If I may draw a Glasgwegian parallel with the Edinburgh Royal Colleges, an
Honorary Librarian, to whom I answer, is elected from among the Fellowship.
The Glasgow College Library Committee incidentally, is the only Committee
in the College which answers directly to the Fellowship, being a Committee
of College, rather than a Committee of Council, the College's governing
body. It has its advantages! I am not sure what the origin of this is...we
are at the beginning of a restructuring, so it may soon be a feature of the
past.
James Beaton
Librarian
RCPSGlasg
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Sent: Friday, March 10, 2000 03:05
To: [log in to unmask]; Keith Manley
Cc: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: Scientists and librarians
Are we really talking about 'science' in the narrow, modern sense,
or about 'Wissenschaft' (= academic knowledge) in the old sense?
I suspect the latter; in which the librarians of most academic most
academic libraries in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries,
and often the ninteenth and early twentieth as well, were
'scientists'.
Edinburgh University Library has already been mentioned, rightly,
as having had the polymath Professor Andrew Duncan as Librarian.
In fact, from 1747 to 1854 the Librarian was always a Professor, of
(successively) Humanity (= Latin), Hebrew, Greek, Greek again,
Medical Jurisprudence / Materia Medica, and Hebrew again; the
Under-Librarian was the senior 'professional'. After a later dodgy
period, the job was again assumed from 1900 to1913 by a
Professor, this time of Sanskrit, before reverting to full-time
'professionals' thereafter. This senior academic role is probably
still vested in some respects in the Convener of the Library
Committee, now a Vice-Principal, to whom the University Librarian
answers managerially. In New College, Edinburgh (now the
University's Faculty of Divinity) the convener of the Library
Committee is still known as the Curator. In the Royal Colleges of
Physicians and of Surgeons of Edinburgh a senior Fellow is still
appointed as Honorary Librarian, and is the officer to whom the
Librarian answers managerially. Traditions die hard in Edinburgh -
and why not?
More information in 'Edinburgh University Library 1580-1980: a
collection of historical essays'; edited by Jean R. Guild and
Alexander Law (Edinburgh: EUL, 1982) Copies are still available
for purchase from EUL (commercial plug!)
Peter Freshwater
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PETER B. FRESHWATER
Senior Assistant Librarian, Special Collections Department,
Edinburgh University Library, George Square, Edinburgh EH8 9LJ, Scotland
Email: [log in to unmask]; Fax: +44(0)131 650 6863; Telephone: +44(0)131
650 6824
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