John Wright, Clair Sharpe, Jack Wedgwood & Niamh Delaney (University of Liverpool)
We were lucky enough to have an hour-long tour of the Sydney Jones Library and its Special Collections & Archives. The first 30 minutes were guided by Jack Wedgwood, Library Support Coordinator, who pointed out some obligatory architectural details, including the new link between Senate House (also called the Abercromby Wing) and the original library.
The Sydney Jones Library is much bigger and more modern than the Architectural Association’s, so I found it really interesting to explore all the different facilities there. We stopped to peek into the Maker Space, which offers 3D printing services, and the KnowHow Hub, where workshops are held to improve academic skills. Like stepping into a secret garden, Jack also took us to the Brett Gardens, a student outdoor study space hidden in bushland!
Brett Gardens – photography by John Wright
The Sydney Jones collection includes languages, literature, history, philosophy, geography, and the social sciences. This also makes it a fitting home for the Special Collections & Archives.
For the second half of the tour, Niamh Delaney, Special Collections Assistant Librarian, showed us some rare architectural books, including the works of University of Liverpool School of Architecture alum John Henry Forshaw and Wesley Dougill. My favourite book on display was an incredibly well-preserved version of Vitruvius’ De Architectura from 1511.
Niamh shows off rare books including Vitruvius – photography by ARCLIB and John Wright
Niamh also showed us Liverpool’s Digital Heritage Lab, which is slowly replacing the use of LibGuides for collection highlights. It seems like a great resource, making the University’s rarer collections easier to unearth.
Thank you to both Jack and Niamh for their time, and to Clair and John for organising. It’s always fun to go behind the scenes in other libraries!
Emma Ward, Architectural Association
Maker Space – photography by John Wright
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