Month: September 2021

Edinburgh in the autumn

27/09/2021 / jemmalidgard / 3 Comments

The Autumn Equinox has arrived in the Northern Hemisphere, and although this means damper and colder days in Edinburgh, the trees will exhibit amber glows, burnt oranges, and golden browns- perfect for walks and hikes.

Dean Village in the Autumn, Edinburgh

It also means salvaging your favourite jumper and putting those boots back on! Be sure to also check out events that are happening during autumn such as:

· The Scottish International Storytelling Festival from 15th October-31st October 2021 was originally launched in 1989 to engage people in the magic of storytelling. There are usually live, storytelling performances, songs and tales. This year there will be a series of live and online events! Click here for more information.

· A spooky Halloween Edinburgh Ghost Tour of Old Town, 11.30pm 31st October 2021 at St Giles’ Cathedral steps

· There is also the Samhuinn Fire Festival on October the 31st on the top of Calton Hill, which celebrates the transition of Summer to Winter and a stand-off between the seasonal kings! If you want to see this performance visit Beltain.org

· Bonfire Night 5th November 2021- To get a full view of the display we recommend watching the displays from the top of Calton Hill!

Bonfire

You can find even more events in the link below:

https://www.whatsoninedinburgh.co.uk/events/all-events/2021/10/

Don’t let the weather dampen your spirit but remember to take your waterproof with you, wherever your next adventure awaits!

The Wilderness Library: Libraries of The World Edamalakudi

20/09/2021 / julietkinsey / 1 Comment

Source

How far would you travel to borrow a library book? Into town on the bus? One Edinburgh Napier campus to the other? How about trekking 18 kilometers through a forest in which you may or may not stumble across the occasional wild elephant? I’ll be honest – I probably wouldn’t bother. The patrons of the library in the remote Idukki district of Kerala in southern India, however, are prepared to do just that.

The library in Edamalakudi doubles as a teashop, which no doubt comes as a huge relief to the patrons who have climbed uphill through an impenetrable forest to pick up their paperbacks. Kerala is India’s most literate state, and the residents here – while poor and marginalised – are ardent readers. When it was first established in 2010, the library stocked precisely 160 books – all Indian classics – but over the years word of the library’s success has spread, and it has ambitions to collect a thousand more books. The library’s borrowing rate is high. We wish it a thousand books and a thousand more.

Welcome back to campus

06/09/2021 / julietkinsey / 0 Comments

Welcome back to our returning students. We hope you enjoyed your summer and are ready for the new academic year. You will find there are still some covid-19 precautionary measures in place in the library and here is a short guide to let you know what has changed and what has stayed the same:

The Library opening hours can be viewed here.

Hand sanitisers are still at library entrances, and sanitizing stations are still positioned throughout libraries.

We are still operating social distancing measures, so some study spaces are unavailable. Where spaces are not in use you will see a cross on the desk and the chair will be covered up.

Group study rooms must be booked using Resource Booker, but individual spaces do not need to be booked.

Our Click and collect service continues, and you can still request books from your home campus.

Books and Lapsafe laptops which have been on loan over the summer will be due back by 1^st October. After that, books will have a loan period of up to 4 months providing they are not requested by another user. Lapsafe laptops will be 14-day loans.

From 14^th September you will be able to make requests for items that are out on loan.

Soft furnishings have been returned to the libraries allowing social spaces and relaxation spaces to be opened up.

The SCONUL access scheme is set to re-start in November.

If you have any questions, you can contact the library at any time.

By Vivienne Hamilton

War Poets Collection: Remembering Siegfried Sassoon

03/09/2021 / julietkinsey / 2 Comments

September is the time when we celebrate the acclaimed war poet Siegfried Sassoon.

Siegfried Sassoon was born 8th September 1886, and died in 1967, on September 1st. Sassoon was a talented poet, writer and soldier. He received the Military Cross for bravery during the First World War.

He wrote fervent pieces that spoke of compassion for his fellow soldiers, and his anger towards those he believed could have ended the war sooner but instead prolonged it.

Sassoon continued to write for the rest of his life, publishing many important works such as Memoirs of a Fox-Hunting Man and Memoirs of an Infantry Officer.

Sassoon was sent to Craiglockhart War Hospital (Now our Craiglockhart campus) during World War One. Here he met Wilfred Owen during his convalescence, and together they produced some of the finest war poetry ever written.

Craiglockhart War Hospital

You can visit our permanent exhibition area containing more than 600 unique items. It allows visitors to get an insight into war through the experiences of the poets. Access to the War Poets Collection remains limited due to social distancing, so if you would like to visit please contact us first.

Not only do we have many items in our permanent exhibit, but we also have a treasure trove of exciting new material. It has been loaned to Edinburgh Napier’s War Poets Collection for the period covering the Centenary of the First World War Armistice on November 11th. The new exhibits, which will be available for public viewing, include original photographs of celebrated war poet Siegfried Sassoon, work privately printed by him and an original of his famous war protest letter of July 1917. Read more about it here.

If you would like to read some of his works, here are some sources:

For Library Members

Siegfried Sassoon: poet’s pilgrimage

Siegfried Sassoon : (1886-1967)

Dr W. H. R. Rivers: Siegfried Sassoon and Robert Graves ‘fathering friend’

You can check out Librarysearch.napier.ac.uk for access to many more wonderful University materials

Online

10 Siegfried Sassoon Poems Everyone Should Read

The Siegfried Sassoon Fellowship

Thank you for reading.

Sources

http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/historic_figures/sassoon_siegfried.shtml