected. We also invite your comments and questions on our LSC&M Facebook Group. After a huge amount of hard work from teams across the university, it's been incredibly gratifying to see our landmark learning-space brought to life by your enquiring minds!

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Special Collections Centre opens

The Special Collections Centre opened its doors for business on Monday 05 December. It is home to the University’s historic collections of books, manuscripts, archives and photographs.

Housed in climatically controlled facilities, the collections comprise of over 200,000 rare printed books – including more than 4,000 16th century items – as well as 4,000 irreplaceable archival collections, with material dating as far back as the 3rd century BC. The collections cover all aspects of the history and culture of the University, the City of Aberdeen, the region and the relationship they enjoy with the wider world, and are available to be consulted in the Reading Room on the Lower Ground Floor.

The Centre also has a Seminar Room and a Learning Room which provide visitors of all ages with dedicated spaces to learn more about the collections through seminars, workshops and educational activities. The adjacent Glucksman Conservation Centre carries out vital preservation and conservation work on our most fragile items, enabling wider access to these important collections.

Read more about the Special Collections Centre.

Search the collections online

Planning a visit? See our Visitor Information web page.

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Rebels with a Cause

Siobhan Convery, Head of Special Collections (s.convery@abdn.ac.uk) & Scott Byrne, Exhibition and Planning Officer (s.byrne@abdn.ac.uk)

The Exhibition Programme will host an exciting series of exhibitions, each of which will be accompanied by regular, accessible and engaging events which are open to all, including special performances, illustrated talks and accompanied tours.

Scott Byrne, Exhibitions and Public Programming Officer with Special Collections, welcomes your thoughts and queries about any aspect of current or future programming and may be contacted at s.byrne@abdn.ac.uk.

November saw the opening of the Gallery, the curious cube located on the ground floor adjacent to the café. The impressive space represents an important public venue for visitors to the University Library to engage with the collections and be inspired. The space within the Gallery has been designed to be dynamic and accessible, offering opportunities to present enlightening and inspiring exhibitions that make connections to our collections. The exhibitions are being designed to have a broad appeal and to be of interest to a wide public audience.

Rebels with a Cause: The Jacobites and the Global Imagination marks the inaugural exhibition at the Gallery. The exhibition displays treasures from the University's rare book, archive and museum collections to explore and challenge traditional assumptions about the Jacobites. It highlights the worldwide dimension to the Jacobite story, revealing the lives and travels of the historical characters whose ideologies have played a distinctive role in forming part of Scotland's con-temporary cultural identity. The exhibition aims to look at an enduring subject from a new perspective and to appeal to a wide range of visitors; from those well-read on the Jacobites, to others for whom the Jacobites remain an evocative mystery.

For details of forthcoming events see the SCC events calendar.

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Returns Room now open

Georgia Brooker, Communications Co-ordinator
g.brooker@abdn.ac.uk

We've made it simpler and faster for you to return your library books.

The new Returns Room is now in use and is proving a great success. With an automated book sorter, it's the fastest and simplest method for returning borrowed books, including Heavy Demand loans.

Two internal drop points (like letter boxes) allow you to return books one by one through a slot. They're automatically discharged from your borrower record and routed by conveyer belts to sorting boxes allocated to each floor or collection, which are taken to relevant floors for fast reshelving.

You'll find the new room in east corner of the Ground Floor (the area on the right as you come through the University Library's main entrance), so there’s no need to enter through the security gates to use it.

In addition, an external book drop slot has been added to the outside wall of the Returns Room. This allows the return of books when the Library building is closed, as well as open. 24/7 book return is here!

See the Returns Room in action. Watch a video on YouTube.

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Prints for sale from Special Collections

Alison Hay, Photographic/Reprographics Technician
a.hay@abdn.ac.uk; www.abdn.ac.uk/uniprint/

The Print Shop is located outside the access gates on the ground floor of the University Library, and is open Monday to Friday from 8.30am to 4.30pm. You don’t need to scan your ID card to visit the Print Shop.

On display within the Print Shop is a rolling presentation of prints for sale showcasing the objects and paintings from our Special Collections. It contains over 70 images varying from paintings of Japanese Life to drawings of American, Asian and Australian birds, and also a black and white etching of St. Machar’s Cathedral.

