Blog Posts From Library & Archives Tagged With 60_second_staff_encounters_l&a http://www.nhm.ac.uk/natureplus/community/library/blog Natural History Museum Library and Collections Fri, 30 May 2014 13:51:55 GMT Jive SBS 4.5.6.0 (http://jivesoftware.com/products/clearspace/) 2014-05-30T13:51:55Z 60 second staff encounter: Kate Tyte http://www.nhm.ac.uk/natureplus/community/library/blog/2014/05/30/60-second-staff-encounter-kate-tyte <!-- [DocumentBodyStart:9bf7d2b8-84f3-4fa3-97b9-88b6d70c4601] --><div class="jive-rendered-content"><p>In March we welcomed Kate to our team as Assistant Archivist. A museum archive is familiar territory for Kate, having joined us from the Royal College of Surgeons and the Hunterian Museum, where for three years she worked as Project Assistant, cataloguing their institutional records. There is much common ground between our two organisations, and consequently she is already familiar with important individuals such as Richard Owen, who became Hunterian Professor (1836) and first Superintendent of British Museum (Natural History) in 1856, which was to later become the NHM.</p><p style="min-height: 8pt; height: 8pt; padding: 0px;">&#160;</p><p><a href="http://www.nhm.ac.uk/natureplus/servlet/JiveServlet/showImage/38-3711-75165/Kate-Tyte.jpg"><img alt="Kate-Tyte.jpg" class="jive-image-thumbnail jive-image" height="299" src="http://www.nhm.ac.uk/natureplus/servlet/JiveServlet/downloadImage/38-3711-75165/450-299/Kate-Tyte.jpg" style="float: right;" width="450"/></a></p><p>When walking around the museum there are specimens that she recognises, and a number of NHM staff are already familiar to her as visitors to the Hunterian, researching subjects such as Human Remains.</p><p style="min-height: 8pt; height: 8pt; padding: 0px;">&#160;</p><p>Now that Kate is part of our team, one of the biggest adjustments she has had to make, is getting used the how much bigger we are, both in the number of staff but also the size of the South Kensington site. This is a common problem of being new here, finding your way around in your first few months! She describes her experience of going to attend her first lunchtime staff yoga class, located in the basement as "being like Alice in Wonderland, because I felt like I was going down, down, down!".</p><p style="min-height: 8pt; height: 8pt; padding: 0px;">&#160;</p><p>How did Kate originally find herself becoming interested in the world of archives? As part of her English Literature Degree, she worked on a project to rewrite the guidebook for a National Trust property, and found that she thoroughly enjoyed doing the research. Since then she has obtained an Archives Masters Degree at Liverpool University, so there is no turning back now!!</p><p style="min-height: 8pt; height: 8pt; padding: 0px;">&#160;</p><p>What has the new job involved so far? Her biggest role is to provide access to the Museum's Business Archive, by answering enquiries from both staff and the public, and cataloguing the collection. One example of the latter that she has worked on, is the draft Bird Report by Edward A Wilson, from the Terra Nova Expedition of Antarctica. Sadly Wilson was to later perish there with Captain Scott in 1912. For Kate it was very poignant looking at this collection, which includes some drawings, not just due to the inevitable sad conclusion, but because you are reading some of the very first descriptions and observations of this part of the world.</p><p style="min-height: 8pt; height: 8pt; padding: 0px;">&#160;</p><p>Kate has a particular interest in expeditions, and is very much looking forward to learning more through her work about the museum's role since 1881, in expeditions all over the world. </p><p style="min-height: 8pt; height: 8pt; padding: 0px;">&#160;</p><p>The other major part of her job is to answer enquiries about the archive. Some of the subjects she has handled so far have involved architectural plans for our building, and the provenance of specific specimens from the scientific collections. She has liaised not only with our own staff, but other museum staff and researchers from all over world. </p><p style="min-height: 8pt; height: 8pt; padding: 0px;">&#160;</p><p>She is looking forward to seeing the Mammoths Exhibition, and in July her first visit to our Natural History Museum, Tring.