Library Annual Report 2018-19

St John’s College Library Annual Report 2018-19 The Library, St John’s College, Cambridge CB2 1TP Tel: 01223 338662 Fax: 01223 337035 Email: library@joh.cam.ac.uk

www.joh.cam.ac.uk/library A copy of this Annual Report is sent to the Domestic Bursar’s Office to form part of the College’s Register of Public Benefits.

Compiled by the Librarian’s Secretary, Angela McKenzie, with many thanks to the Librarian, Dr Mark Nicholls, and the Projects Assistant, Rebecca Watts, for proofreading and advice, and the Biographical Assistant, Paul Everest, for cover design and layout guidance.

All photographs throughout the Report were taken by Library staff.

St John’s College is a registered charity, number 1137428.

Annual Report 2018-19

St John’s College Library Annual Report 2018-19 Contents

Page

The Librarian’s Annual Report

2

Staff Reports

10

Staff Training

19

The Working Library

22

Library Usage

25

Annual Circulation

29

Audio-Visual Room and Seminar Room

31

The Old Library

32

The Biographical Office

41

The College Archive

47

Library Projects

48

Website and Social Media

53

Environmental Monitoring and Control

56

Green Initiatives

58

Feedback

60

Appendix – Regular Donors

63

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Annual Report 2018-19

The Librarian’s Annual Report Our Departmental Aim is to provide a modern, efficient and welcoming Library service for all members of the College, and for all others with valid reasons to make use of the College’s library and archival collections and facilities, so enabling the College to fulfil its statutory and strategic aims.

Cambridge Libraries and Strategic Drivers You should never judge a book by its cover, they say, but I have found over the years that an entrance hall can tell you a great deal about the library beyond, and particularly about the way that it functions. Shabby space, poorly designed and maintained, should not inspire confidence in a visitor. Our Entrance Hall has never been shabby, I hope, but as I write this in the late summer of 2019 it looks positively splendid. Thanks to a generous grant from the College’s Annual Fund – and thanks too to all those Johnians whose gifts filled up the Annual Fund coffers – we have been able to rethink the space, and introduce a handsome and much more accessible reception desk built by the carpenter and joiner Richard Cousins. We have taken the opportunity to introduce museumquality display cases that give a taste of the treasures held in the Old Library, to adjust the balance of comfortable seating and workspaces, and to install new signage and a welcome touch of greenery in the shape of handsome new planters.

The Academic Services Librarian, Janet Chow, is to be congratulated in overseeing this remarkably successful revamp. It has set the tone for a busy twelve months.

Staffing Rowan Rush-Morgan, Graduate Trainee for 2018-19, gave us excellent service across every sector of the Library during his one-year appointment, and designed a visually stunning exhibition Blooming Botany: the early history of plant sciences at Cambridge, which spanned the centuries in rich and fascinating detail. We wish Rowan every success when pursuing a career in archives and special collections. Rowan’s successor is Ellie Capeling, an English graduate from Queen Mary University of London. Ellie contributes some initial reflections on her new duties in the staff section of this Report.

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Annual Report 2018-19 For much of the year there was little else in the way of arrivals or departures. But the steady state was not to last. David Baker left his post as part-time Projects Assistant in June 2019, swapping a commute to Cambridge for a commute to London, where he will work for the Library of a City Law firm. David’s post was transferred to the Communications Office, where it will, among other responsibilities, process and record Freedom of Information enquiries received by the College. The College is fortunate that our other part-time Projects Assistant, Rebecca Watts, successfully applied for this interesting and important new position, which she will hold in addition to her Library appointment. In July, Sandra Aleksiejūtė returned from maternity leave to resume her duties as Library Cleaner. It is lovely to have her back, and I must thank the other Library Cleaner, Catherine Shanahan, for covering Sandra’s duties in addition to her own over the past year. We are extremely lucky in our dedicated cleaning team.

At the very end of the academical year, our Library Assistant Catherine Ascough secured the post of Assistant Librarian at Emmanuel College, while our Archivist, Tracy Deakin, announced her retirement.

Catherine gave terrific service, and after her selection this summer she shares with me the distinction of having turned out for the Cambridge University Library cricket team in their ancient but occasional fixture against Oxford’s Bodleian Library.

In her six years here Tracy established the archive service in the newly refurbished School of Pythagoras, initiated a new and hugely promising online catalogue, and led the Department’s successful bid for National Archives Accreditation. Both Catherine and Tracy will be hard acts to follow – next year’s Report will reveal how their successors fare!

Chris Krupa continues to volunteer on Thursdays in the Old Library. Ellie Swire still brings her expertise as an archivist to bear in the School of Pythagoras, while also contributing this year to projects run by the Communications Office. I note with pleasure that both the Sub-Librarian and the Archivist remain willing to welcome suitably motivated volunteers to the Rare Books Reading Room and School of Pythagoras, sharing my belief that the benefits of working with keen people in this way far outweigh the investment of time to train and develop their skills.

New Rules The University Libraries’ Digital Preservation Strategy 2019-24 and the University Library Strategic Framework were circulated to the College’s Library and Records Committee at two meetings this year. Noting that the strategies appeared to benefit the work of academics and students, members of the Committee agreed to record their support in principle, hoping in this way to encourage profitable ongoing conversations with the University Librarian and her colleagues on matters of mutual concern.

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Annual Report 2018-19 This step should not be seen in isolation. St John’s has long argued for a greater convergence and simplification of the systems, processes and rules which operate in Libraries across the Collegiate University. To that end we have this year extended the scope for all Cambridge undergraduates reading Portuguese to borrow from our exceptionally strong collections in the subject, and we have from time to time accommodated overarching rules proposed by the University Library, and imposed by the constraints of our shared housekeeping system. But in that same spirit of cooperation, we still argue that such convergence should not inadvertently create a library environment that frustrates readers in their pursuit of key texts and other resources. In 2019-20 the University Library and its affiliates, together with several College Libraries, have chosen to experiment with new borrowing rules, in which automatic renewals of loans become standard, most fines are abolished, and the onus is placed on a reader to recall a book rather than on the borrower to bring it back to a library within a set time, and without such prompting. We are told that such arrangements work well in other British universities, and that they are easier to administer centrally. Instinctively, I incline to caution. So the University Library’s recent decision to give Colleges a oneyear opt out while these new rules are tested by others is, to my mind, an offer worth seizing. Let them convince us.

As I observed last year, the University urges libraries to establish a level playing field in our provision to students and academics across Cambridge. Our challenge is to do just that, while ensuring that the levelling processes deliver a baseline that is ‘better’ rather than ‘worse’ for most people. The thoughts and counsel of the JCR and SBR, conveyed through their representatives on our Library and Records Committee, will be crucial in guiding our thinking on these and many other related matters during the next twelve months.

The Working Environment Smartness does not begin and end in the Entrance Hall. Janet Chow works with our College’s ever-helpful Maintenance Department to keep walls freshly painted, desks renovated, and lights in good, energy-efficient working order.

As touched on in last year’s Report, Catherine Ascough has put the finishing touches to a successful refurbishment of shelving, seating and equipment in our Audio-Visual Room, encouraging new 4

Annual Report 2018-19 patterns of use. You won’t find beanbags anywhere else in the Library – yet.

Catherine Shanahan and Sandra Aleksiejūtė cope with readers and Acts of God in equal measure, tidying desks, cleaning toilets, ensuring that carpets stay smart and mopping up whenever someone leaves a tap running in a fit of forgetfulness. The Biographical Assistant, Paul Everest, leads on our several environmental initiatives, ensuring that we offer collection points in the Library for more and more forms of recyclable material – crisp packets are now gathered by the box-load, with many other departments contributing to the cause. A fuller report on these developments is found later in the Report.

The IT Helpdesk staff continue to offer a service to readers in our Periodicals Area during Full Term. We greatly value their expertise, and their willingness to help students, Fellows and staff with hardware and software problems of every kind.

The Old Library The Sub-Librarian, Kathryn McKee, and the Special Collections Assistant, Adam Crothers, record many highlights from a busy year in their report on the Old Library. During these months we have learnt a great deal about the hitherto-mysterious microclimates of the Lower Library, exploring practical ways to improve airflow, and testing the effectiveness of carpets and air gaps in ameliorating fluctuations of temperature and humidity. Understanding space, and the consequences of introducing new bookcases, cabinets or flooring, often lies at the heart of good stewardship within historic buildings.

Thanks to support from the Maintenance Department and the input of architects Freeland Rees Roberts and the environmental and conservation consultant Tobit Curteis, experts in these fields, we are increasingly well positioned to do right by our precious collections and the shelves on which they stand.

It is heartening, too, to note that wonderful new collections continue to compete for a place on those shelves. Thanks to the generosity of Johnians past and present we remain able to purchase items relating to the history, traditions and work of St John’s and its members, building up our holdings on the abolition of slavery, for example. And as in centuries past, we benefit from some wonderful gifts. It always gives me the greatest pleasure to record the names of every donor in The Eagle each year. Though it is invidious to highlight here one or two donations from so many, I feel it only right to draw attention to a remarkable collection of early newspapers, presented by Professor Graham Dukes (BA 1951), and a most generous financial bequest received under the will of Andrew Hay (BA 1950).

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Annual Report 2018-19 Archives Among many initiatives to place our fine Archive Centre at the service of teaching and research in the University, Tracy Deakin has taken forward several successful collaborative schemes that enhance the provision of palaeography teaching across Cambridge.

These opportunities are carefully designed to support rather than duplicate training offered by faculties and departments, and should be seen as part of a University-wide effort from libraries to educate students in necessary skills and competencies wherever this helps meet Cambridge’s aspirations.

It is still said sometimes that archive facilities and catalogues in Cambridge do not enjoy a sufficiently high profile, proportionate to the collections of national and international importance held here. St John’s now does its bit to counter such charges. Thanks to Tracy’s persistence, and collaboration with other Colleges and Departments, the College hosted an exceptionally successful Dissertations Fair in the Palmerston Room in November 2018. 139 students attended during a busy day, and almost every museum, library and archive in the University with a significant collection took part. Feedback has been extremely positive.

Biographical Office Indeed I take particular pride in the feedback that staff receive from satisfied ‘customers’. Good service stands at the heart of our Departmental mission statement. In the Biographical Office, as their section of the Report shows, the Biographical Librarian Fiona Colbert and her assistant Paul Everest turn round hundreds of personal enquiries each year, many from those whose relations once attended the College, and who are engaged upon that ever-popular quest to learn more about a family’s past. In a nation collectively so ignorant of historical basics, that interest in one’s roots is cheering, and reassuring.

Fiona and Paul go the extra mile here, providing detail after detail from our excellent biographical records, while helpfully pointing the enquirer in the direction of still more information. Their work does not of course end there. Fiona is, for example, often to be seen chatting to elderly Johnians, capturing the details of diverse careers, while Paul might at the same time be tracking down information on those who have lost touch with their College, or combing the periodic honours lists, identifying Johnians so that the Master and others in the College might send timely congratulations. It is, they both would say, all part of that same commitment to service.

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Annual Report 2018-19 Exhibitions Cases in the Library Exhibition Area have again been in constant use. In her two principal offerings, Kathryn McKee dealt in anniversaries. The centenary of the Armistice that ended the Great War was marked through a moving and comprehensive display during Michaelmas Term, while the 150th anniversary of the consecration of our College’s ‘new’ Chapel was celebrated in a lovely exhibition of texts and photographs during the Lent Term and the Easter Vacation. Both exhibitions were extremely well received. The Student Art and Photography Competition and the Staff Photography Competition attracted strong fields, and it is particularly pleasing to see the staff competition become established in the College calendar.

This development is largely due to the perseverance of my Secretary Angela McKenzie, who curates and advertises both competitions, and who has convinced many members of staff to step forward and show us what they can do artistically. In the curation, Angela has been greatly assisted by Alison Hart-Arkley, who covers Angela’s duties on Fridays.

The Upper Library was once again open to visitors during Open Cambridge this year, and also during the Cambridge Science Festival and its arts and humanities equivalent the Festival of Ideas. We always ring the changes at these times, and so many Library treasures were included in the displays. Again my particular thanks go to Kathryn McKee and Adam Crothers for working up most of these displays, drawing on help from other members of Library staff and also from Hazel Lawrence in the Communications Office.