These reproductions will be printed to order and can be collected from the Print Shop or posted to our customers. All images are printed to a high quality using either photo glossy or matte paper.

Costs and sizes available are: A4 £9.99, A3 £12.99.

The presentation runs outwith opening hours so, if you spot an image you would like to buy, simply email printshop@abdn.ac.uk with your contact details and order.

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New book explores Aberdeen ‘treasures’

Based on an article by Joanne Milne, Communications Officer (Arts, Social Sciences and Culture)
jo.milnemail@abdn.ac.uk

The Library and Archive Collections of the University of Aberdeen, an Introduction and Description traces the history of our collections over 500 years in the most substantial overview of the collection published since the 1930s. Edited by three Aberdeen academics - Dr Iain Beavan, Professor Peter Davidson and Professor Jane Stevenson - this beautifully produced volume describes significant historical items which have never previously been published, and greatly extends available knowledge on the library's rare and internationally significant artefacts, including the books and manuscripts given at the foundation of King's College in 1495, and the collections which accrued to Marischal College from its foundation in 1593. and the fusion of the two colleges in 1860 into the modern University of Aberdeen.

Professor Davidson said:

"From the beginning, the scope and focus of the University was international, and its developing collections represent a microcosm of the world of knowledge as it changed over the centuries...The University Colleges of Aberdeen have a distinct intellectual tradition: pragmatically tolerant in times of persecution, dissident from the religious and political policies of the lowlands, looking outwards to the world of northern Europe and to the territories of the Jacobite diaspora."

Professor Ian Diamond, Principal and Vice-Chancellor of the University of Aberdeen, added:

"Our collections are of international significance and the new library building is helping to open up the treasures contained within them to the public. Now we have a book that offers a 'gateway' to those world class collections and a fascinating perspective on our own institutional history and the development of the University as an intellectual community."

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Anthropology in the archives

Prof. Robert Segal, Professor of Religious Studies

In September 2010 I spent a week at Oxford going through the papers of the pioneering anthropologist E. B. Tylor. I am writing a short book about Tylor as theorist of religion and of myth. I discovered at Oxford that Tylor, who died in 1917, had given Gifford lectures at the University of Aberdeen. Because Tylor, who'd given the lectures decades earlier, had never managed to finish the book based on them, I, like many others, had never even known he'd given the lectures anywhere, let alone at Aberdeen. Oxford has copies of just a few of the chapters, which were typeset chapter by chapter, but does not have a table of contents.

As soon as I returned to Aberdeen, I went to Special Collections. I didn't find copies of any of Tylor's lectures but, thanks to the help of the staff, did find newspaper cuttings that listed the lectures by name and in order--something I'd not been able to find anywhere at Oxford, including the archives of the would-be publisher, Oxford University Press. I also found most useful information on the logistics of Tylor's visit here. I also learned that Tylor was the first Gifford lecturer at Aberdeen!

I will happily acknowledge Special Collections when I finish my book.

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Museum treasures a click away

Based on an article by Joanne Milne, Communications Officer (Arts, Social Sciences and Culture)
jo.milne@abdn.ac.uk

For the first time our museum treasures can now be searched through a dedicated website and through internet search engines, as well as collections from four other universities, thanks to a £250,000 project to ‘unlock’ the secrets of some of Scotland’s greatest museum treasures.

Over two years nine Scottish universities, led by the University of Aberdeen, have collaborated on the Revealing the Hidden Collections project to digitally catalogue more than 1.8 million objects in some of the nation’s most important collections.

Neil Curtis, Head of Museums at the University of Aberdeen, and project manager said:

“The collections are of exceptional importance to the nation but, before the project, less than eight per cent of collections could be viewed on the web... it is particularly gratifying to see Aberdeen’s collections displayed alongside those of other universities, enabling people to discover material that is spread among a number of institutions. For example, there are works by the painter SJ Peploe in Stirling, Dundee, St Andrews, Glasgow and Edinburgh as well as Aberdeen, while there are Ancient Egyptian mummies in both Glasgow and Aberdeen.”

