Dear National Library,
It’s Lois here. In case you’ve forgotten me, I work in the General Reading Room and can occasionally be found in the Special Collections Reading Room too. Right now, I’m staying with family in the north east of England, and doing various pieces of Library work from home, including answering online enquiries and checking our digitised collections.
You’ll be pleased to know that I’ve been taking advantage of the amazing digital resources and courses that are available through the Library and other institutions. I’ve signed up to a free course on Digital Humanities from Harvard, and I’m awaiting a History of the Book course to start, which has been organised by our friends at Trinity College Dublin.
I’ve also been looking through Europeana, an incredible open access project which unites millions of digitised items from GLAM (galleries, libraries, archives, and museum) collections across Europe. In March they celebrated Women’s History Month, so there were online exhibitions and galleries celebrating suffragettes, writers, work and fashion. I enjoyed the exhibition on Madame de Staël (1766–1817), who, according to Byron, was Europe’s greatest writer at one time.
For downtimes, I can highly recommend making sticky toffee pudding, and crocheting granny squares (both highly addictive activities). Oh, and getting some fresh air when the sun shines!
I miss you, Library. I look forward to seeing my Library colleagues and readers again soon. Until then, take good care!
Lois
Featured image by Hannah Cole on Unsplash.