In the School of Pythagoras, the Archivist and the Library Assistant have ensured that the fine new display facilities are put to good use. Catherine Ascough’s selections from early tutorial files told many an intriguing tale, while reminding us that students and student life may evolve with technology and academic expectations, but hardly change at all in many of the essentials.

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Annual Report 2018-19 Security and Safety Fire-evacuation exercises were conducted in the Library during the Michaelmas Term 2018 and the Lent Term 2019, and the main fire alarm in the Working Library is tested by the Porters once a week. I have again observed the custom of reviewing the Library Disaster Response Plan and the parallel plan for the Archive Centre every September. Departmental risk assessments are also updated annually.

Working Together All sorts of mechanisms ensure that the College departments pull together. I join colleagues every fortnight for informative meetings chaired by the Domestic Bursar, and find the minutes of these inter-departmental gatherings the most accurate record of what actually happens in St John’s over time. In the Library we of course work especially closely with our partners in Information Services and Systems, the IT Department and the Communications Office; the heads of these departments, and the Sub-Librarian, meet me frequently at regular intervals throughout the year. I am also grateful to the Development Office, the Domestic Bursar’s Office, the Accommodation Office and to the Housekeeping, Maintenance, Porters, and Tutorial Departments for sharing time, knowledge, information and advice, whenever these are sought. As ever, I must thank the members of the Library and Records Committee for their constant counsel and encouragement of Library initiatives.

Anyone looking through the pages that follow will readily understand my wish to thank Angela McKenzie, for putting together and designing this Report, and Paul Everest for his superb photography.

On 1 August 2019 I marked my twentieth anniversary in the office of Librarian.

Much of what I have written in these final paragraphs applies to any time in those two decades – St John’s does things well, and does things well consistently. Another constant over that time has been the warmth and kindness that I have experienced from members of the College, young and old, living close by and far away. It is always so nice to see Johnians in their Library, working hard for their exams and dissertations, calling to recommend books and look at exhibitions, or returning on visits to see what we are up to these days and to compare our service with the service that they received. Friendly scrutiny of this kind is essential to a customer-focused operation. May I end with a standing invitation to all who read this, to come and talk to me and to my colleagues at any time? You will be most welcome, and tea, coffee and the kettle are always close by.

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Annual Report 2018-19 The Master As every Johnian will know, our Master Sir Christopher Dobson died early in September 2019. The Library and its staff have lost a leader, a champion, and a friend – and it is a measure of Chris’s qualities that every other department, and pretty much every member of the College, could say the same. Our deepest sympathy and condolences go to Mary and all the Dobson family.

Mark Nicholls

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Annual Report 2018-19

Staff Reports

The Library Staff Away Day, the Double Tree by Hilton Hotel 2019 Left to right: Rebecca Watts, Mark Nicholls, Janet Chow, Alison Hart-Arkley, Fiona Colbert, Chris Krupa (volunteer), Kathryn McKee, Angela McKenzie (seated), Sandra Aleksiejūtė, Adam Crothers, Catherine Ascough, Ellie Capeling and Paul Everest.

Sandra Aleksiejūtė – Library Cleaner (part-time) I joined St John’s College in July 2017. The Library is a beautiful place to work and I have tried to keep the areas I am responsible for as clean as I can.

This year has been busy for me at work as well as in my private life following the birth of my first daughter in September 2018. I returned from maternity leave this summer and continue keeping the Library clean and tidy.

I was pleased to find that during the summer vacation new worktops have been installed in parts of the Library with wipe clean surfaces which means much easier cleaning and without needing to use chemicals too!

Catherine Ascough – Library Assistant The Summer Vacation is often a time for reflection – term flies past in a whirl of enquiries, statistics, and routine tasks that keep the Library on track, but as the middle of June approaches, the air clears of exam stress, and leaves behind a quieter, calmer library (and quite a few boxes of lost and abandoned belongings). Once the Library is tidy and presentable again, the vacation projects begin. In striking similarity to the summer 10

Annual Report 2018-19 project mentioned in my Annual Report section last year, my main project this summer started as a small idea which became all consuming. The observation of ‘it’s a bit tight to shelve in the History section’ turned into a project which involved shuffling half the contents of Chapel Basement and the entire Second Floor journal section. Fortunately it meant that during the very hot weather in July (note that Cambridge broke the record for the UK’s highest temperature on 25 July) I could spend most days in the nice cool basement. More on that project on page 51.

Aside from relocating a large number of books, other projects this year have included curating an exhibition in the Archives (see page 7), carrying on with the ongoing journal tidying project, and working with Catherine Shanahan to come up with solutions to improve recycling in the Library. Of course this is all alongside the routine tasks which contribute to keeping the Library functioning, such as processing, answering enquiries and shelving.

One of the miscellaneous highlights this year has been the mince pie tasting carried out in the tea breaks before Christmas. Not a slapdash affair by any means, it involved 10 brands of pies, scores out of 10 in 5 categories, and an impressive in-depth mathematical analysis from Rebecca to ascertain the winner. In case you are wondering (which I’m sure you are, having been so invested as to have read this far), Greggs and Booths were deemed most enjoyed, though Greggs offered significantly better value for money.

Ellie Capeling – Graduate Trainee Although I have only been at St John’s College for a few months, it feels simultaneously like I’ve been here for five minutes and also like I’ve been here for five years. There is so much engaging work to do every day that the time passes by quickly, but by now I’ve settled in so well that it feels like I’ve known the Library for a lot longer than I actually have.

It’s been a busy time since I graduated from university and then moved to Cambridge to start working at the Library not even a week later. Between visits to the Archives in the School of Pythagoras or undertaking training on cataloguing and using Alma to fulfil reader requests, it feels like I’ve been constantly running back and forth all around the University. But, I can definitely say that I’m having fun.

I’ve enjoyed seeing the journey of a book from its arrival in the office through cataloguing, processing, and finally on to the shelves. I also had a lot of fun with choosing books for display on the Ground Floor of the Working Library, and getting to design a pretty way to set them out. However, my favourite thing I’ve learned so far has to be the environmental monitoring for the Archives and the Old Library.

Getting to visit the Upper Library once a week, even if it is just to measure the light levels for five minutes, is cleansing for the soul; and it turns out the Archive stacks are home to some fascinatingly large spiders.

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Annual Report 2018-19 With all that said—I’m writing this report before the undergraduate students have returned to university for the new year, so we’ll see how I cope in a few weeks.

Janet Chow – Academic Services Librarian It has been an interesting and varied year. In February, I helped organise and host a discussion forum for a group of academic staff, tutors and students who visited St John’s from a number of Hong Kong (HK) Universities. Their visit constituted part of a worldwide project looking at student experience in College residence, and the incorporation of IT into residential education. The HK visitors benefitted from discussions and seminars with the Librarian, the IT Director, and selected College students.

A major project for me this year has been the redesign of the entrance hall, and more generally, the Ground Floor – to make it more welcoming and fit for purpose. The challenge was how to maximise the floor space, while at the same time make it more welcoming and functional. Through generous funding from the College Annual Fund, the entrance hall has had a facelift – and there is a more user-friendly Issue Desk accessible to all readers (including the disabled); two lovely display cases to showcase Library treasures; new sofas for leisure reading; and finally, plant pots for pleasant greenery. Gratifyingly, these refurbishments of the Ground Floor have met with overwhelmingly positive comments from students and staff.

Apart from the improvement of the physical appearance of the Working Library, I also turned my attention to academic pursuits. In particular, after raising the matter with the Librarian, we felt there was justification in producing a booklet to mark the Working Library’s 25th anniversary. The project focused on the many changes to the Working Library over the last quarter of a century, and the conditions and causes that prompted them. Since there have been so many changes during this time, it was a challenge to decide on the contents for a 16-page booklet. The Librarian and I decided to invite a range of Library staff, Fellows and students who have had connections with the Library – past and present – to make contributions to the booklet based on their memories and reflections. To mark the anniversary, I also contributed an article to The Eagle on how the Working Library has evolved and kept abreast of the times, engaged with the latest technology and enabled greater access to learning resources for its users.

While I was on holiday in Hong Kong in March, I was unexpectedly invited by the Librarian at the University of Hong Kong to attend the 17th Annual Asia Pacific Library Leadership Institute in Macau. This surprising but nonetheless pleasant interruption to my holiday proved a most beneficial learning experience. Of particular value was the opportunity to gain more insight into methods of evaluating library effectiveness and its impact. Of course, there was the opportunity to meet and network with many fellow librarians from places such as Taiwan, Singapore, Macau, Mongolia, China and the Philippines. It was interesting to learn the respective roles they played in their organisations, as well as exchanging ideas and good practice.

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Annual Report 2018-19 Fiona Colbert – Biographical Librarian ‘Cans of worms!’ is a phrase often uttered in the Biographical Office, referring to multiple cans containing an abundance of worms. Several times every day we start doing something we hope will be simple, such as answering an enquiry or doing some data entry, but it turns out to be far from straightforward. What we thought might be a 20second job ends up taking half a day. In so many cases one thing affects another, in a way which is difficult to explain to anyone who isn’t used to dealing with the minutiae of biographical records. ‘Why can’t things be simple?’ I say, at the same time realising it’s actually one of the many things that make our work really interesting: unpicking problems and building everything up again to a point where it is all sorted out beautifully. I feel rather sorry for people who don’t appreciate the work of art that is a perfect chronological list of career entries where chaos had previously reigned in the form of overlapping dates and inconsistencies!

There isn’t time to savour that satisfaction for long as we move on to the next thing, but a Johnian recently said he was glad to see me ‘still flourishing and as enthusiastic as ever’ so clearly I thrive on a mixture of desk-based fine detail and meeting people or talking to them on the phone about their lives, or the lives of their Johnian relatives.

I also thrive on anything to do with animals or cake (Angela’s retirement next year is going to be devastating in many ways, one of which is I’ve rather got used to birthday cakes featuring red pandas or cats). I was delighted this year when a researcher told me her dogs were waiting in the car park with her son and would be glad to meet me.

Outside of work, I started the year with a stay in a hotel room featuring a Lego tarantula, and ended it by stroking a skunk.

Adam Crothers – Special Collections Assistant I look miserable in the group photograph from the 2019 Library Away Day. I’m fine. Honest. I was about to move house and my debit card wasn’t working and there was rain and an unflattering lighting situation. And nobody had bought me nachos. As you can see in this photo taken on my birthday a couple of months earlier, I’m happy when people buy me nachos. Buy me nachos. I recall I’d also been bought books. Shirley Jackson books. Buy me Shirley Jackson books and nachos. Shirley Jackson nachos.

Some good times for the Special Collections Assistant since the last Annual Report. I curated an exhibition on heavens and hells 13

Annual Report 2018-19 for our Festival of Ideas event in October 2018, and, with Hazel Lawrence, co-curated one on skellingtons for the Science Festival in May 2019. March 2018’s Douglas Adams exhibition gained some late traction in a Cambridge Alumni Magazine feature for which I was interviewed: I recommend the corrected online version, as the print version implies that I think there’s no overlap between ‘science fiction’ and ‘literary texts’, which I, like, obviously don’t; have you not met me, et cetera. I catalogued Italian pamphlets about the Great Moon Hoax, finished the George Watson (Fellow 1961) collection, and at time of writing have just sorted a small surprise donation of papers once belonging to classicist, poet and erstwhile College Librarian Guy Lee (Fellow 1945). In Lent Term I attended the University Library’s printing class, which was an amazement and a delight and taught me much about the work needed, in a preautocorrect age, to achieve basic typographic aɔɔnrɔaλ. A surplice was the requirement when I represented the College staff as a reader for the Chapel’s Passion meditation, giving R. S. Thomas’s ‘The Coming’ a go; I didn’t burst into flames.

Figuring out Old Library conservation priorities, I continued to marvel at the achievements of the Cambridge Colleges Conservation Consortium with respect to making horrifically damaged books usable once more. The quotidian elements of my role continued. And the role was made permanent. I too was surprised and angry, and not just about that.

