An Ode To The Library

An Ode To The Library

An Ode To The Library: Welcome Alongside the ziggurats, the rabbits, and the lake, the library is one of the most iconic parts of the UEA campus.

It’s a place where many a student has spent time working, but also is a place we have built friendships, discovered new ideas, and gained an extraordinary amount of knowledge. Just taking a moment to think of all the things we, as a whole body of UEA students, have learnt while being sat in the library is mind-blowing.

We’d like to thank all those who have submitted photos and quotes relating to the library and their favourite books. A special thank you to Creative Writing Society for organisng an open mic at An Ode To The Library and to Filmmaking Society for sharing with us the stills from their films, ‘Al-Sabil’, ‘Ernest’, ‘The Conscience of the King’, and ‘DO NOT’, all of which were screened at An Ode To The Library.

We hope you enjoy this zine, along with the library’s anniversary event. Here’s to another 50 years of celebrating everything UEA’s library has to offer.

- The Egg Box Committee 2

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Denys Lasdun Architect of the UEA Library

Library Opening, 25th October 1968 4

Useless Magic by Florence Welch “I just think it’s a beautifully designed book which complements the contents so perfectly.

I’ts Florence’s song lyrics with some of her doodles and poetry too and the deeply personal nature of the words and images I just find so touching.”

- Rebecca Allen (Image source: twitter.com)

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Photographs from the ‘An Ode To The Library’ anniversary event.

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Performers included Connor Enright and Minty Taylor.

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Stills from ‘Al-Sabil’ by the Film Making Society’s documentary team.

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Screened at ‘An Ode To The Library’ by UEA’s Film Making Society.

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The Women’s Room

by Marilyn French “It made me so angry I had to take breaks from reading it to process exactly why I was angry. It is one of the most powerful and necessary books I’ve ever read.”

- Ellie Reeves

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Silent Study Area, Floor 2, 2018

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Photographs from the ‘An Ode To The Library’ anniversary event.

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Performers included Lucy May and Danni Collard.

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1971

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View of the Computer Lab from Floor 1, 2018

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Teaching My Mother How To Give Birth by Warsan Shire “It says what I wish I could put into words but better.”

- Farah Mostafa

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Photographs from the ‘An Ode To The Library’ anniversary event.

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Performers included Eve Mathews.

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Stills from ‘Ernest’ by Samantha Hickey, Phil Stewart, Adam Broughton, and Rory Scott.

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Created as part of the UEA’s Film Making Society’s ‘48 Hour Challenge’, screened at ‘An Ode To The Library’.

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Floor 0, 1969

Floor 0, 1971

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Floor 0, 2018

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Group Study Area, Floor 0, 2018

Floor 0, 1969 24

The Arrival by Shaun Tan “I read this book for one of my classes and absolutely loved it. It’s a fascinating and unique take on what it is to be immigrant and to not quite fit into a place. Also, the entire thing is pictures and has no words!”

- Eve Mathews

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Photographs from the ‘An Ode To The Library’ anniversary event.

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Performers included Ed Whitbread.

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“UEA library has a special magic to it. It’s where I became not ‘someone who wanted to write a novel’ but ‘a writer.’”

- Naomi Alderman, MA In Creative Writing Prose Fiction 2002-03.

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“I have been using [the library] for 28 years... which is more than half of its life. I remember having periodicals piled up on tables as I researched for new papers or research grant applications I was writing whereas now most of what I use is electronic.�

- David Richardson, UEA Vice Chancellor

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A Poem by Amy Pattison Performed at ‘An Ode To The Library’.

I look outside I look beyond the lake I look out from the library And I think about All of the things that have been and gone How many people Have seen the same view How many people have felt how I’ve felt How long is it before all of this fades away And is grown over Over time How many words have floated in the air How many stories have been formed here I look outside I look beyond the lake I look out from the library

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Stills from ‘The Conscience of the King’ by Thomas Jenkins

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Screened at ‘An Ode To The Library’ by UEA’s Film Making Society.

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Photographs from the ‘An Ode To The Library’ anniversary event.

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Performers included Liyaan Sarwal and Angus Brown.

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What is your favourite part of the Library?

“Floor 1 Reading Room!!”

- Jordan Hunnisett

“That Reading Room feels like home at four in the morning.”

- Farah Mostafa

Reading Room, Floor 1, 2018 36

“Those views though”

- Rebecca Allen

“There’s such a calming feeling when you’re working and you look up and see the lake and all the dogs walking around.”

- Eve Mathews “The library has never failed to have a book I need.”

- Ellie Reeves “It’s like one big community of learning.”

- Amy Pattison

Although usually the weather looks better than this...

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Floor 1, 1968

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Group Study Area, Floor 1, 2018

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The Day of the Triffids by John Wyndham “Wyndham has a narrative style unlike any other I’ve reads, and somehow in the dense passages of prose - as well as the horrors of blindness and killer plants - he manages to make such an in-depth portrait of his characters that his sci-fi apocalypse seems despairngly realistic.”

- Jordan Hunnisett 40

Silent Study Area, Floor 01, 2018 41

Stills from ‘DO NOT’ by Persia Humphreys, Sophie Leach, Sarah Cox, Jessica Wise, and Anthony Corless.

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Created as part of the UEA’s Film Making Society’s ‘48 Hour Challenge’, screened at ‘An Ode To The Library’.

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“Libraries are remarkable places made remarkable not by the shelves upon shelves of books they hold – wonderful though these are – but by the people who use them, whose stories seep into the fabric of the building and make it what it is. My very great thanks to everyone who contributed to our 50th celebrations through the Ode to the Library event and to Eve Mathews for leading the production of this zine. It is reassuring to know that affection for UEA’s library remains strong after 50 years and that it continues to inspire students to cultivate knowledge, art, and, I hope, happiness.”

Matthew Smith, Librarian

Topping of the UEA Library, 13th February 1968 45

Thank You! We would like to thank all those who have submitted thoughts and ideas to this zine. A particularly big thank you to those who performed at ‘An Ode To The Library, Creative Writing Society, the Filmmaking Society, and Matthew Smith.

Our 2018-19 Committee are: President - Eve Mathews Vice-President - Ellie Reeves Secretary - Lucy Caradog Treasurer - Francesca Giuliani Union Council Representative - Amelia Court Equality & Diversity Officer - Farah Mostafa Health & Safety Officer - Alex Paulley Publicity Officer - Tony Allen You can find us on Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook @TheEggBox or join our Facebook group UEA Publishers - Egg Box ‘18 - ‘19 to keep up with what we’re doing! You can also email us at ueapubsoc@gmail.com.

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Statue Outside Library Entrance, 2018

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