From the Library

Liz Osman, Librarian

Ihoped in 2021 my report would not contain much mention of COVID, but unfortunately we continue to be doing our best to support students in the Library through challenging times. But happily I do have much else to talk about as well.

In January our Deputy Librarian Rosie Austin welcomed her daughter Edith and we welcomed Alina Wanitzek to cover her maternity leave. Alina’s arrival coincided with a decision to close the physical Library for a period, offering remote support and a click and collect service. Not the welcome I wanted to give Alina, but one she jumped into wholeheartedly.

Click and collect enabled us to continue providing books to students whilst protecting all Library users and staff. It also allowed all staff members to spend some time on site each week, which made working from home much easier.

When we did reopen the Library in March we moved back into staff bubbles, with each bubble working in the Library two to three days per week. We finally ‘popped’ these in August and it has been a joy to have the whole team working together again. We have learnt a lot from remote working, particularly around communication and cooperation – there are definite bonuses to be seen from what we have undergone. But for the staff to be together alongside the wider Homerton community was a real homecoming.

One thing we were able to continue with throughout the disruptions was purchasing of new stock. Primarily this is, of course, material from reading lists, but we also began purchasing a few items for our rare books collection with a view to increasing diversity. This is a hot topic and one which is a real challenge when looking at a predominantly British and American collection spanning 18th – mid-20th centuries. The colonial spirit is exceptionally strong in much of the material. We are not seeking to censor issues of race, class, disability, gender etc. in the material we hold; it is important that these books can be studied in full. However, we do want to acknowledge, for example, some of the underappreciated works of the same period by authors of colour. This rebalancing work will continue, but in parallel still with collecting material that does not sit so well with modern sensibilities. The strength of our collection should be to reflect all aspects of children’s literature: the good, the bad and the ugly.

The second half of the year, and particularly Michaelmas term, has felt like getting back to (nearly) business as usual. Masks and social distancing have still been in place, but running in-person inductions for Freshers and seeing the Library alive again has been cheering, whilst at times a little unnerving. I think we all felt a little rusty after a year without inductions, but it soon came back to us and we really value these short, early interactions to get to know the new students and be seen as friendly, helpful faces.

I was fortunate to be involved in the recruitment of our new Principal, as one of the search panel. The time and effort put in by all has been amply rewarded with the arrival of Simon Woolley. I found the whole process fascinating, having never been involved in such high-level recruitment before. I also found it so heartening to be part of a community with such great hopes and ambitions. The calibre of all the candidates was phenomenal.

Original film reel of ‘The New School’

New developments are also on the horizon for Library space. The plans for the new Porters’ Lodge contain space for rare book storage and consultation, an exhibition area and study rooms. Whilst there is a long way still to go, not least planning permission, the possibilities that this will open up for the Library are exciting. The rare books provision will provide proper storage for material currently scattered around College and off site. It will also offer a dedicated space for researchers to consult our material. The exhibition space will be available for all of College to use and will provide a facility more easily accessible to the public. I can’t wait to mount our first Library exhibition there.

It’s been a busy year for the Archive too, with a Homerton alumna featuring on A House Through Time, the BBC History programme with Davis Olusoga (series 4, episode 3). Svetlana, our Archivist, has also been supporting research on another alumna who arrived in England via the Kindertransport which will hopefully result in a book. Material from the Archive was also featured at the Venice Biennale. Svetlana has also been undertaking a digitisation project of the Archive’s oral history collection, encompassing cassettes, VHS tapes, cinefilm and some negatives, to ensure their future preservation. Amber Akaunu, an MA Film Studies student from Goldsmiths College, London approached the Archive for help researching early African, and in particular Nigerian students, who studied at Homerton. The culmination of her project was a 20-minute film Homerton 2 Homerton. It follows the story of her family’s journey from Nigeria to Homerton in Hackney, and then her brother’s gaining of a place at Homerton College. Amber has been awarded Arts Council funding to continue with her research.

However, another 20-minute film has been the highlight of the year, and the culmination of continued effort from Svetlana over the course of a number of years. The New School is a wartime film starring Peter Cushing.

The College had been aware of the existence of the film for many years, owing to still photographs taken at Homerton and held by the archive. But the film itself was feared lost. Now thanks to Svetlana’s herculean efforts we have the film reel kept safe by Yvonne Rory’s family for nearly 80 years. We look forward to being able to screen the film in 2022 n