If you pick the marked nacho, everybody else at the table throws jalapeños at you while you complain about how it isn’t fair, it isn’t right. I think that’s how Shirley Jackson nachos work.

Tracy Deakin – Archivist This will be my final entry for the Annual Report as I’m off to the Continent to enjoy the wines of Burgundy and the sunshine of the Cote d’Or. As I say goodbye, I will share some of my successes over the last year.

At the end of October, I hosted and co-organised the University’s first Graduate Dissertation and Research Fair. We welcomed over 100 students to the Fisher Building where representatives from 26 libraries, archives and museums were on hand to answer questions and provide information and tips on the amazing collections held within Cambridge. The event was so successful that a second, bigger event will be taking place on 5 November this year.

I continued the research skills workshops with my colleagues, and I along with four other archivists/librarians began a series of early-modern palaeography sessions for graduate students in Cambridge. The Reading History sessions took place weekly and we offered five one-hour sessions per week. We were teaching 35 students a week and had a waiting list of over 30 students! The sessions continued into Easter Term and I’m still getting messages from students asking if we will continue this academic year.

In addition to the early modern palaeography I continued to teach St John’s students

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Annual Report 2018-19 in the School of Pythagoras and had two groups running from Michaelmas and into early Lent Term.

The cataloguing of the collection on AtoM has continued and we now have all the authority records in place for Lady Margaret Beaufort’s papers and for the nineteenthcentury Tutors. We have also listed (names only) all the admission records up to 1959 on AtoM. I have thoroughly enjoyed my time here at St John’s and wish my successor all the best.

Paul Everest – Biographical Assistant As I type this, it dawns on me that this is my fifteenth one of these entries, twelfth since taking up residence at the far end of the Biographical Office.

They don’t get any easier. I find myself staring at the blankness of an expectant Word document wondering what I’ve actually done since last we spoke.

In a role where what seems like a simple data entry task can lead off on labyrinthine tangents and consume a whole morning, it can be difficult to communicate what actually goes on. Checking one source leads to another; you find new information, then information that contradicts what you already have, so you double back and tie yourself in knots. It’s more fun than it sounds!

This year I’ve begun collecting waste for a few TerraCycle recycling streams, and receive a steady flow of rustling donations from conscientious snackers around College (more on this elsewhere in the Report). I was also very pleased to be invited to join the College Sustainability Forum, where we can hopefully embrace new ideas and technology to improve the College’s environmentally friendly credentials.

Alison Hart-Arkley – Secretary to the Librarian and Head of Information Services and Systems (job-share) The past year has seen me filling in for Angela McKenzie on her days off, hopefully reducing the avalanche of tasks that await her on Monday mornings. The ingredients of the role continue to evolve, not least with Freedom of Information moving to the Communications Office, and there is always something new waiting for me each week. I very much enjoy my time with Library colleagues and continue to balance part-time work at St John’s with travelling and other interests outside of the College.

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Annual Report 2018-19 Kathryn McKee – Sub Librarian and Special Collections Librarian It’s been a busy, rather scrappy year jumping from task to task, but a theme seems to have emerged of making our collections more available to scholars and the general public. The year started with the digitisation of our Hebrew manuscripts. We are now working with the UL on the conservation, cataloguing and digitisation of our Greek manuscripts, as part of a wider project funded by the Polonsky Foundation. A Johnian benefactor has very generously supported the digitisation of one of our psalters too. Audio-visual material in Percy Cradock’s papers has been transferred from obsolete and fragile media to new file formats on DVD and CD to enable scholars to consult the material, and, with the help of the Goody family, we have achieved the same for the very many reel-to-reels in Sir Jack Goody’s collection.

Loans, both physical and virtual, have seen our material on display in various UK locations and online. Our adoption of the AtoM archival cataloguing system which has standards-compliant export facilities has made it possible for the first time to contribute our full data to a national collaborative catalogue, something I’ve wanted to achieve for a long time. Records for our Personal Papers are now available on Archives Hub, and I’m now silently cheering ‘Yay!’ and punching the air every time an email arrives from a far-flung researcher who has found our records there. (Adam probably thinks I’m just yawning and stretching – it’s usually a cheer, honest.)

Researching our two exhibitions this year proved very rewarding with great scope to combine material from the special collections and the archives. An exhibition marking the centenary of Armistice Day was always going to be emotional, but it was utterly fascinating to uncover details of how the war affected so many day-to-day aspects of College life. My emotions were slightly different researching the building of the new Chapel, grinding my teeth in fury at the Victorians who blithely bulldozed the medieval and Tudor buildings that preceded it. It was a wonderfully visual exhibition to curate though.

Angela McKenzie – Secretary to the Librarian and Head of Information Services and Systems (job-share) As I prepare this, my last Annual Report, I have just passed the milestone birthday which means I can start accessing all those OAP discounts which I am told are out there. I have decided that after nearly 20 years working in the College I will retire in May whilst I am healthy and active enough to enjoy my five young grandchildren and do some travelling with my husband.

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Annual Report 2018-19 I never imagined that a Library would be the place where I would end my working life and nor would most of my family and friends, knowing that I am neither quiet nor overly enamoured of old books, associated antiquities, and it must be said – old furniture. The irony of someone like me having a workplace within one of the oldest Libraries in Cambridge is not lost on my colleagues who are real Library folk. I arrived here as part of a re-organisation of departments in College and although unenthused to start with, I have come to appreciate the relatively calm environment of the Working Library Office where I am based. I have learned that the hush of a Library masks a busy staff covering a myriad of tasks behind the scenes.

Although not my cup of tea – the Old Library and the Archive Centre contain an enormous amount of material that is unique. Scholars from all over the world visit to study items for academic purposes and the general public take several opportunities each year to have a look around our Harry Potter-esque Library during public events. I do feel privileged to work in the Library and the College, where I can see the enjoyment it all gives to many hundreds of visitors every year. Much better than working in a boring municipal building.

Having worked in three diverse College departments – Porters, Domestic Bursars and Library, I have come to know a lot of staff very well, helped a lot by the telephone management side of my job which I have always done. I often remember names and the main phone numbers in the College departments without consulting the directory and if a new name appears on a list I like to know who they are and where they work.

Contrary to what some College friends would say – it is not just because I am nosey but because a week rarely goes by without someone stopping me in a Court or ringing me to say ‘Who is that new lady that does this?’ or ‘I spoke to a man in that office who does this but I can’t remember his name?’ Or one of my colleagues in the Library who has not worked elsewhere in College asking me who is the best person for this or that. I don’t have the nickname MI5 for nothing amongst the older staff!!

During my five years as Librarian’s Secretary I have enjoyed the organising of countless meetings, training sessions and seminars, juggled an increasingly complicated calendar as the Librarian’s multiple roles threaten to engulf his time completely but still I have found time to organise our Library Annual Away Day, the Library Xmas Lunch, birthday and leaving cards and collections and a cake rota for all the key occasions. You know what they say – if you want something done ask a busy person? Now if I could just add another couple of hours to every day …

Catherine Shanahan – Library Cleaner (parttime) My second year in the Library took on a slightly different role. My colleague, Sandra Aleksiejūtė, went on maternity leave so I took on her duties.

This meant I had to be extremely organised but with the support of the rest of the Library team I felt everything went well. When I needed to take annual leave my ‘Night in Shining Armour’ Les

17

Annual Report 2018-19 Butler (Housekeeping Department) was on hand to cover for me, for which I am extremely grateful.

The overall duties of cleaning the Working Library, Pythagoras, and the Old Library remain largely the same. During the quieter periods I have concentrated on book cleaning in the Garden Wing on the First Floor. You’re never quite certain what you might find during book cleaning, from hard balls of chewing gum, yes really, to old family photos that have been used as book marks. Some of which my ‘super sleuth’ colleague, Fiona Colbert, has been able to reunite with their owners (that’s the photos not the chewing gum!).

We now have some beautiful new soft furnishings, on the Ground Floor, to keep dust free and feet free. I shall be keeping my eyes peeled and my fluffy duster at the ready to make sure this year’s bumper crop of spiders are not misusing our magnificent new Issue Desk.

Rebecca Watts – Projects Assistant (part-time) I spent much of the first half of the year collating and editing a hefty funding application that would have enabled us to launch a significant cataloguing and outreach project focused on the St John’s Hospital collection held in the College Archive. A successful first-round application meant we had to do it all again (in more detail) for round two, and then we had to wait. Sadly we did not make the National Archives’ final nine, but in the process of trying I learnt a lot about how to devise a multifaceted project from scratch, including developing links with external collaborators. Alongside this I worked with a volunteer in the Archive one afternoon each week to undertake a conservation survey, and I enjoyed the refresher training we received from the Conservation Consortium about the signs of damage to look for and the terminology used to document them.

Over in the Library, yet again I fear I have spent more time than is healthy in the Basement, where trivial attempts at tidying have a tendency to snowball into largescale cataloguing and/or shelf-moving projects that are too tedious to go into here but a source of satisfaction once they can be referred to in the past tense. I have also measured every shelf in the Working Library and pressed a lot of buttons on a calculator (more on this in the ‘Library Projects’ section). Am I allowed to admit that the highlight of my year has been the month I spent swanning about in a Scottish castle in the springtime, pretending to be a poet, courtesy of a Hawthornden Fellowship? That was nice.

18

Annual Report 2018-19

Staff Training This year has seen the usual mix of a few carefully selected courses from professional bodies and commercial providers alongside a wide range of free or low-cost local training organised within the University community. Dignity at Work training was provided by the College for all staff. Several staff have participated in Data Protection training this year, as understanding the regulations on using personal data is critical to the department’s work. Continuing professional development undertaken has been aimed at the acquisition or improvement of specific practical skills, broadening knowledge and learning about best practice in other institutions, as well as personal development. The Away Day continues to give all staff the chance to reflect on progress to date and to plan ahead. It is a valuable opportunity for individuals to raise issues and make suggestions with all staff present, and leads to practical improvements in the way we do things, in everything from recycling to managing data.

Staff member Sub-Librarian/ Special Collections Librarian Academic Services Librarian

Archivist

Librarian’s Secretary (AM) Projects Assistant (DB)

Projects Assistant (RW)

Training HAY job evaluation training Backward design Special Collections Colloquium Material Evidence in Incunabula training HAY job evaluation training University of Hong Kong (HKU) Library visit Speaker at HKU Library seminar Asia Pacific Leadership programme, Macau Oxford and Cambridge College Librarians Conference First aid refresher DCDC18 First Aid refresher RBSCG conference (speaker) History Day Conference with confidence – doing workplace research (for librarians) Presentation skills Special Collections Colloquium Retirement course Pensions one to one Telecomms User Forum x 3 Excel functions Conference with confidence – doing workplace research (for librarians) Access introduction Data Protection Conservation survey training Project management – online 19

Provider SJC LiT UL UL SJC HKU

Cost free free free -

HKU HKU & Macau Univ CCLF

£590.00

SJC TNA/RLUK SJC RBSCG UCL OSC

£126.30 free

£16.00

OSC UL CU CUPO UIS UIS OSC

free free free free

UIS OIS CCCC CU

free free free

Annual Report 2018-19 Graduate Trainee

Biographical Librarian

Biographical Assistant Library Assistant

Special Collections Assistant ALL staff

Alma training Cataloguing (RDA, MARC21) CSS training Fire safety Libraries@Cambridge conference Data Protection Rare books cataloguing Data Protection for fundraising and alumni relations Amicus access policy Loss and bereavement awareness workshop General Data Protection Regulation A-Z Data Protection

L@C L@C UIS SJC L@C OIS LiT CUDAR

free free free free free free free

CUDAR CRUSE

free £168.00

Act Now

£418.80

Excel functions Palaeography Libraries@Cambridge conference Introduction to sign language Data Protection Cataloguing odd items Conservation survey training Palaeography Historic printing Away Day Disaster Planning refresher session Dignity at work

UIS SJCA L@C DRC OIS LiT CCCC SJCA CUL SJCL SJCL SJC

OIS

TOTAL

Act Now CCCC CCLF CRUSE CU CUDAR CUL CUPO DRC HKU L@C LiT OIS OSC RBSCG RLUK SJC SJCA SJCL TNA UCL UIS

Act Now Training Cambridge Colleges Conservation Consortium Cambridge College Libraries Forum CRUSE Bereavement Care (national charity) Cambridge University Cambridge University Development and Alumni Relations Office Cambridge University Library Cambridge University Pensions Office University of Cambridge Disability Resource Centre Hong Kong University Libraries@Cambridge Librarians-in-Training Cambridge University Office of Intercollegiate Services Cambridge University Office for Scholarly Communication CILIP Rare Books and Special Collections Group Research Libraries UK St John’s College St John’s College Archives St John’s College Library The National Archives University College London Cambridge University Information Services

20

free free free free free free free £429.50 free £1748.60

Annual Report 2018-19 The Archivist presented a paper to the CILIP Rare Books and Special Collections Group 2018 conference ‘The Library as Classroom’.

