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Dear All, *BULLETIN 3* What was it that fellow said about Triumph and Disaster? Roger Ayers and I will be meeting with Fiona Courage (from Special Collections at the University of Sussex), at City University on Thursday morning, 8th May). We will be discussing which items from the Kipling Society Library will be going down to Sussex, to be housed with the Kipling Papers. These will need to be labelled and boxed very soon, so I would like to invite anyone with spare time to a boxing day party at the Library in Northampton Square on Sunday 11th, from mid day. Please do let me know if you can come, and if you need directions and details. However, the splendid solution for the rest of the collection described in Bulletin 2 seems to have evaporated. The Vice Chancellor who contacted me with the offer of a new home for the rest of the collection, in London, has now indicated that this may not be possible after all. I have tried to contact him by email and by text to his personal 'phone, but received no reply to either. Of course, this may just be a temporary problem, but with time running out, we must try again to find somewhere to store the contents of five large book cases. Please do use your contacts to find somewhere for us. The books would be in cardboard boxes, and would not need to be accessed more than once a month, I think. I look forward to meeting some of you tomorrow at the Luncheon! All good wishes, John On Tue, Apr 22, 2014 at 10:57 AM, John Walker <[log in to unmask]> wrote: > *Moving the Kipling Library: Bulletin 2* > > > Another trip to London on Saturday means that at least eight > hundredweight of books and Journals, ephemera and cuttings are now safely > in a commercial storage unit near my home. I have another 24 feet of shelf > space at City which must be cleared of spare Journals, but then the > remaining books can be summarised as follows: > > > Collected editions of the works (The Sussex, The DeLuxe, The Outward > Bound), early and ‘pirate’ editions, the full canon in various editions > (Uniform, Pocket, etc.), the biographies, individual criticism, general > criticism (including other authors), biographies of contemporaries, books > on India, the Services, etc. , books by and about JRK’s family, bound > copies of original magazine issues, copies of the old Readers’ Guide, bound > copies of the Kipling Journal…I am tempted to add ‘etc.’ In total, this > amounts to some 2,00 volumes, or about 130 feet of shelving. > > > Members will know that the favoured course for relocating the Kipling > Society Library is likely to be that of division. Those items to be used by > researchers in general could be placed in a University Library, to be > supervised and conserved by specialist staff, and available at all regular > times for reference. This would be to make a gift of these items, suitably > recorded with a bookplate. Although some members have indicated that this > should be in London, I would still suggest that the best place for > researchers would be with the Kipling Papers, in the new Special > Collections building at the University of Sussex. > > > This would mean that any institution taking on the remainder would be > offering storage, more than a reference facility. Security would still be a > prime consideration, but access would be necessary only occasionally. A > central location would be best, nonetheless – simply because the Society > has become very ‘London-centred’. > > > I am, therefore, very pleased to say that, thanks to the interest and > thoughtfulness of members, I already have at least two potential sites, > in London, identified for the storage of items which are so much part of > the history of our Society. As staff return to work after the Easter break, > there may well be more potential recipients. It is not yet clear whether > the bookcases we own at City University would be part of this move, but it > does seem that everything (subject to pruning of the spare copies of > Journals) would be kept together. I feel that this is particularly > important as so much of the collection represents donations by members over > many years. > > > The actual moves will, no doubt, bring up other considerations, but with > the help of members in general, and our President and his general staff on > Council, I am now confident that the Society’s Library is safe for the > future. In only thirteen years time, we will be celebrating our centenary… > > > John Walker > > Honorary Librarian > > The Kipling Society > > 22nd April 2014 > > > On Tue, Apr 15, 2014 at 11:35 AM, John Walker <[log in to unmask]> wrote: > >> Dear All, >> >> *Moving the Kipling Library: Bulletin 1* >> >> >> Some members will already know about the current problem with a home >> for the Kipling Society Library. To others, what follows will be something >> of an unpleasant surprise, so I think that it is important that I offer as >> much detail as possible. >> >> >> At the end of March, the Customer Services Manager at City University >> Library telephoned me to say that there were plans to revamp the sixth >> floor in the Northampton Square Library, some time in June or July this >> year. This is the area where the eleven bookcases and three filing >> cabinets, which are the Kipling