1215 and all that …
So, 2015 is the anniversary year for Magna Carta – 800 years on and the document still has clauses in legal force and has a powerful appeal as ‘a touchstone of English liberties’ (Nick Higham, BBC) . The first week of…
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52 Weeks of Historical How-to’s, Week 48: How to Borrow a Library Book!
So, this week, I thought I’d take a look at how to borrow a library book – after all, this is a library blog! I’ve chosen something a little more up-to-date – a University of St Andrews Library Readers’ Guide for…
52 Weeks of Historical How-To’s, Week 45: How to Matriculate
As we are in the midst of orientation week, I thought it would be appropriate for this week’s historical how-to to focus on one of the first official acts that each student will be undertaking in their academic career…
52 Weeks of Historical How-To’s, Week 39: compile a dictionary
Sometimes you come across someone in the story of the University who just makes you stop and stare, whose erudition and achievements in enabling the work of others fills you with admiration and awe. Such a man is Sir…
TREASURES OF THE LIBRARY PODCAST: Dr Christine McGladdery on the Statutes of St Leonard’s College
In the summer of 2013, the University Library set out to capture the reactions of academic and library staff when encountering their favourite items from the Special Collections Division. For this project, authors for…
52 Weeks of Historical How-To’s, Week 13: Burns Night
Recipes from Meg Dods’ Cook and Housewife’s Manual have featured in a couple of earlier posts in this series, but Burns Night (25 January) provides the perfect excuse to explore this remarkable book in a little more…
52 Weeks of Historical How-To’s, Week 4: The Complete Servant
Many items which appear in our blogs are visually stunning. The focus of this blog, The Complete Servant, by Samuel and Sarah Adams, is certainly not this. Acquired by the Library between 1826 and 1864, it has a…
Happy Gavin Douglas Day! Celebrating 500 years of The Eneados
Today, the Scottish Poetry Library and the Writer’s Museum are celebrating the 500th anniversary of the completion of Gavin Douglas‘s The Eneados. Douglas, a Scottish prelate and poet, was born about 1474, third son of…
Introducing this year’s blog theme: 52 weeks of Historical How-To’s!
Over the past couple of years we’ve had themes for weekly blog posts throughout the year, beginning with the very popular 52 Weeks of Fantastic Bindings, and followed by 52 Weeks of Inspiring Illustrations. While we…
52 Weeks of Inspiring Illustrations, Week 37: the Quincentenary scrolls
This week’s inspiring illustrations are selected from the beautifully crafted presentation addresses from institutions and learned bodies world-wide which were sent to the University of St Andrews in 1911 to…