</p></div><!-- [DocumentBodyEnd:9bf7d2b8-84f3-4fa3-97b9-88b6d70c4601] --> behind_the_scenes_in_the_library 60_second_staff_encounters_l&a Fri, 30 May 2014 13:51:55 GMT http://www.nhm.ac.uk/natureplus/community/library/blog/2014/05/30/60-second-staff-encounter-kate-tyte Hellen Pethers - Library and Archives 2014-05-30T13:51:55Z 1 year, 2 months ago 0 http://www.nhm.ac.uk/natureplus/community/library/blog/comment/60-second-staff-encounter-kate-tyte http://www.nhm.ac.uk/natureplus/community/library/blog/feeds/comments?blogPost=3711 60 second staff encounter: Ruth Benny http://www.nhm.ac.uk/natureplus/community/library/blog/2014/05/28/60-second-staff-encounter-ruth-benny <!-- [DocumentBodyStart:da13fe4c-3902-4044-a1f7-dee359b3b197] --><div class="jive-rendered-content"><p>Ruth has been with us since mid-January as Archivist for the Wallace Correspondence Project. She is perfectly suited to the role, having joined us from a similar project at the National Portrait Gallery (NPG). That project concerned the correspondence of Victorian painter and sculptor George Frederic Watts (1817-1904). Her work involved organising, cataloguing and digitising a collection of 1500 letters. There are comparisons to be drawn between Watts and Alfred Russel Wallace. Both came from a poor background, became social reformers, their interests were much wider than just the study of the arts or natural history, and since the popularity of their day, are now relatively less known. </p><p style="min-height: 8pt; height: 8pt; padding: 0px;">&#160;</p><p>Ruth's first introduction to using archives came whilst completing her BA in History during 2005, which inspired her to apply for a post at Lambeth Palace Library. This interest encouraged her to undertake a Archives Records Management MA at UCL, where her dissertation studied black, minority and ethnic archives.</p><p style="min-height: 8pt; height: 8pt; padding: 0px;">&#160;</p><p>Since Ruth has taken over as Archivist to the Wallace Correspondence project, more than 40 extra letters have been added to the online collection. One of her main responsibilities is to increase the total number that have been transcribed: currently nearly 50% have been. As well as her own contributions, she manages a team of volunteer transcribers and proof reading their work before they are added to the website. </p><p><a href="http://www.nhm.ac.uk/natureplus/servlet/JiveServlet/showImage/38-3710-75132/Ruth-Benny.jpg"><img alt="Ruth-Benny.jpg" class="jive-image-thumbnail jive-image" height="327" src="http://www.nhm.ac.uk/natureplus/servlet/JiveServlet/downloadImage/38-3710-75132/449-327/Ruth-Benny.jpg" style="float: left;" width="449"/></a></p><p style="min-height: 8pt; height: 8pt; padding: 0px;">&#160;</p><p>Each year for two weeks during the summer, the Library &amp; Archives hosts a group of Harvard students as part of their 8 week summer school programme here in the UK. So in July, Ruth will provide the next group of students with a chance to learn about the work of Wallace, by meeting scientists and specimens behind the scenes and giving them each a selection of letters to transcribe. At the end of their visit, these will then be proof read and added to the online resource.</p><p style="min-height: 8pt; height: 8pt; padding: 0px;">&#160;</p><p>Part of Ruth's role includes finding letters in other repositories and arranging for scans of letters to be included in the Wallace Correspondence Project.</p><p style="min-height: 8pt; height: 8pt; padding: 0px;">&#160;</p><p style="min-height: 8pt; height: 8pt; padding: 0px;">&#160;</p><p style="min-height: 8pt; height: 8pt; padding: 0px;">&#160;</p><p>An exciting development is that one of Wallace's notebooks from Rio Negro, which is extremely faint and therefore illegible, is being sent to the British Library (BL) to be scanned on their new spectral imaging machine. This technique was used by the BL for their Livingstone Project. Once this is complete Ruth will ensure it is added to the website, making it accessible to all.</p><p>Currently Ruth is preparing extra unpublished material including some drawings, from the Wallace collection held in the Library &amp; Archives, to be scanned in-house and added.