See this essay on google docs here: The Bodleian Library’s Gough Map The Bodleian Library Map Room is home to many historically valuable and fascinating maps, but none quite like the Gough Map. Dated within ten years of 1360, the Gough Map is reputed to be the earliest road map of Great Britain. Surprisingly, even at a time when cartography was just beginning to tackle land masses, the Gough Map was able to reach a level of accuracy that few maps of that time could get close to. Due to its degree of [View Full Entry]

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Between lectures and last minute arrangements for our departure, we were given the option to go back to the Bodleian to see some books that were kept more for their valuable and artistic binding than for the subject matter within. Only a handful of us went to see the beautiful books. Many of the books were decorated with gold leaf pressed into their leather bindings, but there were several methods of creating these intricate designs we were told. Colored pieces of leather could either be inlayed or onlayed into the cover of a book. Inlaying these pieces meant that they were [View Full Entry]

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I signed up to visit the Social Sciences library available to Oxford University's students in the morning. This is the closest thing I have seen to the public libraries where I have been working in San Diego. The Social Sciences library is user friendly, unlike the Bodleian which was built to impress people not really to be comfortable. Also, this library has the most usable computer databases and terminals. Not only are there outlets for computers and internet cables at every single study space in this library, but there are closed-off study areas only for graduate students in special rooms ( [View Full Entry]

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The maps library, inside the Bodleian Library, works fairly independently from the book-related portions. Dealing exclusively in cartography books, maps, and GIS (including some sophisticated electronic references), the maps library holds its own for famous achievements. Unlike in the United States where USGS maps are considered public domain, the UK holds complicated copyrights on its maps, making it more difficult to reproduce (and therefore get your hands on) various maps of the area. On one of the computer terminals we were shown how a program (similar to google maps) can give very deta [View Full Entry]

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What we heard about the Wellcome Library reminded me of the British Library in London. The way the whole thing was set up seemed a little more like a museum than a library in some ways. Frances Norton came to Rewley House to lecture about the innovative and socially conscious changes of the Wellcome Library. Besides being the owner of a huge amount of special collections, the Wellcome Library has philanthropic efforts to improve human health through the sciences. Their charity, the Wellcome Trust, is the 2nd largest of its kind in the world. Starting out as a personal project of [View Full Entry]

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To ensure that our weekend was well spent, Jeanne, Heather and I went to London one last time. On the agenda? The Sherlock Holmes Museum, a tour of the London Towers, and a tour of Shakespeare's Globe. Sherlock Holmes's museum was great in so many ways. We delighted in the many, shiny trinkets in the gift shop first to make sure we had enough gifts for our families back home. While we were waiting to go into the museum, a man dressed like an old fashioned "bobby" posed with us outside in Watson/Holmes hats. Most of the things in the museum [View Full Entry]

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Before heading off to Hay-on-Wye, Chris insisted that we visit the famous Hereford Cathedral. We were not allowed to take photos, but I was able to see the Mappa Mundi and a chained library. Drawn up around 1290, the Mappa Mundi is a map of England on a very old sheet of vellum. It shows how early British peoples saw the land in both geographical and spiritual terms. The chained library was an interesting example of how early libraries prevented their books from being stolen. The books were literally chained to the shelf and in order to read them, you would [View Full Entry]

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We were set free for the weekend to do what we wished, and, after initally planning a trip to London, a few of us set off on a road less travelled. We were headed to the famous little town of Hay on Wye, where there are many unique vintage bookstores. After two hours on the train we stopped in Hereford, planning to take up a one hour bus ride in the morning. I absolutely love taking trains. In southern California, I take the train often to Orange County, Santa Barbara, or even Anaheim. However, in an effort to make my travelling [View Full Entry]

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A lecture on children's books at the Bodleian kept us all in rapt attention as Clive Hurst flashed images of story books and creative illustrations on the overhead projector. I enjoyed how this speaker continually reminded us about the historical climate and perceptions of the society where these children's books came from. Also, his slides consisted only of pictures. What can I say--I learn visually. The advent of actual children's literature was somewhere in the mid 18th century. Hurst showed us several educational materials from before this time, but these new materials were inten [View Full Entry]

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The day started early... a little too early for those of us that were still adjusting to the jet lag. Breakfast was served promptly at 6:45 so that we could all be on the bus to London at 7:10 in the morning. We had already been warned that the beautiful weather was coming to an abrupt end with the advent of a light rainstorm. The British Library felt more like a museum than an actual library. We learned that only very recently had they opened their doors to more casual researchers/ the general public. The first thing that strikes you as [View Full Entry]

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