Seeing behind the scenes…

Today has been the first time we have offered events in the Edinburgh International Science Festival. As well as a couple of talks, we welcomed members of the public and University colleagues to the Centre for Research Collections to see behind the scenes in our conservation studio, Digital Imaging Unit and stores, with each space dedicated to a science-related collection, all of which have received Wellcome Trust funding for essential cataloguing and conservation.

Emily, our Project Conservator, described her work on the HIV/AIDS collections, particularly the challenges of treating modern materials, and demonstrated her clever storage solutions for those awkwardly shaped collection items! To find out more please see past posts on our blog at http://www.lhsa.blogspot.co.uk/ and her new project webpages at http://www.lhsa.lib.ed.ac.uk/projects/UNESCOcollections.htm.

 

Emily (right) talks about her work, with Serena (left), CRC Student Engagement Officer, leading the tour

 

 

Emma, a Project Archivist working with Godfrey Thomson’s collections, teamed up with Susan, our Senior Photographer, to describe digitisation work and Thomson’s own research into child intelligence testing. Both Emma and Susan have blogs where you can find out more: 

http://libraryblogs.is.ed.ac.uk/godfreythomsonproject/ http://libraryblogs.is.ed.ac.uk/diu/

Emma talks about the Godfrey Thomson collection

 

Clare (Project Archivist), who is cataloguing papers relating to animal genetics, and Louise (LHSA Archivist, and former Project Archivist cataloguing neurosurgical case notes) showed our visitors into two spaces within the Centre for Research Collections - our viewing room and one of our stores - as well as key items in the collections.

 Clare in the viewing room with some favourite collection items

Like Emma and Susan, they have blogged and posted information online about their work:

http://libraryblogs.is.ed.ac.uk/towardsdolly/
http://www.lhsa.lib.ed.ac.uk/projects/Cataloguingcasenotes.htm
 

 Louise with surgical sketches created for Norman Dott

If this has whetted your appetite, we are running the tour again tomorrow (Saturday 12 April) morning. Tours are free but ticketed so if you’d like to book a place, please keyword search ‘behind the scenes’ on the Science Festival home page: http://www.sciencefestival.co.uk/.