</p><p style="min-height: 8pt; height: 8pt; padding: 0px;">&#160;</p><p>With a zoologist mother and geologist sister, Ruth was already immersed in the world of natural history, but has already learnt a lot through her work here. She grew up in London and of course visited the museum as a child, but "it's so cool going behind the scenes and being here before the museum opens its doors to the public each day!".&#160; Some of her highlights are the stain glass windows in the Central Hall, the Herbarium, the Bird Gallery and the Wildlife Garden. She, along with many others, is looking forward to seeing the new Mammoths exhibition. </p></div><!-- [DocumentBodyEnd:da13fe4c-3902-4044-a1f7-dee359b3b197] --> behind_the_scenes_in_the_library wallace_correspondence_project 60_second_staff_encounters_l&a Wed, 28 May 2014 16:55:09 GMT http://www.nhm.ac.uk/natureplus/community/library/blog/2014/05/28/60-second-staff-encounter-ruth-benny Hellen Pethers - Library and Archives 2014-05-28T16:55:09Z 1 year, 2 months ago 0 http://www.nhm.ac.uk/natureplus/community/library/blog/comment/60-second-staff-encounter-ruth-benny http://www.nhm.ac.uk/natureplus/community/library/blog/feeds/comments?blogPost=3710 60 second staff encounter: Hellen Pethers http://www.nhm.ac.uk/natureplus/community/library/blog/2013/12/09/60-second-staff-encounter-hellen-sharman <!-- [DocumentBodyStart:833cde85-b5d5-4bf4-a8d0-c35d4f23e7bf] --><div class="jive-rendered-content"><p><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><strong>Hellen Pethers: Reader Services Librarian</strong></span></p><p style="min-height: 8pt; height: 8pt; padding: 0px;">&#160;</p><p style="min-height: 8pt; height: 8pt; padding: 0px;">&#160;</p><p><a href="http://www.nhm.ac.uk/natureplus/servlet/JiveServlet/showImage/38-3307-64127/Hellen-Pethers-blog.jpg"><img alt="Hellen-Pethers-blog.jpg" class="jive-image" height="542" src="http://www.nhm.ac.uk/natureplus/servlet/JiveServlet/downloadImage/38-3307-64127/412-542/Hellen-Pethers-blog.jpg" style="float: left;" width="412"/></a></p><p style="min-height: 8pt; height: 8pt; padding: 0px;">&#160;</p><p style="min-height: 8pt; height: 8pt; padding: 0px;">&#160;</p><p style="min-height: 8pt; height: 8pt; padding: 0px;">&#160;</p><p style="min-height: 8pt; height: 8pt; padding: 0px;">&#160;</p><p><strong>How long have you worked at the NHM?</strong></p><p style="min-height: 8pt; height: 8pt; padding: 0px;">&#160;</p><p>8 1/2 years, wow that went fast!</p><p style="min-height: 8pt; height: 8pt; padding: 0px;">&#160;</p><p><strong>What were you doing before you came here?</strong></p><p style="min-height: 8pt; height: 8pt; padding: 0px;">&#160;</p><p>I graduated from Brighton University (Library and Information Studies BA Hons) in 2000 and began my professional career at the National Maritime Museum, Greenwich, by starting as a Library Assistant and progressing to Librarian. I joined the NHM in 2005, so now I've spent 13 years working in the Museum Library environment and love it! I've been fortunate enough to work in two fantastic large museums, in two incredible buildings and with internationally renowned collections. I count myself very lucky!</p><p style="min-height: 8pt; height: 8pt; padding: 0px;">&#160;</p><p><strong><strong>What does your average day look like?</strong></strong></p><p><br/>I'm responsible for the day to day management of our Public Reading Room and my office is next to the main enquiry desk. With so many different people making appointments to visit us and contacting us via phone and email, no day is the same nor predictable. I love meeting new people, learning about their research and exchanging a shared love of the natural world. </p><p style="min-height: 8pt; height: 8pt; padding: 0px;">&#160;</p><p style="min-height: 8pt; height: 8pt; padding: 0px;">&#160;</p><p style="min-height: 8pt; height: 8pt; padding: 0px;">&#160;</p><p style="min-height: 8pt; height: 8pt; padding: 0px;">&#160;</p><p style="min-height: 8pt; height: 8pt; padding: 0px;">&#160;</p><p>We have collections in over 100 locations all over the Museum's South Kensington site and elsewhere, so fetching the material requested by visitors ready for their visit is a constant activity. I manage the Library &amp; Archives blog and Twitter <a class="jive-link-external-small" href="https://twitter.com/NHM_Library">@NHM_Library</a>, and encourage my colleagues to contribute to regular entries such as