The Academic Services Librarian gave a paper at a Hong Kong University seminar entitled ‘Capturing and understanding user needs as a means of improving academic libraries: the case of a Cambridge College’.

The Archivist gave a talk to the Special Collections Colloquium entitled ‘Connecting collections: engaging students’ on various initiatives to encourage students to take advantage of the archival resources available in Cambridge. The Library Assistant served on the organising committee for the Libraries@Cambridge conference. The Special Collections Librarian and the Archivist both gave lightning talks at the Libraries@Cambridge conference in 2019, on skills-based learning and research skills training respectively, and also contributed a poster about the Dissertation Fair.

Kathryn McKee Sub-Librarian

21

Annual Report 2018-19

The Working Library This year is the Working Library’s 25th anniversary. I would like to record here some of the major changes that have characterised the Working Library over these years.

Ostensibly, most of the changes fall into one of two categories – improvements in the use of physical space and layout, enabling expansion of collections and increase of seat capacity, and the introduction of new technologies. The opening up of the Garden Basement and Chapel Court Basement in the 1990s and 2000s respectively substantially increased items available on open access. Significant expansion of audio-visual (AV) materials has been afforded through their relocation to larger study space, previously occupied by the Biographical Office. Today the AV Room is home to over two thousand DVDs and CDs. Extensive refurbishment of the Working Library occurred in 2012. The original gallery on the Mezzanine Floor was extended to the south end to accommodate a large working table. A further large table was added on the Mezzanine Floor to replace central bookshelves. Two additional window seats were created with views to the Master’s Garden. On the Third Floor, Garden Wing, all the lower bookcases were removed from under the windows and replaced by work desks around the perimeter. The refurbishment increased the Library’s total seating capacity from 120 to 150.

Rapid development of technology has also enhanced access to online information and resources. In 2000, the Working Library upgraded the ethernet connections and replaced all outdated computer cables, enabling readers to access the Internet from their laptops at almost every desk.

Wireless connectivity was introduced in 2007, allowing students to use their laptops and to access the internet from anywhere in the Library. Fully automated self-issuing was introduced in 2012, enabling 24/7 borrowing and greater flexibility in how users access the Library’s resources.

As hundreds of people normally come through the door of the Working Library every day – students, staff and visitors – it has been apparent for some time that refurbishment of the entrance hall was necessary both to enhance the functionality of the Library and to create a more welcoming ambience.

22

Annual Report 2018-19 Generous funding from the Annual Fund has enabled us to achieve our aim. Earlier in 2019, the Library entrance hall underwent a ‘facelift’ to create a more welcoming atmosphere to visitors. A new Issue Desk with lower counters has been installed to provide more user-friendly and accessible service to all readers. New display cases have been placed in the centre of the entrance hall to enable the promotion of the Library’s rich resources by providing better information on a variety of interesting collections, including many from the Old Library. Comfortable seating has been added along the sides of the Ground Floor, allowing more leisurely reading and quiet conversation. Financial support from the Annual Fund has in short facilitated the transformation of the Ground Floor entrance to the Library, enabling the refurbishment to be of the highest quality – both in design and materials – and enhanced the sense of spaciousness. Fortunately, the refurbishment has not only increased usable floor space and improved the aesthetics, it has met with overwhelmingly positive comments from users – students and staff.

Refurbishment work continued on other floors over the summer. After many years of use, some of the work desks in the public area have shown signs of wear and tear. Desk surfaces have become uneven and unusable. New curved desks have thus been fitted on the Mezzanine, First and Second Floors by Maintenance colleagues.

Accompanying these new desks are new energy-saving desk lamps.

As in previous years, the Library continued to support all the first-year undergraduates when they arrived in Cambridge. A Library induction session was held for all the Freshers in the Old Divinity School on the Saturday afternoon before the start of Michaelmas Term 2018. This session aims to deliver key information to all new students including Library rules and how the Library can best support them during their studies at St John’s. As expected, the session was packed out with many attentive new students.

Subsequently, Library tours were arranged for all new undergraduates over a threeday period, from Monday to Wednesday during the first week of term. About 175 new undergraduates were arranged by subject group, with Library staff each taking three or four groups of students at staggered times. The 30-minute tour covered both the Working Library and the Old Library. Students were afforded opportunities to familiarise themselves with the layout of the Library, the facilities and resources 23

Annual Report 2018-19 available, and in particular, the location of materials related to their own subjects.

Library staff also demonstrated how to borrow and renew items using the self-issue machine, and explained fire procedures and the security system.

Last year I reported that the Working Library recruited its first ever volunteer, Rebecca Le Marchand, since the Library was opened in 1994. After volunteering in the Working Library for nine months, Rebecca has successfully taken up a new role at Cambridge University Library. The experience of having a volunteer in the Working Library has been positive. Not only did Rebecca make an invaluable contribution to the Working Library, it also provided her with the opportunity to be retrained in library work.

Janet Chow Academic Services Librarian

24

Annual Report 2018-19

Library Usage The Library collects statistics relating to the numbers of users and visitors accessing it throughout the academic year. These figures come from an electronic people counter, positioned at the entrance to the Working Library, from which a reading is taken at 9am every weekday morning (except during unstaffed periods). The numbers are recorded in a spreadsheet and the resulting data is analysed to give us an idea of how the Library is being used by the College community, and to enable direct comparisons to be made with trends in footfall in the Library in previous years.

45000 40000

42137 4031441717 3618234090

3574333848

35000

30994

29441

30000

2016-17

25000

18532 20531 17855

20000

2018-19

13682 11549 11010

15000 10000

2017-18

643672395601

5000 0 Michaelmas Term

Christmas Vacation

Lent Term

Easter Vacation

Easter Term

Summer Vacation

Figure 1. Three-year comparison of entries to the Library by term, 2016-19

Over the past academic year the total number of visits to the Library has decreased from 144,356 entries recorded in 2017-18 to 139,833 in 2018-19 (a drop of around 3.2%). Figure 1 shows the annual pattern of Library visits over the past three years.

The usual variations between full term and vacation are visible, with Easter Term standing out as the busiest. This year there was a noticeable reduction in the number of visitors entering the Library in Michaelmas Term (30,994) and Lent term (29,441), with the total number of visits falling by around 8.4% (2854) and 13.5% (4649) respectively compared with the figures for 2017-18. Easter Term, on the other hand, saw an increase of around 3.4% (1403) in the number of visitors based on the previous year, making it one of the busiest terms in the Library for the past five years!

155,000

152,712 150,287

150,000

147,621 2014-15

144,356

145,000

2015-16 139,833

140,000

2016-17 2017-18 2018-19

135,000 130,000

Figure 2. Five-year comparison of total entries to the Library by academic year

25

Annual Report 2018-19 In addition to monitoring footfall throughout the year, the Library also gathers data on the usage of Library collections and services during the fifth week of each term. These figures help us obtain a more detailed snapshot of life in the Library during what is typically the busiest part of full term. Additional counts are carried out of the number of enquiries made to staff at the Issue Desk, the number of books issued by staff as opposed to issued using the self-check machine, and the number of books cleared from desks each day, along with a more detailed analysis of the number of entries made to the Library during staffed and unstaffed hours.

Michaelmas 2017

3442

Lent 2018

3200

Term

Easter 2018

1786 1695 5659

Michaelmas 2018

4854

Lent 2019

1644 6627

0

Staffed entries

1757

3178

Easter 2019

Unstaffed entries

2466

2000

2876

4000

6000

8000

10000

Number of entries Figure 3. Library entries in Week 5 by term, 2017-19

The total number of entries recorded during Week 5 in Easter term 2019 was 9502, which is one of the highest the Library has experienced in the last 10 years, with only the figures for 2013-14 (9574) and 2015-16 (9595) showing a greater number of Library visits for the same period. As seen in Figure 3, the numbers of visitors entering the Library outside staffed hours during Week 5 in Easter Term 2018 and 2019 was 5659 and 6627 respectively, more than double the number of entries during staffed hours. This may be accounted for by students spending longer hours in the Library revising during the exam period. Michaelmas and Lent Terms showed a more steady flow of readers using the Library outside staffed hours, although it is worth noting that Week 5 of Michaelmas Term 2018 was in fact much busier than normal, with the number of entries during unstaffed hours rising to 4854 (an increase of roughly 41% on the figure for the same week the previous year). It is difficult to account for this.

182 204 182

Term

Michaelmas

2016-17

129 122

Lent

2017-18

92

2018-19 77

Easter

96 99 0

50

100

150

Number of enquiries Figure 4. Enquiries in Week 5 by term, 2016-19

26

200

250

Annual Report 2018-19 This year saw a fall in the number of enquiries (373) dealt with by staff at the Issue Desk, by around 11% from the previous year (Figure 4). Michaelmas Term proved to be the busiest period, due perhaps in part to the fact that the new cohort of students arriving in College each October are still familiarising themselves with Library procedures and rules. As a consequence, many students approach Library staff at the Issue Desk for help and advice. It also explains the comparative increase in the proportion of books issued by staff at the Issue Desk during Michaelmas Term compared with books issued using the self-check machine, as illustrated in Figure 5 (below).

Michaelmas 2018

32

232

Staff issued

Term

Self-issued Lent 2019 9

252

Easter 2019 7

177

0

50

100

150

200

250

300

Number of items issued Figure 5. Items issued in Week 5 by term, 2018-19

Following a successful trial last year, a new system for recording the numbers of books belonging to different subject groupings which were cleared from desks during Week 5 was put in place for 2018-19. It was hoped that this information would reveal more about which sections of the Library collection experience particularly heavy usage without necessarily being borrowed. Many of the books in certain subjects may never leave the Library, for instance, either because they tend to be reference works or because they are larger textbooks that students are more likely to use within the building itself.

80 68

70

61

60 45

50 40 28 24 26

30 20 10

1

2

2

3

3

3

3

4

4

4

5

6

6

7

12 13 13 9 11

0

Figure 6. Total books cleared in Week 5 (all terms) by subject, 2018-19

27

17

Annual Report 2018-19 Figure 6 (above) shows the total number of books cleared (382) in Week 5 over all three terms for the academic year 2018-19, according to categories which more closely correspond to the various Tripos subjects studied by undergraduate members of College. According to this measure, the subjects which saw the highest levels of use fell in the Arts and Humanities. Classics, Art and English had the greatest numbers of books cleared – accounting between them for around 46% (174) of the total – with History, HSPS and Law coming in at approximately 20% (78) of the total for the year.

By contrast, the numbers of books cleared from desks for Anthropology (1), Psychology (1) and HPS (1) were the lowest, whilst subjects such as Engineering (3), Music (3), Veterinary Medicine (3), Education (4) and Linguistics (4) suggested only modest levels of use over the course of the year. Although these figures admittedly represent a small sample of the total number of books accessed within the Library by users throughout the academic year, they suggest something of the comparative levels of demand in different subject areas in the collection.

Janet Chow Academic Services Librarian

David Baker Projects Assistant

28

Annual Report 2018-19

Annual Circulation Library usage in the last academic year (2018-19) remains high, despite borrowing levels (based on frequency counts of items borrowed) having dropped to 12,510 in 2018-19 compared with 14,614 in 2017-18 (Figure 1). The increasing availability of online resources such as electronic books, journals and databases possibly explains the lower level of borrowing. Another reason for the fall in borrowing may be a greater propensity to consult books within the Library.