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Greenland and the North at King's Museum

Georgia Brooker, Comunications Co-ordinator
g.brooker@abdn.ac.uk

Tikilluaritsi (Welcome) to “Collecting|Recollecting: Greenland and the North”: the latest installation at our small but perfectly formed cerebral cortex at the centre of campus, King’s Museum. All are invited to stop and enjoy this artistic and anthropological engagement with past, place, and present, which will run until May 28, 2012.

This exhibition displays many different collaborations. It developed from work between Jo Vergunst of the University’s Department of Anthropology and Mark Eischeid, Jennifer Littlejohn, Malize McBride, artists in the Art Space Nature programme at the Edinburgh College of Art. They worked with Greenlanders in and around Ilulissat, a small town located on the west Greenland coast 250km north of the Arctic Circle, creating artworks and an exhibition there.

For the Aberdeen exhibition, the team worked with Jenny Downes and other museum staff to explore Inuit items in the university’s museum collections. The exhibition therefore displays some of these objects alongside art works created as a result of both their recollections of Greenland and the museum’s collections. Visitors to the exhibition are also encouraged to contribute, with sketchbooks available in the exhibition.

The curators and contributors have merged fieldwork with artwork here, and the result is a crisp, uncluttered space that evokes the landscape of its origins, inviting curiosity and contemplation. The displays are aesthetic as well as ethnographic, with emphasis on the colours and contrasts of the Greenland landscape, and the changing material culture. There are photographs, sketches, models, geological samples, text from local languages, a short film showing the vital role of sledge dogs in Inuit life, and a simple but striking flip-book of sketches that illustrates the evolving design development of sledges across time from traditional to modern models. Perhaps surprisingly, there is also a remarkably beautiful botanical collection of lichens, which provides a subtle palette of colour and texture to evoke the Greenlandic flora. As composite, symbiotic organisms these make a very fitting analogy for the exhibition as a whole.

The display illustrates a facet of the extensive ongoing research into Aberdeen’s northerly connections, and uses some fascinating items from our internationally significant museum collections to enrich the historical and cultural background of native life in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries from Canada, Alaska and Greenland.  Museum artefacts include a harpoon, a intricately constructed waterproof anorak made from natural materials, and a selection of ingenious aids for seal hunting, all representing the harshness and struggle for survival in an unforgiving Arctic environment.  

Come and visit us to do some Northern exploring for yourself!

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Enquiry desk at Medical Library

Claire Carolan, Senior Information Assistant
c.carolan@abdn.ac.uk

Come to visit us at the Medical Library Enquiry Desk, on Foresterhill campus!

Whether you are stuck, and don’t know where to start your search for your next assignment, would like advice on referencing your essay, or maybe need help with setting up a Refworks account, we have time for you at the Medical Library Enquiry Desk. Navigating online journals and databases can be easy...if you know how! We’re here to help.

We hold drop-in sessions Monday – Friday, 9am-4.30pm.

Don’t hesitate to ask our friendly library staff. Looking forward to seeing you soon!

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Ebrary offers e-book download

Elaine Shallcross, Information Consultant
e.shallcross@abdn.ac.uk

Around 70,000 titles in the Ebrary Academic Complete Collection are now available for download and offline use. You have a choice of two download options:

1. Create a PDF file of a specific chapter, or page range up to a maximum of 40 pages, to read on your computer or on mobile devices such as the iPad, Kindle, Kobo, Nook and Sony Reader. PDF files can be kept indefinitely.
2. Download a whole book using Adobe Digital Editions, a piece of free software for Windows and Mac that can be installed on your computer via the ebrary download window. You can use your bookshelf, navigate documents, search text, add bookmarks, print and much more using Adobe Digital Editions. A book downloaded by this method automatically expires after fourteen days, but it is possible to ‘borrow’ the book again.

Look out for the Download button in each record in your search results, or on the toolbar in QuickView.

Please note: around 10 titles purchased individually from ebrary have single user access and are not available to download via Adobe Digital Editions.

Learn more about ebrary’s download feature.

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Alumni Access to JSTOR

Ross Hayworth, Electronic Resources Manager
r.hayworth@abdn.ac.uk

We are delighted to be able to provide University of Aberdeen alumni with access to electronic journals via JSTOR, one of the world's most trusted sources for academic content.