Item of the Month and behind the scenes project updates. I really enjoy sharing my enthusiasm for our collections and I get the chance to take part in Nature Live talks within the Museum. These have been on <a class="jive-link-blog-small" href="http://www.nhm.ac.uk/natureplus/community/library/blog/2010/08/24/item-of-the-month-no-1-august-2010--william-smith-a-national-treasure">William Smith's geological map </a>and on printed zoological ephemera relating to menageries and other oddities. </p><p style="min-height: 8pt; height: 8pt; padding: 0px;">&#160;</p><p><strong>If you had to pick one favourite from the L&amp;A collections what would it be?</strong></p><p style="min-height: 8pt; height: 8pt; padding: 0px;">&#160;</p><p>In 8 years I've become rather fond of numerous items in the collections, in particular printed ephemera relating to the weird and wonderful world of menageries and animal shows. But if I really had to pick one, it would be <a class="jive-link-external-small" href="http://piclib.nhm.ac.uk/results.asp?search=1&amp;screenwidth=1259&amp;pixperpage=40&amp;searchtxtkeys=Campi+Phlegraei&amp;lastsearchtxtkeys=&amp;withinresults=&amp;lstformats=&amp;lstorients=All+Orientations&amp;chkpho=&amp;chkill=&amp;chkpor=&amp;chkarc=&amp;chkfos=&amp;chkspe=&amp;chksem=&amp;chkmodrel=">William Hamilton's Campi Phlegrei</a> (1779), because it makes me chuckle thinking about the first time I learnt about it. When I started at the NHM I worked as Assistant Librarian in the Earth Sciences Library, I had just spent the previous 5 years being immersed in the world of Admiral Nelson. So I was almost relieved to start my new job, surrounded by fossils and minerals, seemingly a world away from Horatio! Only to find that in my first week, I was introduced to this wonderful book depicting the different stages of activity of Mount Vesuvius, and only to find that the author William Hamilton was the husband of Admiral Horatio Nelson's mistress Emma! Turns out I can run, but I can't hide!</p><p style="min-height: 8pt; height: 8pt; padding: 0px;">&#160;</p><p><strong>Do you have a favourite place or object on display in the Museum?</strong></p><p style="min-height: 8pt; height: 8pt; padding: 0px;">&#160;</p><p>On a beautiful sunny summer's day I love our <a class="jive-link-external-small" href="http://www.nhm.ac.uk/visit-us/whats-on/wildlife-garden-whatson/index.html">Wildlife Garden</a>, a little gem in central London. You can sit surrounded by nature, whilst still being aware of the hustle and bustle of London traffic around you. But nothing beats standing by the giant sequoia at the top of the museum, first thing in the morning, as the sun shines through the stained glass windows, across the empty floor of the central hall before the doors open and our visitors fill the building.</p><p style="min-height: 8pt; height: 8pt; padding: 0px;">&#160;</p><p><strong>If you had to spend the rest of your life as an animal, what would it be and why?</strong></p><p><br/>Since working at the NHM I've fallen in love with many animals I didn't even know existed, but I think I would be a dolphin. Family means everything to me, as far as I can see dolphins always look like they are having fun and stick together as a unit, so that's good enough for me!</p></div><!-- [DocumentBodyEnd:833cde85-b5d5-4bf4-a8d0-c35d4f23e7bf] --> behind_the_scenes_in_the_library 60_second_staff_encounters_l&a Mon, 09 Dec 2013 10:48:38 GMT http://www.nhm.ac.uk/natureplus/community/library/blog/2013/12/09/60-second-staff-encounter-hellen-sharman Hellen Pethers - Library and Archives 2013-12-09T10:48:38Z 1 year, 7 months ago 0 http://www.nhm.ac.uk/natureplus/community/library/blog/comment/60-second-staff-encounter-hellen-sharman http://www.nhm.ac.uk/natureplus/community/library/blog/feeds/comments?blogPost=3307 60 second staff encounter: Mel Smith http://www.nhm.ac.uk/natureplus/community/library/blog/2013/11/27/60-second-staff-encounter-mel-smith <!-- [DocumentBodyStart:4b83a38f-cacc-4bb2-9676-0dc5ab7220ef] --><div class="jive-rendered-content"><p style="color: #000000; font-family: 'Segoe UI', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: medium;"><p style="min-height: 8pt; height: 8pt; padding: 0px;">&#160;</p></p><p><span style="color: #008000;"><strong>How long have you worked at the NHM?