Society Library, have been looked after so >> well by University staff for many years. I contacted members of the >> Society’s Council with the general warning of a problem to come. >> Immediately suggestions were made about possible sites for the collection, >> and first negotiations included a site visit by the Special Collections >> Manager from the University of Sussex, on 1st April. >> >> >> On 5th April, I received the attached letter from Maire Lanigan, the >> University Librarian at City. In case you have problems with the >> attachment, it makes clear that the deadline for removal of the entire >> collection, including the bookcases, is 7th June. >> >> >> I also attach my reply. I would emphasise that we continue to be very >> grateful for the help offered to us by City University, and perfectly >> understand the constraints of space caused by reorganisation. We still have >> an excellent relationship with the University Library, and value their >> continuing advice. >> >> >> We have, so far, approached five possible sites directly: >> >> · The University of Sussex. >> >> · The Guildhall Library. >> >> · The National Trust at Bateman’s and at Wimpole Hall. >> >> · The Athenaeum. >> >> · Haileybury School. >> >> · King’s College, London. >> >> Of these, staff at the Athenaeum have made clear that there is not >> sufficient space there for the entire collection, that access by >> researchers would be a problem, and that supervision would not be >> guaranteed (there is an alarm system for books at City University). The >> Property Manager at Bateman’s has very kindly offered me, personally, a >> fair amount of storage space in her own office, but it is clear that this >> would not be secure, and could not be operated for researchers as at >> present. >> >> >> There would also be the problem that Bateman’s (as with Wimpole Hall, and >> Haileybury) is comparatively inaccessible for researchers. For this general >> reason, I have not approached the University of Kent at Canterbury. >> >> >> Staff at the Guildhall Library were enormously sympathetic and helpful, >> but made clear that only authors with a direct connection to the City of >> London could be considered. >> >> >> With the Easter break upon us, the librarians from Sussex, King’s and >> Haileybury are all on holiday, so it seems very unlikely that we will make >> any further progress there before 23rd April. Therefore, if there are >> other suggestions for possible recipients, I would welcome them! You can >> imagine how stressful the lack of progress will be, and many members will >> be aware that I work almost every day, so Roger Ayers, our President, is >> kindly helping with advice and a watching brief. >> >> >> Council have discussed the possibilities, and are generally in favour of >> donating the library to Special Collections at Sussex, where the Kipling >> Papers, the Baldwin Papers and some of our own more precious items are >> already available to researchers. A new state-of-the-art Special >> Collections building there (‘The Keep’) would accept much of our >> collection, catalogue it separately and offer it for research, supervised >> by their staff. >> >> >> However, it is clear that some of the Kipling Library would not be >> considered suitable for storage at Sussex, unless we paid for shelf space >> there. This would mean that boxed books and other material would then be >> available to us by arrangement, supervised by the Society’s own >> officers.(Personally, though hardly significantly in the long term, I >> would find Sussex considerably closer, at one and a half hours, >> door-to-door, as opposed to the considerably longer journey from Ashford to >> Islington). >> >> >> Thus, the material of direct interest to researchers could become the >> property of the University (marked with a suitable bookplate to record the >> donation), while items relating to the Society itself, and books such as >> general criticism, foreign translations, biographies of contemporaries, >> etc., would continue to be our responsibility. The cost would be likely to >> be similar to commercial storage, subject to considerable pruning of >> surplus spare Journals, etc. >> >> >> It might be that the Maughan Library (King’s College Special Collections, >> in Chancery Lane), could take the entire collection, or Haileybury School , >> but time is very short, and further contact delayed. >> >> >> >> In the interim, I am working to make the final move as simple as >> possible. On Saturday 12th I collected a very full car-load of books >> (well over 300) from City University, along with twelve boxes of ‘ephemera’ >> such as Society correspondence. The majority of these books are duplicates, >> from our reserve stock, and will be offered for sale in a Library Surplus >> Sale later this year. I have hired 25m2 of secure commercial storage >> space near my home at a very reduced rate (a former student), and will go >> up to collect more, including the spare Journals, when I can. >> >> >> So, the situation is somewhat tense, but I am sure that we can resolve >> the problem so that the great tradition of the Society’s own library is >> maintained. As always, I would welcome advice, or ideas. >> >> >> John Walker >> >> Honorary Librarian >> >> The Kipling Society >> >> 15th April 2014 >> >> >