LIBRARY & ARCHIVES changing rapidly as we all learn how to use these new tools, and staff and parents will have to be more than ever aware of the possibility of pupils splicing large chunks of the writings of others into neatly presented wordprocessed pieces of work. Perhaps the library should be renamed the "Alcuin Learning Resource Centre" to take account of these new facilities! I would once again like to thank the Headmaster and all those many members of staff who have given me much support and assistance as the library grows and develops. Avril Pedley, Librarian
ALCUIN LIBRARY The School year 1993-1994 has been a busy one in the Alcuin Library. 560 new items have been added to the library stock, made up of 519 books, 24 videos, 4 audio tapes, and 13 CD-ROMs. In addition a further 2,060 books from our existing stock have been added to the computer catalogue, so that a total of more than 6,000 items are now fully catalogued and accessible. Included in the above figures are generous donations of books from Mrs. Nona A. Blenkin, Michael A. Wilson (a memoir of his father Dr. A. G. Wilson, OP), and the following past and present pupils and their families: Cherry Alton, Jam Bunnag, Chan Sum-Yee (Christine), Paul Gorman, April Harrison, Louise Jackson, Natasha Kershaw, Dominic Martin, Thomas Nowell, Simon Reavley, Daniel Sumpton, Clare, Anne and David Suttill, Penny Whiting.
1844 AND ALL THAT 1994 seems to be a year of anniversaries. Details of incidents from School life during the Siege of York in 1644 and the D-Day landings of 1944 are in the current issue of St. Peter's News. In addition to these, the 150th anniversary of the School's move to Clifton is remembered. Towards the end of term an exhibition was mounted in the Alcuin Library showing maps, plans and pictures of buildings formerly used by the School. This exhibition will also be on show for the Old Peterite Day in September. Presumably the original site was very close" to the Minster and the buildings were probably destroyed in the great fire of 1069 in which the Minster, Alcuin's famous library and the various outbuildings were lost. Under Norman rule, rebuilding began fairly quickly and there is early mention of the boys being boarded close to St. Mary's Abbey where Almery Garth now stands. The earliest written evidence of a definite site is in 1289 when Archbishop Romanus planned to widen the nave of the Minster and found the School house in the way, adjoining as it did the south side. It was then moved to the house of the prebendary of Dunnington, probably near the west end of the Minster or in High Petergate. A document of 1390 refers to "the house of Robert de Crayk in Petergate beside the School." (This might, however, refer to the School attached to St. Leonard's Hospital.) Rent accounts of the period from about 1432 to 1500 mention tenements and one chamber within and later beside the grammar Schools. This was described as "a complete ruin" in 1531. On April 5th 1557 possession was taken of "The hospital of Our Ladye, in Bothome, called Horsefayre, nigh York." This building, near the junction of Lord Mayor's Walk, Gillygate and Clarence Street was marked on one of the earliest plans of York in 1611. When the York Archaeological Trust excavated <this site the foundations, urinals and articles such as clay marbles and slate pencils were found. Here the School stayed until the dangerous days of the Siege of York when the suburbs were destroyed by the defenders and the boys moved to
We are extremely grateful to them all. Three new journals are now being taken by the library — B.B.C. Wildlife, Earth Matters (Friends of the Earth) and National Geographic. Sadly, the very popular "Check it out!", published by the Consumer Association, has fallen victim to their financial problems and has ceased publication. Our journal list now stands at twenty-one titles. A substantial, if not dramatic change, to the library took place during July 1993, when nearly all the books were moved around to place them in strict numerical sequence (the exception being music, games and sports on the Chapel Gallery, and fine arts on the oversize shelves near the entrance). Any temporary confusion at the beginning of the Autumn Term was kept to a minimum by the large and brightly coloured new shelf labels, and third form pupils naturally accepted the arrangement as a logical norm. The change of greatest long-term significance has actually been caused by our growing collection of CDROMs. The new library computer with its enhanced colour and sound capability (via earphones so there is no disturbance) enables pupils (and occasional daring staff members!) to get maximum benefit from such popular items as the spectacular "Encarta" encyclopaedia from Microsoft. The fact that one small disk costing less than the price of some individual books can contain a twentynine volume encyclopaedia, eight hours of sound, samples of sixty languages, 100 animation and video clips, 7,800 photographs and illustrations, an atlas, and more, beggars belief. The "Changing Times" CD-ROM (selections from two hundred years of the Times Newspaper chosen with the history curriculum in mind) has also been heavily in demand, as has the "Art Gallery" disk which holds the collections of the National Gallery in London. Pupil and staff expectations as to what the library can provide are 29