</strong> </span></p><p style="min-height: 8pt; height: 8pt; padding: 0px;">&#160;</p><p>17 years.</p><p style="min-height: 8pt; height: 8pt; padding: 0px;">&#160;</p><p><span style="color: #008000;"><strong>What were you doing before you came here?</strong></span></p><p style="min-height: 8pt; height: 8pt; padding: 0px;">&#160;</p><p>When I finished my degree in Science Policy I got as job as a trainee Library Assistant in the Library at UCL.&#160; I spent a year at UCL dividing my time between the Medical Sciences Section of the Main Science Library and the Boldero Library in the Middlesex hospital.&#160;&#160; I loved the job and was inspired to do a professional library qualification at Sheffield University.&#160; After my Master&rsquo;s I stayed on to do a PhD at Sheffield looking at the impact of the Internet on the information seeking behaviour of academic researchers.&#160; I then joined the NHM as an Assistant Librarian in the Earth Sciences Library, initially looking after the journals collections and then the books.&#160; I have been the Library&rsquo;s Collection Manager, working across all subject collections since 2003.<span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"><strong><a href="http://www.nhm.ac.uk/natureplus/servlet/JiveServlet/showImage/38-3347-63856/Mel-Smith-Library-Collections-Manager.jpg"><img alt="Mel-Smith-Library-Collections-Manager.jpg" class="jive-image-thumbnail jive-image" height="284" src="http://www.nhm.ac.uk/natureplus/servlet/JiveServlet/downloadImage/38-3347-63856/450-284/Mel-Smith-Library-Collections-Manager.jpg" style="float: right;" width="450"/></a></strong></span></p><p style="min-height: 8pt; height: 8pt; padding: 0px;">&#160;</p><p><span style="color: #008000;"><strong>What does your average day look like?</strong></span></p><p>I don&rsquo;t really have an average day.&#160; My main role is to ensure that the library collections are happy, that they are available to Library users and we acquire appropriate new content that meets our users&rsquo; needs.&#160; My team is&#160; responsible for the acquisition and curation of the Modern Library Collections and they get on with the day to day work of looking after the library collections. I spend most of my time on project work which at the moment includes the Library elements of the Museum&rsquo;s Collections Storage project (CSIP).</p><p style="min-height: 8pt; height: 8pt; padding: 0px;">&#160;</p><p><span style="color: #008000;"><strong>If you had to pick one favourite from the L&amp;A collections what would it be?</strong></span></p><p style="min-height: 8pt; height: 8pt; padding: 0px;">&#160;</p><p>Back to my Earth Sciences days I&rsquo;ve always liked Sopwith&rsquo;s Geological Models which are beautiful wooden models of various geological features which can be quite a challenge to put together for a display, as I know to my cost.&#160; Also <a class="jive-link-external-small" href="http://piclib.nhm.ac.uk/results.asp?search=1&amp;screenwidth=1362&amp;pixperpage=40&amp;searchtxtkeys=swebach&amp;lastsearchtxtkeys=sopwith&amp;withinresults=&amp;lstformats=&amp;lstorients=All+Orientations&amp;chkpho=&amp;chkill=&amp;chkpor=&amp;chkarc=&amp;chkfos=&amp;chkspe=&amp;chksem=&amp;chkmodrel=">Fran&#231;ois Louis Swebach Desfontaines&rsquo;</a>, mineral prospectus is really unusual and quite stunning.</p><p style="min-height: 8pt; height: 8pt; padding: 0px;">&#160;</p><p><span style="color: #008000;"><strong>Do you have a favourite place or object on display in the Museum?</strong></span></p><p style="min-height: 8pt; height: 8pt; padding: 0px;">&#160;</p><p>I like the gems exhibition in the Earth Galleries.</p><p style="min-height: 8pt; height: 8pt; padding: 0px;">&#160;</p><p><span style="color: #008000;"><strong>If you had to spend the rest of your life as an animal, what would it be and why?</strong></span></p><p style="min-height: 8pt; height: 8pt; padding: 0px;">&#160;</p><p>A Meerkat, I like to keep an eye on what&rsquo;s happening around me.</p></div><!