As the Working Library stocks most of the core textbooks for undergraduates, it is no surprise that undergraduate students made up of 84% (10,508) of the total circulation.

Postgraduate students (both one-year postgraduates and PhD students) accounted for 9.5% (1188) of borrowing.

Figure 1. Library Borrowing – Annual Circulation

Given that the overall circulation figures fell, it is to be expected that many individual subjects would see a decline in borrowing compared with previous years. For 201819, the three most heavily borrowed subjects are History, English and Economics. The borrowing figure for History has decreased from 1899 (2017-18) to 1656 (2018-19).

The second-highest borrowing by subject was English (934), followed by Economics (806) (see Figure 2); both of these subjects also saw a decline in borrowing compared with 2017-18. By contrast, subjects experiencing an increase in borrowing in 2018-19 were Music, Archaeology and HPS.

29

Annual Report 2018-19 2000 1800 1600 1400 1200 1000 800 2017-18

600

2018-19

400 200 0

Figure 2. Circulation of books by subject area in 2017-18 and 2018-19

Janet Chow Academic Services Librarian

30

Annual Report 2018-19

Audio-Visual Room and Seminar Room Audio-Visual Room Once again the Audio-Visual collection has grown, thanks to the generous donations of Dr Terence Denman (PhD 1985) and others, and the input of the Library Assistant. The entire collection now totals over 2600 items – of these more than 700 are CDs, and there are nearly 50 items of language learning material and 1800 DVDs. The shelf space created by the refurbishment last summer has definitely shown its worth, and has even allowed the introduction of a new category.

The TV boxset section was created after a generous donation featured a number of television series, which it seemed would benefit from a home separate from the film collections to make both easier to browse. As the DVD collection already featured series such as Downton Abbey, Game of Thrones, Call the Midwife and Blackadder, it was decided to extract and reclassify any existing series and add them to the new section. In addition, an effort was made to purchase additional boxsets this year, as well as to complete existing series. As a result the section now contains over 30 different shows of varying genres, languages and tastes.

Seminar Room The Seminar Room has once again had a facelift this year –the carpet has been replaced, and a new screen/projector and smartboard have been installed. To anyone who has grappled with the old projector, with all its leads and peculiar ways, while trying in vain to communicate with it via remote control, this will come as a welcome update.

The new screen can be connected to devices wirelessly or via HDMI cable, making set-up very simple, as well as offering a much more modern and clear display. The introduction of ‘meeting room’ style chairs last year, along with the new carpet last month, means that the Seminar Room is now a modern, welcoming, and well-functioning space.

Catherine Ascough Library Assistant

31

Annual Report 2018-19

The Old Library Statistics

Readers consulting special collections material* Visitors taking a tour of the Old Library** Letters filed E-mail responses to enquiries Reproductions of special collections material processed outside College Onsite professional photography Reproductions of special collections material processed in house*** Permissions granted to reproduce special collections material in published works Use of special collections material in connection with biographical work

2018-19 288

2017-18 286

2016-17 313

1395

1345

1036

11 1360 4

11 1371 0

10 1160 1

3 days 1483

2 half-days 378

89

91

75

42

35

30

4 ½ days 874

* Does not include students consulting material in classes ** Does not include visitors at public open days or educational and group visits *** Includes reproductions of material to answer biographical enquiries

Of the 288 individual visits to consult special collections, 82 were made by students (55 doctoral, 27 undergraduate or taught postgraduate level). A further 114 students consulted the material as participants in university classes, meaning that of the 402 total readers, 196 were students. It is encouraging to see this level of engagement with special collections amongst those at the start of their academic careers, and indeed a wider range of subjects taking advantage of the special collections resources for teaching.

Although the number of individuals making requests for material to be reproduced was very similar to the previous year, the figure for reproductions is significantly higher, as several of those requests were for very large quantities of scanning. Our overhead scanner continues to be an invaluable tool for fulfilling such requests. The Finance Office has now taken on the task of processing invoices for reproductions on the Library’s behalf, and we are grateful for their assistance.

Purchases The Noel Marshall Fund is invaluable in enabling us to obtain works which relate to the College and its collections. This year has seen a particularly Johnian focus, over a broad span of centuries. We have featured the Herschel items on the Library’s website as a special collections spotlight, and in a display case in the entrance hall.

Facsimile edition of Erasmus Darwin’s commonplace book. £250. Erasmus Darwin Foundation.

32

Annual Report 2018-19 A collection of scarce items relating to the ‘Great Moon Hoax’ in which John Herschel was implicated. £550. Bernard Quaritch.

John Ovington. A voyage to Suratt in the year 1689. London : Jacob Tonson, 1696. £4500. Bernard Quaritch.

Reynolds Stone. Ink and pencil drawing of the monogram design for the gate into the Master’s Garden. £80.

Veronica Watts.

François Bernier. The history of the late revolution of the empire of the Great Mogol.

London : S. G. for Moses Pitt, 1671. Copy belonging to Edward Law, 1st Earl of Ellenborough. £2200. Bernard Quaritch.

[Robert Eyres Landor]. Guy’s porridge pot. 1808. (A satirical poem on Samuel Parr). £500. Sevin Seydi Rare Books.

A collection of issues of the Cambridge Chronicle and Journal from the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries (filling gaps in our existing incomplete collection). £2500.

Samuel Gedge.

Donations We are grateful to all those who offer material to the special collections. This year has seen some lovely additions to our Personal Papers collections.

Daphne Thomas Two prints of the College, 1920 matriculation photograph, and scientific and personal artefacts belonging to her father, Thomas Foster (BA 1923).

David M. Browne (BA 1971) Personal papers, including press cuttings and reports relating to his archaeological work.

Christopher Fletcher Photographs from overseas expeditions and Fenland work (glass plate negatives and photograph album), offprints, and correspondence of his grandfather Richard H. Yapp (BA 1898).

Corpus Christi College Archives A small collection of the papers of G. C. Evans (BA 1934), previously located amongst the papers of Oliver Rackham.

33

Annual Report 2018-19 Dr Anthony Bristow (BA 1953) William Wordsworth, Poetical works. Edinburgh, [1868?].

Lucinda Bowditch Correspondence written in Hungarian, German and English to Margit Dirac, wife of P. A. M. Dirac.

Ian Roberts (BA 1979) Mounted photograph of Lady Margaret Boat Club, 3rd Boat crew, 1878.

The estate of Professor Ian Doyle Small unmounted watercolour of Eliot Thomas Yorke (BA 1827).

Professor David McMullen (Fellow 1967) Oil painting of clergyman and child, possibly by Samuel Butler.

Embossed silver or silver-plated College shield on a wooden mount, perhaps a coffin plate.

Whist set, with cards featuring St John’s and Trinity’s crests, 1886.

Dr Joan Stevenson-Hinde RAF log book of Robert Hinde (Fellow 1951, Master 1989-94).

Three boxes of Robert Hinde’s papers discovered in the Subdepartment of Animal Behaviour were also transferred to St John’s.

Professor Maurice Nelson Graham Dukes (BA 1951) A substantial collection of early and rare newspapers.

Charles John Geoffrey (Geoff) Stanley (BA 1940) Papers and photographs of his great-uncle John Edward Marr (Fellow 1881)

Visits and classes Adult group visits Groningen Summer Academy (Aug. 2018) CILIP Rare Books and Special Collections Group Annual Conference (Sep. 2018) Australians Studying Abroad Tour (Oct. 2018) Fellow Borderer’s tour of the Upper Library for SJC postgraduates (Oct. 2018) Vice-Chancellor’s guests (Nov. 2018) Hong Kong universities visit (Feb. 2019) Students from the University of Bern (May 2019) Privacy and Law Conference (July 2019) CCARHT Human Trafficking Symposium (July 2019)

34

Annual Report 2018-19 Juvenile groups and educational sessions Choir from Christ Church Connecticut on Chapel exchange (Aug. 2018) Elm Green School: Abolition of the slave trade (Jan. 2019) St Theresa’s School, Effingham: Curator for an hour (Feb. 2019) Seven German students with their teachers (Mar. 2019) Two groups from Canford School attending subject days (June 2019) University teaching English 18th-century MPhil: two classes with Ruth Abbott (Oct. 2018) English 19th-20th-century MPhil: two classes with Ruth Abbott (Oct. and Nov. 2018) English first-year undergraduates: two classes with Orietta da Rold (Oct. 2018) University of Oslo: manuscripts class with Richard Beadle (Oct. 2018) English undergraduates: class with Ruth Abbott (Nov. 2018) University of York MA: ‘Mapping the world’ manuscripts class (Nov. 2018) English students studying medieval manuscripts: class with Orietta da Rold (Nov. 2018) MML postgraduates: two classes studying French medieval manuscripts (Jan. 2019) Queen Mary University history students: Biblical manuscripts class (Feb. 2019) Early modern France in Cambridge libraries seminar (Mar. 2019) MML undergraduates: two classes studying French medieval manuscripts (Mar. 2019) HPS undergraduate class (May 2019) The Librarian also used library materials in undergraduate teaching for history students throughout the year, covering such topics as early modern literacy, the slave trade, early modern society, the relationship between medicine and religion, and historiography.

The first Cambridge-wide Dissertation Fair, bringing together library special collections, archives, museums, and academic advisors, was organised by the Archivist and held in St John’s on 2 November 2018, attracting 137 students from the University of Cambridge and Anglia Ruskin University.

35

Annual Report 2018-19 Events The Upper Library was open for Open Cambridge on the afternoons of Friday 14 and Saturday 15 September, with an exhibition on the History of the Book, bringing 797 visitors through the door in five hours.

The Upper Library was open for the Festival of Ideas on Saturday 20 October, with an exhibition on Heavens and Hells through the ages attracting 427 visitors.

For the Science Festival an exhibition Skeletons in the Closet was held on Saturday 23 March, with 602 visitors.

The Upper Library was open with an exhibition of treasures for graduands and their families following the June Congregation.

The Upper Library hosted receptions prior to the Michaelmas Entertainment in 2018, the Cripps Feast in 2019 and the Port Latin Feast in 2019.

Preservation The final report from Tobit Curteis on the environmental conditions in the Lower Library indicated that the greatest problems arose from the temperature and humidity differential next to the cold floor and outer walls, and from a lack of air circulation. A test area was chosen where carpet was installed under shelving, or air gaps created.

The bookcase in the window bay was replaced and moved to allow air circulation around all sides. One of the taller bookstacks was moved further from the outside wall, and the lower shelf was raised to improve air circulation. Shelving in one of the smaller freestanding bookcases was also adjusted to improve air circulation.

Conditions in the three cases in the test bay will be monitored to establish the effectiveness of these mitigating measures before deciding whether to deploy them across the whole Lower Library.

The Colleges’ Conservation Consortium is continuing to work through ‘A2’ priority items. Work on eight early printed books was completed in the course of the year. In addition the rebinding of the Chinese Almanack (S.14) using traditional oriental methods was finally completed, and essential consolidation work was carried out on Tacuini sanitatis (L.4.27) prior to its going on loan for display at the Fitzwilliam Museum.

The Consortium also provided training in conservation survey techniques to Library staff and volunteers to further the work to consolidate the conservation priorities lists across the Old Library and Archives.

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Annual Report 2018-19 A full stocktake was carried out of the printed book collections in the Lower Library over the summer. Only one volume was found to be missing from the shelves: Samuel Clarke’s Exposition of the church-catechism, 1729, from the Wood Collection.

Further investigation revealed that this book was sent for repair to George Bolton in 2009. We are confident that it will be found in the Bookbinder’s room.

Exhibitions in the Library Exhibition Area Michaelmas Term Armistice Day: Memorials and Memories. The Legacy of the Great War in a Cambridge College This exhibition, marking the centenary of the end of the First World War, explored the impact of war on the College community, tracing the history of some of the students, staff and Fellows who left St John’s to fight overseas or to contribute to the war effort in other ways. The experiences of war shaped all those who lived through 1914-18, and the impact of war on University finances, student numbers and organisation brought lasting change.