The University of Aberdeen subscription gives graduates access to more than 1000 academic journals across all disciplines and dating from the 17th Century to the present day. This material has previously only been available to our current staff and students but an extended licence means it will now be available to graduates 24/7 from anywhere they can get online! Alumni access to JSTOR is part of a pilot project that will run until July 2012.

To register for this fantastic benefit please register or log into NetCommunity. Please note: if you are new to NetCommunity please allow 48 hours for your new user registration to be processed.

We hope you enjoy using JSTOR.

Link to NetCommunity registration and login page.

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Databases on the move

Elaine Shallcross, Information Consultant
e.shallcross@abdn.ac.uk

Many database providers now make their resources accessible from mobile devices by providing apps or mobile websites. Scopus and Web of Knowledge are two of the most heavily used databases here at Aberdeen, but similar services are also available from other specialist providers such as HeinOnline and RefWorks.

Ever needed to search Scopus or Web of Knowledge while you are travelling or at a conference? Well, owners of mobile devices such as smart phones and tablets can now access these important databases through mobile technology.

Scopus

Search for journal articles, create search alerts, make notes and share links using mobile apps now on offer from Scopus. All this is free of charge for members of the University. Mobile apps are available for the iPhone, iPad, Blackberry and Android.

More info at http://www.info.sciverse.com/sciverse-mobile-applications/overview
Scopus mobile app user guide: http://www.info.sciverse.com/UserFiles/u4/scopus_iphone_userguide.pdf

ScienceDirect mobile app user guide: http://www.info.sciverse.com/UserFiles/u4/sciencedirect_iphone_userguide.pdf

Web of Knowledge

Databases such as Web of Science and Biosis can now be searched individually, on your smartphone or tablet, via the new Web of Knowledge mobile website Anywhere/Anytime. You can also sort, refine and email your results, link to full text, view times cited counts and view your search history.

You must have a Web of Knowledge username and password to use Anywhere/Anytime Access. See our blog, InfoLinks, for instructions on how to set this up.

More info at http://wokinfo.com/about/mobile/
FAQs at http://wokinfo.com/media/pdf/wok-mobile-faqs.pdf

HeinOnline

HeinOnline, an important legal research database, has launched an app for the iPhone and iPad. Use the app to search the database (including by citation), view and download PDF files, browse by volume, and navigate through a volume using the table of contents. HeinOnline account/authentication is required.

See the HeinOnline App Update for more details.

RefWorks

You can use core RefWorks functions from any web-enabled mobile device, such as smartphones or tablets, via their mobile application RefMobile.

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QR barcodes take off

Elaine Shallcross, Information Consultant
e.shallcross@abdn.ac.uk

The library has been using QR barcodes on posters for several years to link to information guides online, web pages and much more. QR barcodes are quick, easy to use, and good for the environment too!

Read a library QR (or Quick Response) barcode using a barcode reader on your smart phone and you will link automatically to all kinds of information from the library online. It’s as simple as that – quick, easy and mobile!

When Law School lecturer, Emre Üşenmez, saw QR barcodes in Taylor Library he liked the concept so much that he decided to use them himself to promote the work of the Centre for Energy Law. He plans to include QR barcodes on leaflets published by the Centre, and encourage his PhD students to include them on their conference posters.

If your smart phone doesn’t already have a barcode reader use your phone’s web browser to go to the BeeTagg website where you can download a free app. iPhone users should search the App Store for BeeTagg Reader Pro.

If you would like to know more about how to create QR barcodes please contact Elaine Shallcross.

See our quick guide Library on your Smart Phone online today!

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New King’s Museum Primary School Programme

Anna Shortland, Curator (Learning and Access)
a.shortland@bdn.ac.uk

Staff at King’s Museum on the Old Aberdeen High Street are thrilled to announce the re-launch of our primary school workshop programme. King’s Museum will host regular hands on workshops that are FREE to all primary schools.

School pupils will have the unique and special opportunity to handle real objects from the University of Aberdeen’s nationally important collections. Workshops will provide pupils with exciting, interactive and collaborative ways of learning about a diverse range of subjects. All of our workshops have been designed to meet a range of learning styles and fully support teachers in bringing different elements of the Curriculum for Excellence to life!