-- [DocumentBodyEnd:4b83a38f-cacc-4bb2-9676-0dc5ab7220ef] --> 60_second_staff_encounters_l&a Wed, 27 Nov 2013 14:07:06 GMT http://www.nhm.ac.uk/natureplus/community/library/blog/2013/11/27/60-second-staff-encounter-mel-smith Hellen Pethers - Library and Archives 2013-11-27T14:07:06Z 1 year, 8 months ago 0 http://www.nhm.ac.uk/natureplus/community/library/blog/comment/60-second-staff-encounter-mel-smith http://www.nhm.ac.uk/natureplus/community/library/blog/feeds/comments?blogPost=3347 60 second staff encounter: Caroline Catchpole http://www.nhm.ac.uk/natureplus/community/library/blog/2013/09/27/60-second-staff-encounter-caroline-catchpole <!-- [DocumentBodyStart:7cfac498-e258-46ac-b87c-0590e5018ebe] --><div class="jive-rendered-content"><p><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><strong>Caroline Catchpole: Archivist Wallace Collection</strong></span></p><p style="min-height: 8pt; height: 8pt; padding: 0px;">&#160;</p><p style="min-height: 8pt; height: 8pt; padding: 0px;">&#160;</p><p><a href="http://www.nhm.ac.uk/natureplus/servlet/JiveServlet/showImage/38-3309-60895/Caroline-Catchpole-Blog.jpg"><img alt="Caroline-Catchpole-Blog.jpg" class="jive-image" height="600" src="http://www.nhm.ac.uk/natureplus/servlet/JiveServlet/downloadImage/38-3309-60895/386-600/Caroline-Catchpole-Blog.jpg" style="float: left;" width="386"/></a></p><p style="min-height: 8pt; height: 8pt; padding: 0px;">&#160;</p><p><strong>How long have you worked at the NHM?</strong></p><p><br/>2 years</p><p style="min-height: 8pt; height: 8pt; padding: 0px;">&#160;</p><p><strong>What were you doing before you came here?</strong></p><p><br/>I began my archive career at Kew Gardens where I worked for two years, the second year part time whilst I studied for my archival qualification at UCL. I then worked in the archives at Kings College London before coming here.</p><p style="min-height: 8pt; height: 8pt; padding: 0px;">&#160;</p><p><strong>What does your average day look like?</strong></p><p><br/>I think one of the reasons I became an Archivist is that no two days are the same which keeps you on your toes! As Archivist for the <a class="jive-link-external-small" href="http://wallaceletters.info/">Wallace Correspondence Project</a>, one thing I can be sure of is that my day will include thinking about and talking about Wallace! My job includes cataloguing Wallace letters into our project&rsquo;s database, answering enquiries about the project and Wallace. I research the letters and select which ones to tweet about on the NHM L&amp;A Twitter page (<a class="jive-link-external-small" href="https://twitter.com/NHM_Library">@nhm_library </a>)and also which ones to write about for my &#8216;Letter of the Month&rsquo; blog. (<a class="" href="http://www.nhm.ac.uk/natureplus/community/wallace100?view=blog">Wallace100 blog</a>) </p><p style="min-height: 8pt; height: 8pt; padding: 0px;">&#160;</p><p>Our database of letters includes letters to and from Wallace from repositories around the world, so I&rsquo;m responsible for talking to these repositories and arranging for their Wallace letters to be scanned and sent to me. I also manage a successful volunteering programme whereby volunteers assist the project by transcribing the letters. I then link the transcriptions to our database so people who use <a class="jive-link-external-small" href="http://www.nhm.ac.uk/research-curation/scientific-resources/collections/library-collections/wallace-letters-online/index.html?utm_source=wallacelettersonline-short-url&amp;utm_medium=wallacelettersonline-short-url&amp;utm_campaign=wallacelettersonline-short-url">Wallace Letters Online </a>are met most of the time (2,600 out of 4,700 letters are transcribed) with a user-friendly transcription instead of trying to decipher Victorian scrawl. </p><p style="min-height: 8pt; height: 8pt; padding: 0px;">&#160;</p><p style="min-height: 8pt; height: 8pt; padding: 0px;">&#160;</p><p>I also get to give talks to the public about Wallace and his archive we have here at the museum which is one of my favourite things to do.</p><p style="min-height: 8pt; height: 8pt; padding: 0px;">&#160;</p><p><strong>If you had to pick one favourite from the L&amp;A collections what would it be?