Christmas Vacation Staff Photography Competition: Horizons A good selection of photos showing various interpretations of the theme Horizons was displayed in the Exhibition Area through December and part of January. Anonymous judging took place during this time by three retired members of staff.

They were (from left to right) Sandra Rodgers (Deputy Linen Room Supervisor) who was about to retire, Steve Morgan (Senior Porter) and Pilar de la Riva (Buttery Supervisor). They all enjoyed coming into College and seeing old colleagues but commented that it was quite difficult to make a decision with such a high standard of entries. However they did eventually reach a unanimous decision.

Winner: Fiona Marks (Bursary) Second place: Lucy Robinson (HR)

A selection of entries on display

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Annual Report 2018-19 Lent Term Thinking Big: The Two Chapels of St John’s College Material from this exhibition was put on display again in the Old Music Room for the weekend of the Chapel’s 150 years celebration.

Easter Term Student Art and Photography Competition

Paintings and drawings in any medium: The Louvre by Aleca Haeger

Photographs of College or College Life: Popping the Cambridge Bubble by Yue Pan

Summer Vacation Blooming Botany: The Early History of Plant Sciences in Cambridge Curated by Rowan Rush-Morgan, Graduate Trainee, this exhibition chronicled key points in the history of botanical learning and teaching at Cambridge, showcasing the works of eminent Cambridge botanists such as John and Thomas Martyn, as well as those who influenced them, including John Gerard and Carl Linnaeus. The lasting legacy of Johnian botanists was also highlighted, including John Stevens Henslow, friend and mentor of Charles Darwin, and Erasmus Darwin, whose The Botanic Garden; a Poem in Two Parts controversially captured the public’s attention with its celebration of the joys of botany.

Loans An imaginative portrait of Lady Margaret Beaufort as a young woman that was bequeathed to the College in 2000 was loaned to Christ’s College for the 2018-19 38

Annual Report 2018-19 academic year to hang in their Hall as part of an exhibition to mark the fortieth anniversary of the admission of women.

Oil paintings, photographs, artefacts and documents from the Samuel Butler Collection were loaned to the Shrewsbury Museum and Art Gallery (together with digital images of further items) for display from 1 February to 3 March 2019 for their exhibition Samuel Butler.

The clog almanac, which along with the College’s other scientific instruments is on loan to the Whipple Museum, was lent to the National Maritime Museum for their exhibition The Moon running from 19 July 2019 to 5 January 2020, the Whipple Museum kindly overseeing all necessary arrangements.

Supply of digital images for public exhibitions Copies of photographs taken by Samuel Butler in Shoreham on 31 March 1891 were supplied to a community website (www.shorehambysea.com) devoted to the history of the town.

Digital images of Lady Margaret Beaufort’s Book of Hours (MS N.24), and from Statuta Angliae (MS A.7) were supplied to Peckover House for their exhibition Lord Peckover’s Library running from 23 February to 17 November 2019.

A photograph of Max Newman was supplied to the Deutsches Museum of Masterpieces of Science and Technology in Munich for display in their new permanent exhibition on cryptography.

A digital image of Samuel Butler’s self-portrait was supplied to the Barbican Centre, London for display in an interactive digital timeline in their exhibition AI: More than Human, running from 16 May to 26 August 2019.

Photographs of Trattato utilissimo del beneficio di Giesu Christo (O.51) were displayed in an exhibition on the Italian novel Q by Luther Blissett in the Archiginnasio Library, Bologna from June 2019, and in an accompanying online exhibition.

Projects From January 2019 records for our Personal Papers (over 48,000 records across more than 100 separate collections) have been made available on Archives Hub, a national catalogue of archives across the UK run by JISC. The upload to Archives Hub was 39

Annual Report 2018-19 made possible by the migration of our records in 2018 from Janus/Cantab to our own standalone archival management system running on AtoM software. It is extremely gratifying to note that the Library is now receiving enquiries from researchers from around the world who have found our material using Archives Hub. During November 2018 a photographic unit came to the Library to photograph all the medieval and postmedieval Hebrew manuscripts in the collection, 10 in total, for a digitisation project managed by the National Library of Israel. Digital images will be made available to scholars via an online repository of Hebrew manuscript material from around the world, while high resolution photographic images have been provided to each participating library.

The Library is delighted to be participating in a major international project, funded by the Polonsky Foundation, to conserve, catalogue, and digitise all the Greek manuscripts across the University of Cambridge, together with those at the University of Heidelberg and the Vatican. Six Greek manuscripts from St John’s will be included in the project. Staff from the project have carried out an initial conservation assessment, and cataloguers have inspected the volumes. Digitisation is likely to be carried out in late 2019.

Staffing The fixed-term appointment of Dr Adam Crothers as Special Collections Assistant was made permanent by the College Council in the Lent Term 2019.

Media An interview with Professor Tombs for French media was filmed in the Upper Library in November 2018.

Photographs were taken for the College undergraduate prospectus in April 2019.

Kathryn McKee Special Collections Librarian

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Annual Report 2018-19

The Biographical Office General overview People are admitted to membership of St John’s College for life, but it is clear from the fact we celebrate the achievements of famous Johnians from the past that the association continues well beyond a person’s lifetime. The work of this office would be much more manageable if we were only concerned with living Johnians rather than all those who have ever been admitted to the College.

Given the centuries-old bond between the College and its membership, the processing of personal data by the Biographical Office is necessary for the pursuit of the College’s legitimate interests, as we are charged with preserving and perfecting the historical alumni records, which commence with information received from the individual on admission to the College. The information is held securely, and a data protection statement appears on the College’s website.

Over the last year both members of staff in this office, who have several years’ experience and already understood the importance of data protection, have attended further training on this subject. The Biographical Assistant was one of a number of members of Library staff to attend a session offered by the Office of Intercollegiate Services, and the Biographical Librarian attended more detailed external training on the General Data Protection Regulation, as well as an online course via Cambridge University Development and Alumni Relations specifically aimed at those working with alumni data.

The table below offers an insight into the volume of biographical information received and correspondence generated over the last year, concerning members of the College from the sixteenth century to the present day.

Action Biographical material received Biographical Archive consulted Items filed in Biographical Archive Emails and letters sent Proactive research

2018-19 4021 611 515 3816 2415 41

2017-18 4169 651 527 3791 2402

2016-17 4290 736 557 3751 2813

Annual Report 2018-19 The majority of this work is carried out by the two full-time members of staff in this office, but data inputting and checking records for Freshers who came up in 2018 was undertaken by David Baker, Library Projects Assistant. The Library Graduate Trainee 2018-19, Rowan Rush-Morgan, also assisted with biographical work, particularly relating to student involvement in clubs and societies, mentions of Johnians in the media, and other data entry and research work.

Biographical Enquiries Much of the feedback received by this office listed at the end of this Annual Report relates to enquiries we have dealt with from alumni and researchers, such as academics, biographers, and genealogists. The number given earlier in this report for emails and letters sent regarding biographical work (3816) includes correspondence related to such enquiries (often several emails relating to one enquiry, if it is a complicated matter or the researcher has several follow-up questions).

The pattern of enquiries completed this year is shown below, along with the previous two years’ figures for comparison.

Century Sixteenth Seventeenth Eighteenth Nineteenth Twentieth Twenty-First More than one century/Other Total

2018-19 15 13 14 53 348 45 12 500

2017-18 14 7 9 48 321 45 10 454

2016-17 9 12 14 55 293 35 19 437

It was a particular objective this year to answer 500 enquiries. It should be noted that this does not mean the office received requests for information on that number of Johnians: these were enquiries from 500 people which related to a range of topics – in some cases about one individual but in others relating to groups, so the research using our records, and reproduction of material in connection with this, is significant.

The comprehensive nature of the biographical collection means that many of the people we are asked about may not necessarily be famous or particularly noteworthy for their achievements, but each is a member of somebody’s family. Picking out particular enquiries of note is difficult because the reasons for people undertaking research are personal and it is not always appropriate to give details in this report.

In terms of the enquiries we receive regarding particular topics, this year included:     

Members of the Alpine Club in the nineteenth century Members of Cambridge University Gliding Club Members of Cambridge Philosophical Society Johnian Clergy Johnian parents of Johnian children

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Annual Report 2018-19  

Rooms in College occupied by various Fellows who were mathematicians and physicists Johnians in the two World Wars

The information we provided assisted in College publications including the Johnian magazine and The Eagle, in addition to online content such as the Alumni blog and news articles on the College website.

Johnians in the First World War The office regularly receives enquiries concerning Johnians who died in the two World Wars. Enquiries on this subject had increased in the year leading up to the centenary of the armistice ending World War I, to the point where there were several outstanding in August 2018 (which commences the period covered by this report), with only three full months left before the commemorations.

One topic of research was members of the College who had started their studies before the First World War and had their studies interrupted by War service, but who came back and finished their degrees afterwards. This was prompted by an article being written for the Johnian magazine, but was something we had wanted to spend some time on for a while, and was obviously particularly relevant in the lead-up to November 2018.

Another request came from the Chapel Clerk, on behalf of the Master and the Dean of Chapel, regarding Johnians who have died in conflict fighting for the opposing side.

We identified two Germans who fought against the Allies in World War I, one of whom was killed in action: Curt Arnold Otto Rosenthal (admitted 1905), who died in France on 30 October 1914.

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Annual Report 2018-19 Biographical Data Entry Unglamorous and underestimated, data entry is the spine that supports all other aspects of our work. While data entry is a more or less constant – and reactive – aspect of our day-to-day work, we sometimes embark on specific projects in order to focus our efforts or clear a particular backlog.

In times past, we maintained a comprehensive list of ‘high-profile’ Johnians compiled from the Biographical Database, based on various criteria including, but not limited to: having received honours from the Queen, being elected to a prestigious learned society, or appearing in Who’s Who. This list was then submitted to Council annually as an aide to its various discussions. This was deemed unnecessary and work was therefore discontinued around 2015. This year, we revisited the project as a stimulus to discussions regarding the election of a new Master. As such, the Biographical Assistant renewed the list (now four years out of date), conducting a search of Who’s Who, with what we call a ‘headline’ check – the summary that appears at the top of an entry, usually comprising the most recent or important appointment(s). This enabled us to update the records of some of our more prominent alumni. We also decided to use it as an opportunity to conduct a full check of Who’s Who entries for current Fellows and Honorary Fellows to ensure that their records were up to date.

Another distinct project involved the Biographical Assistant thoroughly checking certain volumes of the Cambridge Historical Register in order to update records with historic information on things such as University Awards and Prizes, Scholarships and Diplomas. A full check was conducted for the years 1930-60, and the following three decades will be tackled during the 2019-20 academic year.

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Annual Report 2018-19 Honours and Learned Societies Every year, we monitor announcements by the country’s foremost learned societies and organisations for news of elections to fellowships and prizes awarded, and also the biannual Queen’s Honours lists released in January and June, trawling thousands of names on the lookout for Johnians. While the list below is by no means reflective of the extent of Johnian achievement this year, it highlights that members of the College continue to be represented among the most respected of professional bodies, and in receipt of some of the most important honours.         

3 Knights Bachelor 4 Commanders of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) 1 Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) 3 Members of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) 1 Medallist of the Order of the British Empire (BEM) 1 Fellow of the Royal Society (FRS) 2 Fellows of the British Academy (FBA) 2 Fellows of the Royal Society of Edinburgh (FRSE) 1 Fellow of the Royal Society of Chemistry (FRSC)

This information is consistently fed through to the Communications Office, for dissemination via the College website and social media, and to the Master, who personally writes in congratulation – often prompting a surprised and delighted response.

Deceased Johnians The Biographical Librarian is either the first person a relative has contact with when they report a death to the College, or is someone they will be encouraged to get in touch with to provide further details. The College is sometimes one of the first places family members think to inform – which gives a sense of how much the College remains a part of people’s lives. They make contact in writing, on the phone, or in person, and it is not just family members: friends, neighbours and colleagues get in touch either to report the death or ask for further information. Not all deaths are reported straight away, but regardless of how long ago someone died it is of course important that this is handled sensitively.