Initially the King’s Museum programme will offer workshops on the following topics: The Romans, Death in Ancient Egypt, Picts and Vikings and the Victorians. These will be developed and added to throughout the year.

For further information about the workshops detailed above and for bookings please contact King’s Museum on:
Tel: 01224 274330
Email: kingsmuseum@abdn.ac.uk

We look forward to welcoming you to King’s Museum.

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Chinese studies at the museum

Tina Stockman, Aberdeen CSG Committee Member, Communication and Publicity

The opening meeting of the Aberdeen Chinese Studies Group proved to be an enjoyable and enlightening event. Neil Curtis, Head of Museums, University of Aberdeen, opened the currently closed Anthropological Museum at Marischal College to the group in order to see items in the Chinese collection. He began the meeting with a brief history of the museum explaining how objects came to be found there in the first place. This could have been due to travellers bringing back artefacts either for themselves or as gifts – or even collectors acquiring items, shall we say, through stealth!

After this introduction, the group was taken behind the scenes to the museum’s vast storage area. Box after box of Chinese textiles, garments, shoes, weapons, ceramics were made available for scrutiny and discussion. Prior to the meeting, Mr Curtis had said that the number of Chinese items stored by the museum was limited. To untutored eyes, the number seemed quite substantial.

It is hoped that members of the group will respond to this event with information and ideas about how to present items from this collection to the public. Many thanks to Neil Curtis for not only for presenting items of specific interest to Chinese Studies but also for demonstrating the enthusiasm, knowledge and creativity required to bring museums to life.

Go online for more information about the university’s museums.

More information about the Aberdeen Chinese Studies Group can be found on their temporary website.

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Old Aberdeen as you’ve never seen it before!

Shona Elliott, Curator (Documentation and Fine Art)
s.elliott@abdn.ac.uk

An exhibition of images taken around Old Aberdeen can be viewed at the Old Town House on the High Street until the end of February. The Old Town House is open from 9am to 5pm, Monday to Saturday, and admission is free.

The exhibition by photographer, Gordon Robertson, captures a broad range of scenes in Old Aberdeen, from recent creations such as the University of Aberdeen’s new library to historical buildings. Gordon uses a variety of techniques to encourage the viewer to see Old Aberdeen in a new light.

Several photographs in the exhibition were taken using a technique known as High Dynamic Range (HDR) whereby multiple exposures are ‘fused’ into a single super image using special software. Others were airbrushed and cloned to remove references to modern living (e.g. traffic lights, double yellow lines etc) with the purpose of creating the look and feel of a bygone era.

Three cameras were used to capture the images depending on the circumstances: a Pentax digital SLR for fine detail, a Panasonic ‘bridge’ camera for the combination of portability and good detail and a Samsung compact for ultimate portability.

Gordon, who is a Training and Development Adviser in the Human Resources department says,

“Old Aberdeen is every photographer’s dream. The High Street would be a perfect backdrop for any costume drama and the architecture of the Old Town House is straight out of a Charles Dickens novel. Anyone living or working in Old Aberdeen is privileged to be surrounded by such great photographic opportunities… My objective for this exhibition is that you will enjoy the images and hopefully be inspired to discover the hidden gems of Old Aberdeen.”

Please contact Shona Elliott (s.elliott@abdn.ac.uk) for more details.

A selection of the photos, printed on A4 paper, can be viewed and ordered in the Print Shop within the University Library or ordered online from www.abdn.ac.uk/uniprint/theprintshop/photographic-exhibition-prints/

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So fit div yi think o’t?

Wendy Pirie, Head of Adminstration and Planning
w.pirie@abdn.ac.uk

So fit div yi think o’t? Wi’r jist fair prood o’t in hope yi are in aa. Fit am ah spikkin aboot? Michty, wir new libray, yi feel! It wis opent it I start o September, aye jist I tap bits, seens it wi hidna finisht shiftin aa I aal books. Bit noo it yir readin iss, I SCC’s open in aa.