</strong></p><p><br/>A letter that Wallace wrote to <a class="jive-link-external-small" href="http://www.nhm.ac.uk/research-curation/scientific-resources/collections/library-collections/wallace-letters-online/349/349/T/details.html">Richard Spruce in September 1852 </a>because the story contained in it is so dramatic and life-changing. Wallace left the Amazon in July 1852, but he was shipwrecked when the boat that was taking him back to England caught fire and sank not long into the voyage. He only had time to save a few personal possessions before abandoning ship. The survivors were rescued 10 days later and it was aboard this rescue boat that Wallace composed his 8 page letter to Spruce. In it he details the sinking and the loss of two years&rsquo; worth of Amazonian specimens. You can really feel the desolation at having lost his collections &ndash; he wrote that his collections would have been the finest in Europe had they survived. Towards the end of the letter you can feel his utter joy at arriving back in the UK after the nightmare voyage home. This letter always makes me wonder as well would his life have taken a different course if he hadn&rsquo;t lost his collections and diaries and notes from the Amazon? </p><p style="min-height: 8pt; height: 8pt; padding: 0px;">&#160;</p><p><strong>Do you have a favourite place or object on display in the Museum?</strong></p><p><br/>My favourite public place in the museum is the balcony where the Huxley and Owen statues are and looking back at Central Hall over Dippy, to the Darwin Statue and Wallace portrait. I still get awestruck every time I&rsquo;m up there. My favourite objects on display are the Blaschka glass models in the Treasures gallery; they are so beautiful and unique. I think it speaks volumes that with all the technology we have today, no-one has been able to reproduce them since they were first made in the nineteenth century.</p><p style="min-height: 8pt; height: 8pt; padding: 0px;">&#160;</p><p><strong>If you had to spend the rest of your life as an animal, what would it be and why?</strong></p><p><br/>A bumblebee. They do such a vital job for our eco-system and are having a bit of a hard time of it at the moment. 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We have been getting busier over the last 5 years which is great and it is fascinating to see the variety of visitors from all over the world coming to use our unique collections. We are regarded as a national collection as well as a local library supporting NHM research &ndash; this can be a tricky balance to maintain!</p><p style="min-height: 8pt; height: 8pt; padding: 0px;">&#160;</p><p style="min-height: 8pt; height: 8pt; padding: 0px;">&#160;</p><p><strong>If you had to pick one favourite from the L&amp;A collections what would it be?</strong></p><p><br/>I don&rsquo;t really have much to do with the collections anymore which is a shame so all my favourites will come from my time as an Earth Sciences Librarian. I have a soft spot for William Buckland: a fascinating and slightly bonkers contradiction of a man whose work supported the theory of a biblical flood but was also quite ground breaking in hinting at modern developments in geology and palaeontology. Check out the background image on our <a class="jive-link-external-small" href="https://twitter.com/NHM_Library">twitter page </a>&ndash; a beautiful fold-out from Geology and Mineralogy Considered with Reference to Natural Theology (1836). </p><p><br/><strong>Do you have a favourite place or object on display in the Museum?</strong></p><p><br/>Place = Top of the main staircase next to the Giant Sequoia. Object = I love some of the retro galleries like Human Biology. It was a totally different way of designing museum galleries (no specimens!). I think we are moving towards more science and collections on public display which is great. The Polar Bear is my favourite object &ndash; huge paws.</p><p><br/><strong>If you had to spend the rest of your life as an animal, what would it be and why?</strong></p><p><br/>A duck. I love being on or around rivers and canals, they can walk, swim and fly plus they are smart enough to be tame and get fed by humans. 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The volunteering was great &ndash; in one box, a Roman shoe; in the next, a medieval horse skull.</p><p style="min-height: 8pt; height: 8pt; padding: 0px;">&#160;</p><p><strong>What does your average day look like?