Despite fulfilling this role for 18 years it is always helpful to have reassurance that current procedures are appropriate or to learn any new skills to improve communication with those who are affected by the death of someone close to them.

Accordingly, the Biographical Librarian attended Loss and Bereavement Awareness Training in February through the UK’s largest bereavement charity, Cruse Bereavement Care.

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Annual Report 2018-19

In the calendar year 2018, the deaths of 141 members of the College were either reported to this office or discovered by us. Information needed to be prepared on 119 of these, in order to pass it to the Obituaries Editor of The Eagle, Colin Greenhalgh (BA 1963), so that he could write obituaries for inclusion in the College’s annual record which was published just after the period covered by this report, in autumn 2019. Well ahead of next year’s volume, so far this year 97 deaths have been recorded, and 84 of those will require obituaries in The Eagle 2020 as they died within the last five years.

If we are in touch with relatives, friends or colleagues they are encouraged to provide biographical information in order to update our records and assist in the preparation of an obituary. However, it is the aim of the Biographical Office to record as much as we can about people’s lives directly from them, as well as from published sources, during their lifetime.

Fiona Colbert Biographical Librarian

Paul Everest Biographical Assistant 46

Annual Report 2018-19

The College Archive Statistics Visits and Tours: 294 visitors have consulted material or seen material from the Archive collection from 1 August 2017 to 1 August 2018. Researchers looked at material from a variety of collections: Lady Margaret Beaufort’s papers, the records of the Hospital of St John, the College Council and Committee Minutes, maps and documents related to College estates, gardens, tutorial and staff files from the nineteenth century, and items related to the College’s clubs and societies.

Palaeography lessons: 40 students have taken part in palaeography sessions held throughout the year.

Number of letters filed: 3.

Number of email responses to enquiries: 500.

Preservation Repairs to Archive collection items undertaken by the Cambridge Conservation Consortium:             

MPSC3.1-8: New Court portfolio D97/332: Court book for SJC manors D97/338: Presentments/Wootton Rivers, Wiltshire D97/166: Court Roll/Ramerick Manor SJAC/1/1/Metcalfe/1/1: Summaries of Annual Revenue & Expenses SJAC/3/1/1/2: Duties of the Praelector SJCS/34/3/3: Cash Book: GAC SJCS/2/14/7: Crews and Races (1944-64): LMBC SJEP/5/1/4: Keys (ancient) SJGR/5/1/3/1: Benefactorum Nomina SJLM/7/5/14: Executors’ Dinner expenses SJCS/2/1/1: President's Books: LMBC SJES/7/1: Thin Red Book (so called)

Tracy Deakin Archivist 47

Annual Report 2018-19

Library Projects Cartwright Collection In November 2018, a small cache of material was discovered in the Library Basement which turned out to belong to the collection of musical scores bequeathed to the College by Christopher Cartwright (BA 1958), and which had been overlooked during the project earlier in the year to catalogue this extensive donation. The new material included several additional volumes of the Neue Bach-Ausgabe, together with a large number of items of sheet music for solo piano by composers of the late nineteenth and twentieth centuries. In particular, the collection as it now stands contains more or less complete sets of piano music by Debussy, Fauré, Poulenc and Ravel, as well as by the twentieth-century Catalan composer Frederic Mompou.

All of these items have now been added to the catalogue and can be found on iDiscover. The bound volumes in the collection have been placed on the open shelves in Chapel Basement, whilst the sheet music collections (now boxed and shelved in the closed-access part of the Library) are available for consultation and borrowing by College members upon application to Library staff.

David Baker Projects Assistant

Cataloguing of Graphic Materials

St John’s College, from the Gardens. Engraving by J. C. Stadler, after F. Mackenzie. London.

Pub. Septr. 1 1815, at 101 Strand, for R. Ackermann’s History of Cambridge. (ARCH I.20)

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Annual Report 2018-19 Work commenced this year to improve the existing documentation for the extensive collection of graphic materials held in the Old Library. Encompassing watercolours, pencil drawings, lithographs, engravings, illustrated press cuttings and photographic prints, the collection as a whole charts the social and sartorial changes as well as the architectural developments that have affected College life over the centuries.

Fisher’s Lane, viewed from the Master’s Garden. Photographic print by Stearn & Sons, Cambridge. Not dated. (ARCH V.37)

Most of the items in the 37 boxes labelled ‘ARCH’ (denoting works with vaguely architectural subjects) and ‘PORT’ (portraiture) had previously been listed by title; the current aim is to turn these basic listings into catalogue records, through the addition of creator details, production or publications dates, descriptions, measurements and (where applicable) provenance notes. Once this information has been collated it can be transferred directly to the online AtoM catalogue. So far, the contents of eight boxes have been catalogued, and high-resolution digital scans have been taken of the majority of items, enabling Library staff to search for images by subject and to browse the collection without physically handling the items. This work will continue in the coming year.

Sponsor a Shelf Scheme The Sponsor a Shelf scheme continues to generate valuable income to supplement the Library’s acquisitions budget. Over the past four academic years, more than 60 Johnians and relatives of Johnians have kindly supported the scheme, contributing over £35,000 for the purchase of new printed books. While some donors have chosen to give regularly without specifying a particular subject area, the majority have opted to adopt a book or sponsor a shelf in the subject they studied as an undergraduate or postgraduate student at St John’s. Subjects due to receive support in the coming 49

Annual Report 2018-19 academic year include Chemistry, Classics, Computer Science, Economics, Engineering, Geography, Geology, History, History of Art, Law, Linguistics, Literature, Medicine, Politics and Social Sciences.

Working Library Stock Check Every other year during the summer vacation we undertake a full stock check of the Working Library collections, using a Digital Library Assistant (a handheld computer) to scan every volume on the shelves. We then run the data through some software that cross-references the barcodes of the scanned items with current loans data, to generate a list of items that should be on the shelf but are not. With a collection totalling almost 95,000 items spread over six floors, the scanning phase of the project is a large operation in itself, requiring input from several staff members over a three-week period. This time around we scanned 88,875 items. After factoring in the items on loan, the automated report subsequently identified 4584 items as ‘missing’. From previous experience we know that this is not really the case; the scanner struggles to detect barcodes in volumes that are very slim, very large or very tightly packed, and we expect to find most of these items on the shelves when we check manually. (Of the areas checked so far, only 9% of the items flagged as missing are actually missing.)

The work of checking will continue through Michaelmas Term.

Working Library Shelf Measurements The Working Library building that opened to students in 1994 was originally designed to house the Library’s borrowable and reference collections, with an estimated 15 years’ worth of expansion space for those collections. Although additional space was secured through the conversion (in 1999 and 2004) of the various basement stores into open-access areas, following 25 years of growth it was deemed sensible to survey the current shelving-to-stock ratio throughout the building.

Using state-of-the-art equipment (a tape measure, a calculator, a clipboard, a pencil and a lot of scrap paper) and substantial computing power (including quite a lot of counting), eventually a spreadsheet was produced, showing the length of shelving and empty shelving in linear metres for the entire building, and also broken down by floor, wing and bookcase. For the first time in the Working Library’s history we are able to say that the open-access areas of the building in their current configuration contain just over 4.5 kilometres of shelves, of which 790 metres are vacant – meaning that the building as a whole is 83% full. This is encouraging overall; there is room for the collections to grow by nearly a quarter again before a rethink is required.

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Annual Report 2018-19 The more detailed figures show a varying picture across the building, with some subject areas being allocated more space than they may ever need, and others already proving overcrowded. While only 76% of the Basement’s shelves are currently in use, for example, a number of cases on the First and Second Floors are completely full, making it difficult to shelve new and returned volumes in those areas. As well as helping us to identify patterns and predict future trends in the collections’ growth, this piece of work has enabled us to identify precisely which subject areas should be priorities for collections-management activities in the coming months and years, and which areas of the Library might offer alternative storage options. An example of how this information translates into new project work is given in the following report.

Rebecca Watts Library Projects Assistant

Journal Moves Over the past year, Penrose Wing on the Second Floor had become increasingly crowded, not only making it difficult to shelve, but also meaning that some items (new bound journal volumes in particular) simply did not fit on the shelf in the correct place. At the same time, the Johnian Collection in the Basement was overflowing, but could not be expanded due to the location of the Basement Journals Collection. Using the resource created by Rebecca’s shelf measuring project (see above), it was established that there was enough free space in Chapel Basement to provide a solution.

After some careful consideration and weighing up of options, it was decided to move the Johnian Collection to the rolling stacks opposite, thereby allowing it a generous amount of growing room, whilst allowing the Basement Journal Collection to expand backwards into the vacated stacks.

The Exam Papers would be removed from the Basement Journals Collection and relocated in the stacks opposite, where they could be considered a discrete collection in their own right. This would leave enough space to spread out the journal runs already shelved in the Basement, while inserting additional volumes and runs from the Second Floor Journals section. The space this created on the Second Floor could then be redistributed, allowing the current journal subscriptions and the History collections room to grow.

All the books were moved manually by the Library Assistant (ably assisted by various colleagues throughout the summer), which involved not only lifting and shuffling approximately 15,000 books from one shelf to another, but also adjusting shelf 51

Annual Report 2018-19 heights to ensure that no space was wasted, as well as estimating how much growing room to leave between each title (based on the estimated number of volumes acquired each year).

The aims of the project were to redistribute space to where it is needed to accommodate overflowing collections, and to consider the longer-term needs of the collections by predicting where space will be required in the next few years. Overall the project can be considered a success, as it will not need to be repeated in the near future on such a large scale.

Catherine Ascough Library Assistant

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Annual Report 2018-19

Website and Social Media Twitter The St John’s Library Twitter page is currently the most popular form of engagement with both users inside and outside of St John’s College. The Library follower count now sits at 1305, a growth of 105 since last year. This is, however, a decrease from last year’s 200 new followers.

The tweets @StJohnsLibCam account are generally split into two categories: either announcements about the Library – such as noise warnings for work going on in the building, or reminders that vacation loans are due soon – or spotlights on special collections items and exhibitions held at St John’s. The latter category of tweet often receives considerably more engagement than Library reminders do. In fact, a considerable proportion of the Library’s followers do not appear to be members of College, but rather other people and institutions with an interest in rare books and old libraries. Likes and retweets feed the growth of the page, and so it may be a worthwhile endeavour for 2020 to tweet more regularly about the exhibitions, collections, and history of the Library to increasingly engage with other institutions such as fellow libraries, bookshops and academics.

The Library Twitter page in September 2019

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Annual Report 2018-19 Facebook As of 2019, the Library’s Facebook page, @StJohnsLibCam, now has 135 likes; this is a fairly average growth of 20 likes from last year. However, the page has 143 followers, and many posts are able to reach around 150 to 200 users. Although less popular than Twitter, the Library Facebook page is used primarily to share library reminders and events, rather than engage with other institutions. This means that even if the Library’s Twitter account shifts focus more towards becoming an educational space, the Facebook page is still a tool to share news and updates about the day-to-day workings of the Library as long as students are still encouraged to follow it.

Likes received by the Library Facebook page from August 2018 to July 2019

Website The Library website is a valuable resource for communicating both with members of the College and with the general public – although ‘general’ is a word which here often means prospective students and researchers. The website provides a space for outside researchers to seek information on the special collections at St John’s and how they can be accessed, while students can use it to check their borrowing allowances and find links to our extensive electronic resources, such as ebooks and journal listings. As the new College website was launched in 2018, the Library’s section remains current and user-friendly.

The Library section of the College website in September 2019

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Annual Report 2018-19 Interestingly, the website statistics from the past year show that our most visited pages are the ones developed for outreach purposes, which have reached as far as the US. US visitors form the majority of those viewing our educational resources relating to slavery, Africa and the history of exploration, leading us to speculate that these topics are studied in American schools, whose pupils are directed to our website by internet search engines. This is an encouraging reminder of how the Library’s online presence allows audiences outside Cambridge to engage with our collections.

Ellie Capeling Graduate Trainee

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Annual Report 2018-19

Environmental Monitoring and Control The contents of a library’s collection are, like many things, at the mercy of their environment. Pests, excessive light radiation, and damp and subsequent mould can all pose a risk to the Library’s collections, and so all of these factors are carefully monitored year-round within the Working Library, Old Library and Archive Centre.