Fit a job its bin! Wi startit in aagist in shifitit aa I stuff in I qml it hid bin ust. Aat took’s til I 12 o September fin wid hid wir wee openin do: I Principal spoke richt bonny in er wis hunners o folk ere - they wis comin up I square in in greit gangs. Yi’ll mebbe hae seen’s on I tv? Er’s bin an afa lot o papers in news folk sikkin ti spik till’s aboot it, in I visters – fit a heap wi’v heen!! Wi’v hid all folk, guilds, cooncils, ordinary mannies in wifies, school bairns, in ah hid a 91 eer aal mannie in a lectric wheelcheer on een o ma tours: he wis afa chufft wi’t.

Wi’r fair tickle’t it aa I all stuff is ower here noo. I Gallery his a rare show on aa aboot I Jacobites in wir ain Earl Keith – yi’d need tae come in hae a look it a I rare ferlies its been teen oot o wir presses: er’s stuff fae I museum is weel is aal books in haan-written papers.

It’s jist fair amazin foo much wi hiv in I Special Collections Centre: er’s is much shelves is rin fae here ti Ellin, in thir aa brand new in spankin cleen, bit I best bit is foo guid I aal books look noo thit thiv aa’ bin shiftit. Wi’v aye teen guid care o thim bit thir lookin richt bonny noo it yi kin see thim richt.

In I last thing ti tell yi aboot is fit’s happin til I QML: wi’ll hae aathin oot o’t bi I time yi’r readin iss. Efter at, I builders’ll start ti tak it doon. Wi’r hopin it aa that’ll happin or Mey, in then thi’ll maak I site bonny in plant girsse in mebbe a puckle o trees. Wi’r gaan ti get seats fir outside in aa, so fin wig it some bonny days, ye’ll bi able tae hae yer cuppie outside we’s!

Wendy

Listen to Wendy's recording of this piece in Doric and in Standard English (Size: 3.7MB; Duration:4 mins). A standard English translation of the transcript is also available.

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Anniversary of Aberdeen Nobel Laureate

Professor Jörg Feldmann, Chair in Environmental & Analytical Chemistry

100 years ago saw the publication of the landmark research which resulted in the subsequent award of a Nobel prize to distinguished Aberdeen Chemist, Professor Frederick Soddy.

Soddy was Head of Chemistry at the University of Aberdeen between 1914-1919. “His fortunes here were immediately and drastically affected by the war. He was able to complete some of the work begun in Glasgow, but his radiochemical researches were brought to a premature end by the special wartime demands made upon his laboratories” (Source: Britannica).

In 1921 Soddy received the Nobel Prize for his work on "the origin and the concept of isotopes". Isotopes are atoms which have a different mass but the same chemistry, hence occupy the same place in the periodic table. The word isotope (iso-topos, Greek meaning "the same place") has been coined by Dr Margaret Todd, a Scottish writer who suggested this word to Frederick Soddy. The paper in which Soddy explained the concept for the first time was published 100 years ago (J. Chemical Society (1911) 99, 72-83.)

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Artist James McBey under the spotlight

James Youle, Senior Information Assistant
j.youle@abdn.ac.uk

Senior Information Assistant and regular contributor to HeadLines, James Youle, tells us about his interest in artist James McBey.

I recently donated a portrait to the National Portrait Gallery by the Newburgh born artist James McBey. It is a 1924 signed self portrait etching, titled Artist and Model, and it frames McBey and his young female model against the north light of his artist’s studio window.

James McBey was actually born in 1883 at Newmill, Foveran, near Newburgh. His early life is recounted in his wonderful autobiography The early life of James McBey, and at times it can make for difficult reading. The backdrop to his early life was the unforgiving and harsh countryside north of Aberdeen. He was an illegitimate child, and perhaps because of this his mother showed him no affection. She killed herself at home in 1906 and he discovered the body, making the trips to the doctor and police to report the death. His salvation was the love of his maternal grandparents and a natural talent for art.

At fifteen he became a clerk in the Aberdeen branch of the North of Scotland Bank, and to relieve the monotony of this, he read art books in Aberdeen City Library, and taught himself etching. One of his first exhibited etchings was 'Old Torry' from 1905, and by 1910 he had resigned from the bank to become a full time artist. In 1911 he moved to London and by the time of the First World War he had become an official war artist to the Egyptian expeditionary force, painting among others T E Lawrence ('of Arabia').