</strong></p><p style="min-height: 8pt; height: 8pt; padding: 0px;">&#160;</p><p>I might spend time buying books for the Entomology Library, or working on projects with external academic visitors. </p><p>Mainly though, I spend a lot of time cataloguing our collections. It&rsquo;s not a dull job here - today I&rsquo;ve catalogued an 1870s Austrian sales catalogue, advertising plaster heads &amp; preserved frogs; 1930s newspaper cuttings on a secret journey through Forbidden Arabia; and 1970s reports on the Loch Morar monster. 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Walking past it every morning gives me a real kick.</p><p style="min-height: 8pt; height: 8pt; padding: 0px;">&#160;</p><p><strong>If you had to spend the rest of your life as an animal, what would it be and why?</strong></p><p style="min-height: 8pt; height: 8pt; padding: 0px;">&#160;</p><p>As an Entomology librarian, it&rsquo;s tempting to say I&rsquo;d like to be one of those brain eating parasites which make zombies out of ants (<a class="jive-link-external-small" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ophiocordyceps_unilateralis">http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ophiocordyceps_unilateralis</a>) . 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It is such an interesting and unique place to work in, I have continued to work here.</p><p style="min-height: 8pt; height: 8pt; padding: 0px;">&#160;</p><p><strong>What does your average day look like?</strong></p><p><br/>An average day for me involves a variety of tasks.&#160; They range from corresponding with our subscription agent and publishers, about our annual subscription orders and newly available content. Reviewing our expenditure forecasts against our budget, investigating alternative ways to access content which may benefit our users and our budget. I also assist staff with serial queries such as finding material on the shelves, tracking down missing issues, and advising on the best way to manage our serial records.&#160; In addition I provide enquiry support on our service desk on a weekly basis.</p><p style="min-height: 8pt; height: 8pt; padding: 0px;">&#160;</p><p style="min-height: 8pt; height: 8pt; padding: 0px;">&#160;</p><p style="min-height: 8pt; height: 8pt; padding: 0px;">&#160;</p><p><strong>If you had to pick one favourite from the L&amp;A collections what would it be?</strong></p><p><br/>There are so many amazing items to choose from! A personal favourite is Williams Smith&rsquo;s Geological Map from 1815.&#160; It was the first treasure I unearthed when I started working here. I had the opportunity to handle it and was involved in some public outreach events associated with it, so really got a flavour of the excitement and amazement which it draws from people.</p><p style="min-height: 8pt; height: 8pt; padding: 0px;">&#160;</p><p><strong>Do you have a favourite place or object on display in the Museum?</strong></p><p><br/>The Mineral Gallery is a fascinating space and I always discover new things each time I visit there &ndash; it is amazing to see what our natural world produces.&#160; The Blue Whale also holds a place in my heart.&#160; Along with the Central Hall it forms a strong memory of my first visit to the NHM when I was a child.&#160; I remember being completely in awe of the size and beauty of the Museum and the Blue Whale.&#160; I purchased a Blue Whale book from the museum shop, which was treasured for many years.</p><p style="min-height: 8pt; height: 8pt; padding: 0px;">&#160;</p><p><strong>If you had to spend the rest of your life as an animal, what would it be and why?</strong></p><p style="min-height: 8pt; height: 8pt; padding: 0px;">&#160;</p><p>Based on my love of the countryside and my belief in the value of family, I think it would have to be a dog, with its pack mentality and outdoor lifestyle.&#160; I would of course need to be homed with a loving and caring human family.&#160; </p></div><!-- [DocumentBodyEnd:46572eca-746e-49b6-9d5a-c4fe8a1ab576] --> behind_the_scenes_in_the_library 60_second_staff_encounters_l&a Mon, 29 Jul 2013 10:08:27 GMT http://www.nhm.ac.uk/natureplus/community/library/blog/2013/07/29/behind-the-scenes-staff-encounters-of-the-library-kind Hellen Pethers - Library and Archives 2013-07-29T10:08:27Z 2 years, 1 day ago 0 http://www.nhm.ac.uk/natureplus/community/library/blog/comment/behind-the-scenes-staff-encounters-of-the-library-kind http://www.nhm.ac.uk/natureplus/community/library/blog/feeds/comments?blogPost=3237
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