By catching potential problems early and working to fix the situation before it causes any damage to the collections, the Library can avoid harm in items which would require costly specialist repair. Responsibility for the environmental monitoring throughout the Library is shared by several members of Library staff.

Temperature and Humidity The Library uses small electronic devices known as Tiny Tags to record data about temperature and humidity in the Working Library. These Tiny Tags take readings for the environment at roughly 10-minute intervals, and record this data. The data is then downloaded every fortnight, graphed, and entered into a spreadsheet. This means that Library staff can easily see any readings which are out of the ordinary. The responsibility for this task falls to the Graduate Trainee.

There are five Tiny Tags in the Working Library; these can be found on the First Floor and the Third Floor, and then another three in each section of the Basement. As of 2019, the Tiny Tag which previously resided in the Master’s Lodge is no longer used.

Maximum Temperature (°C) by Month 40 35 30 25 20 15 10 5 0 January XBS

February

March

Chapel BS

April

Garden BS

May First Floor CC

June

July

Third Floor

August

September

Divinity School

A graph showing the maximum temperatures across the Working Library so far in 2019

As shown in the above graph, the temperatures in the Working Library have been fairly consistent throughout 2019, although the summer heatwaves were harsh on the Third Floor, which has always been known to be hotter than other parts of the Library.

Consistency is good! Excessive heat accelerates the deterioration of materials, so it is important to make sure the Library never gets too hot. Relative humidity has also remained fairly stable throughout the year.

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Annual Report 2018-19 Temperature and humidity are also monitored by sensors in the Upper and Lower Libraries, Manuscripts Store, and Reading Room. Other sensors monitor the areas where different insulation and air circulation solutions are being tested (see Old Library report for more details). Eltek Darca Heritage software is used to view and store readings, which are then transmitted to Tobit Curteis Associates to be analysed.

This year there were two brief episodes where environmental controls in the Manuscripts Store failed to work effectively, but both of these incidents were quickly resolved by the College Maintenance Department. However, the problem of persistent cold in the Reading Room remains, so temporary heating solutions have been employed in the meantime.

In the Archive Centre, School of Pythagoras we had some slight issues with temperature control on the first floor this year, but the Maintenance Department managed to find the problem and repair it quickly so that the optimum environmental conditions were returned.

Light Radiation The levels of light radiation in the Old Library are recorded once a week, usually on Friday mornings. Excessive light radiation damages not just the structural integrity of paper, parchment and leather, but also the pigments in ink, so the collections in the Old Library must be protected. The light readings flag up any problems before they become insurmountable; light levels are recorded with a handheld device positioned around the Library to take readings of both visible light (LUX) and UV levels. As well as this, the Old Library is fitted with blinds and UV filters on the windows, covered display cases, and a climate-controlled manuscripts cabinet for extra fragile materials. The Old Library also has its own set of Tiny Tags to record temperature and humidity.

Insect Pest Management One of the more nerve-wracking tasks under the umbrella of environmental monitoring is pest management. The School of Pythagoras Archive Centre is fitted with a number of insect traps that are checked and changed once a month; usually, this adventure yields nothing more than a handful of woodlice and rather a lot of spiders, but occasionally there might be more interesting creepy crawlies like centipedes or earwigs. However, all of these are just caught in an unfortunate crossfire. The traps are necessary to monitor the presence of pest animals like silverfish, booklice, and carpet beetles, which will happily feast on anything made of leather, paper or wood – not very good for old books and documents. The Archive Centre had a small silverfish scare over the summer, but the few that were found had disappeared by the next month without any intervention proving necessary.

Ellie Capeling Graduate Trainee

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Green Initiatives Recycling Bins Recycling bins for plastic, aluminium, paper and cardboard are now located throughout the Library. Unfortunately, we have continued along the lines of the rubbish from the general waste bins outweighing the rubbish from the recycling bins 3:1. I say unfortunately, because at least half of what goes into the general waste has the potential to be recycled.

In an effort to rectify this issue we are trialling, on a number of floors, the removal of the small general waste bins and replacing them with one larger bin. A large recycling bin will be placed in close proximity.

This is being done in the hope that when Library users do not have the convenience of being able to place all their rubbish in a small bin next to them they will see other options and choose more appropriately.

Saving water Something that happens fairly regularly is a flood in the washrooms of the Working Library after students have left taps turned on. This results in the sinks, which are quite small, overflowing and especially if this happens after the staff have left, a lot of extra work mopping up and drying out the rooms and – at worst – intervention by the Maintenance Department.

We know the students are preoccupied with their study, but being more aware of their surroundings would make life a lot easier for us and save water.

To encourage Library users to be more careful we have produced and placed new green ‘Please turn off taps after use’ signs above all the sinks.

Sandra Aleksiejūtė and Catherine Shanahan Library Cleaners

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Annual Report 2018-19 TerraCycle TerraCycle (www.terracycle.com) offers a number of recycling schemes whereby you can either register as a private collector or set up a public collection point. The specified waste is then boxed and mailed to TerraCycle and turned into useful products including benches, picnic tables, and playground equipment.

I registered as a private collector and in January this year began collecting for two TerraCycle schemes: crisp packets, and biscuit and cracker packaging. Initially this was limited to members of Library staff, but in March was communicated to all College staff and various departments now save their recycling for me. To date, I have mailed over 7kg of crisp packets, and while I haven’t sent the biscuit packaging yet (there are minimum weight requirements) I am soon to do so. The crisp packet scheme was recently closed to private collectors, but as an educational institution we luckily qualified to continue collecting.

In June, I also started collecting for another two programs: snack packaging and confectionary packaging, though I have to take these elsewhere as these particular schemes are only open to those able to set up publicly accessible collection points. At the time of writing, the start of the new academic year is imminent, and talks are underway as to how we can effectively increase coverage of these schemes to include the student body too. If all goes well, I could be collecting the snack-related plastic waste of approximately 1000 people soon!

Paul Everest Biographical Assistant

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Feedback

Gratitude Some comments received by the Biographical Office                        

I am most grateful for … a thoroughly professional response to my enquiry.

Splendid work. Thank you.

I am most grateful to you for the effort that you have put into my request, and of course for the information that you have supplied.

You never fail to find an answer.

I can’t THANK YOU enough, wow! I can’t wait to read this info!

This is amazing news and has made my day!!

I feel quite emotional. This has brought my grandfather to life. I never knew him, but now feel as though I do.

Your attention to detail is impressive.

My recollection of student days is hazy, but your enthusiasm to hear about it brings some memories back to me.

To say I’m grateful for all of the effort you put into this is an understatement!

Thank you SO much, you always go above and beyond and I’m so very grateful.

Thanks for your wonderful watchful eyes over us all!

Wow! This is fantastic! I am amazed and astounded. I could find hardly anything on him and now within a day you’ve not only told me all about him but also his father, grandfather, brother, and nephew! Thank you so much.

This was worth waiting for; no apology necessary. Many thanks.

You have worked your magic again! Many thanks, as always.

So many layers of information here. It will take me a while to digest it all, but I am so grateful to have this wealth of material to go through.

Seeing the press cutting of my parents’ wedding was wonderful. What a fabulous resource you have there.

I am touched at the care you have taken over this. It means a great deal to me.

My husband spoke highly of the College, and I can see why. The trouble you have taken to ensure this is accurate would have made him proud.

My goodness that was swift – thank you for your rapid response!

I just wanted to thank you again for all your hard work in putting together the obituary for my late husband ... I received my copy of The Eagle a week or so ago and in appreciation I’ve just mailed a small donation to St John’s.

Thank you for all your help and guidance over all this Fiona, I think you’re marvellous.

You are my hero. Thanks so so much for taking the time to explain this; all brilliant suggestions.

You are absolutely amazing and diligent as always!

I am in deep debt to you for your remarkable research and help. I am so impressed that you managed to find out his death information.

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Thank you Comments on Archive exhibitions, research visits, tours and online material 2018-19            

Wow, thanks so much Tracy. You make my life very easy! Do you think [other Colleges have] equipment to make copies of his documents as good as these?

A brief note to thank you very much for all your help yesterday. This was much appreciated. I really enjoyed looking at the documents and, as always, learned a great deal.

Very many thanks for these, you have saved me a great deal of trouble!

Just a quick note to express my gratitude for your help with my quest and I must say everyone at St John’s, even the hall porter, were enormously helpful and patient with this somewhat overwhelmed exeat scholar.

[A palaeography student:] Thanks Tracy – that was a really useful session.

[Support for Early modern palaeography sessions for Cambridge post-grads:] Very good idea – I hope it takes off!

Yes, it was really good. Those huge wax seals are amazing!

Thank you for circulating that article and picture. It is amazing, the things that Johnians have done!

Thanks for your time today. I really had a lovely time looking at all the old documents.

Gosh that was quick – very many thanks – you are a star – I am also most grateful for the additional references.

Thanks: I look forward to seeing more; this is proving a very worthwhile exercise.

Thank you, Tracy, for making us so welcome today and for giving us such an informative talk. Congratulations on the exhibition – fascinating. You have obviously worked very hard to put it together. I know how much our members enjoyed it and the coffee/tea break in such an impressive room was a real bonus.

Appreciation Special Collections   

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That is super – and in keeping with my long-held sense of Cambridge’s efficiency when it comes to viewing or purchasing manuscripts.

Thank you very much for supplying the handbill image. You’ve been a joy to work with!

Thank you very much for making this session possible and for sharing your time and knowledge so generously with us. It was a privilege to be able to see those manuscripts with the students.

It is marvellous! You find it quickly and splendidly.

Thank you for this excellent, thorough information.

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I wanted to send a quick thank you for yesterday’s session. The students have found the manuscripts exquisite (as did their teacher), and learned much from looking at the Bibles of St John’s.

It’s very nice to meet someone so enthusiastic about education and the sharing of knowledge – even if, as you say, it’s what you do!

I do not find adequate words to tell you how much I appreciated your help throughout the process. So THANK YOU! Thanks for facilitating a very productive visit last week, and special thanks to Adam for being especially helpful and accommodating!

I really appreciate the efficient service that you have provided.

It is very much appreciated that no charge is made for this reproduction in an academic work – the College is very enlightened!

How does one address a saint? Your greased lightning response to my request has filled me with joy. God bless the dancing electrons. In the old days, a request for photographs would have taken weeks and would have involved a trip to the bank for a money order, and maybe a trip to the post office to clear the shipment through customs ‘for a small fee’. How generous you are to share the images with me instantly and for free.

Your introduction into St John’s Library and insightful remarks on the old book collection(s) proved to be an ideal addition to our material-based approach to medieval history.

Oh my goodness. Thank you so much – this is more than I could have hoped for.

It was a wonderful experience and something that I will treasure… [Adam’s] tour was fabulous and really enjoyable.

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Appendix – Regular Donors We are most grateful to the following donors for their generous and ongoing financial support in 2018 and 2019. This list includes those who contribute through the Sponsor a Shelf scheme.

Bill Ball FIMechE (Mechanical Engineering) Hugh M. F. Barnes-Yallowley (Political Economy) Ian and Fumiyo Boulton (Chemistry) Paul Cockerham FSA (Art History) Alan Daniels, in memoriam Reginald W. Daniels (Economics and Social Sciences) Patrick Field (Linguistics and Languages) Dr Bernard Freudenthal Barbara Goodman, in memoriam Henry Goodman (Computer Science) Dr Peter Hacking (Medicine) Simon Holmes David Hughes Christopher Joseph (Historical and Human Geography) Professor Edmund King Garth Lindrup (Private International Law) Greg Lowden (Modern History) John R. Morris (Engineering) Kirsten Paige (Music) Dr John H. W. Shaw (Victorian Poetry) Christine Schoenzart Isobel Smyth (Plant Biology) Richard Tomlinson (Classical Archaeology and Classics) Irene Vest, in memoriam Michael John Vest Nicholas Wood (British History and Politics from 1980 onwards) David M. Wright (Geology and Earth Sciences) Please note that a full list of donors to the Library is published annually in The Eagle.

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