By the time of this 1924 self portrait McBey was one of the most successful etchers of his generation. He rarely returned to Aberdeen, but the university did award him an honorary LLD in 1934. He revisited Newburgh and Aberdeen in 1959 for the final time.

His vast archive is held by Aberdeen Art Gallery and there is also a library and print room in his name, courtesy of his wife Marguerite. He died in 1959.

 A number of McBey’s etchings and watercolours are held in our Museum collections -Ed.

See:
Portrait of artist
James McBey’s Morocco by Jennifer Melville. L Aa Z2 McB M
The etchings of James McBey. 767(41) McBe S
The early life of James McBey: an autobiography.

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Homage to QML

Stefan Gatti, Year 3 undergraduate

Wheezing air-conditioner, belches
dry musty booksmell up your nostrils
splattered windows and greying cobwebs.

That form in your mind,
draped over broken spines
breaking their backs
against the weight of time.

Empty tables, full underneath
with crusting gum:
Hanging inverted, like
a Bat in Heaven.

Miniscule scribbles line pillars
more interesting than
Baudelaire's spleen
or Charlie Sheen.

The microscopic world of books
reels and spins, ignoring
the Hushes and the Glares from the ones
that don't share.

A silence enforced by
a mutual understanding
an unquestioned law

...of the Library.

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Staff Update

Long-service awards:
The University have recently acknowledged the long and loyal service of nearly 200 staff, and the following LSC&M staff were among those honoured at receptions in November 2011 and January 2012, with a grand total of 399 years service between them. 

Library
Helen Skinner: 36, Gilian Dawson: 36, Wendy Pirie: 35, Iain McDiarmid:33, Sheona Farquhar: 31, Lesley McLean: 29; Lesley Hendry: 27, Marion Blacklaw: 26

UniPrint
Michael Gordon: 27, David Sang: 28, Derek Kemp: 28, Martin Cooper: 32.

DIT (Applications Support for LSC&M)
Anne Beavan: 31

Staff changes:
Congratulations and welcome to new colleagues who have joined us in recent weeks:

• Anna Shortland (Curator- Learning and Access)
• Brannah MacKenzie (Book Conservator, Special Collections)
• Dawn Wood (Collections Assistant)
• Donna Duggan (Senior Information Assistant - Welcome Desk)
• Emily Richards (Collections Assistant)
• Erica Kotze (Senior Conservator, Glucksman Conservation Centre)
• Glen Doris (Senior Information Assistant - Welcome Desk)
• Helen McPherson (Technician – High Volume Copier Operator, LSC&M – Uniprint)
• Ian Garioch (Van Driver/Custodian, within LSC&M)
• Jan Smith (Information Assistant, Special Collections)
• Louisa Coles (Paper Conservator, Special Collections)
• Lynsey McNab (Learning and Outreach Officer)
• Nicole Stahl (Museum Conservator)
• Ross McClure (Senior Information Assistant - Taylor Library)
• Scott Byrne (Exhibition and Public Programming Officer, Special Collections)
• Sarah Chapman (Learning and Outreach Officer)

Evening & Weekend Assistants
Irfan Ahmad, Alison Borthwick, Alison Burnett, Christopher Heppell, Jackie Jamieson, Joe Johnston, Vivien Logan, Marie Moran, Anupama Ranawana, Nathalie Rast, David Ridley, Lukasz Szalasnik, Tamara Szucs, Paulina Zarembska

Goodbye and good luck to those who have recently left LSC&M and moved on to other posts within the university:
Jill Barber, Wendy Collie, Kerry Karam

And finally ....
A very fond farewell to Information Consultant Gilian Dawson, who has retired from LSC&M after 36 years.

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Issue 8, February 2012

If you have any comments or suggestions for features in future issues please contact us.

Previous issues of HeadLines are available online.

HeadLines editorial team: Georgia Brooker, Lin Masson, Ewan Grant and Elaine Shallcross

We would like to thank Christine Mackenzie of the DIT Training and Documentation Team for her work on the new look HeadLines.