A new programme of events at Queen’s Library
The library has always been a place to study and discover but this year we’re giving students even more reasons to spend time there.
From folk horror and fascinating finds from our special collections, to bookbinding, crafts, and a well-earned study break, a new programme of events is coming to Queen’s this Michaelmas.
Deputy Librarian Sarah shares what you can look forward to over the coming term.
Earlier this year the library team spent some time reflecting on our services, considering what we felt our strengths and weaknesses were. We have several years’ worth of survey data that says we’ve been getting the basics right – good stock provision, generous with our book request service, loan lengths and limits, good amount of space, suitable staffing. This is something that I and my colleagues are all very proud of and I am sure we could have carried on doing exactly what we’ve been doing and continuing to provide a good study environment for the Queen’s community, but we agreed we felt we had capacity to do more – to consider experimenting with some new ideas.
To that end, I am incredibly excited to announce that this coming academic year, we are trialling a more robust outreach and events programme to showcase our collections, connect with our users, and work to promote a culture of reading for pleasure as a complement to academic study.
In Michaelmas, this will involve:
- On Thursday of 5th week, I am particularly pleased to announce that we will be joined by folk-horror author Lucie McKnight Hardy in the Shulman Auditorium from 5pm. Lucy will be talking about her recent novel Night Babies, with a drinks reception in the foyer after. This event will be free to attend but a form to RSVP will be circulated soon to get an idea of numbers.
- Continuing our regular “Show and Tell” events hosted by Librarian, Dr Matthew Shaw – these will take place in the Upper Library at 1:15pm on Wednesdays of weeks 2, 4, 6 and 8. During these sessions, Matt will highlight interesting items from our special collections, offering attendees the opportunity to engage with a wide variety of historical texts they may otherwise never see. All College members welcome to attend on a drop-in basis.
- “MPR&R” – this will give students the opportunity to take a break from studying, enjoy some free refreshments in the library multipurpose room, ask library staff questions in a relaxed environment, chat with their peers and enjoy some simple crafts facilitated by our Assistant Librarian, Manda Lima. The Michaelmas session will take place at 10am on Wednesday of 3rd week and will be Hallowe’en themed.
- Lastly, I’ll be using my hobbyist book-binding skills to lead some book arts workshops. The first of these will be on Tuesday of 6th week at 2pm in the MPR, where I will teach attendees how to make a very basic hand sewn pamphlet style notebook that they can take away. These workshops will be free to attend, but places will be strictly limited to 8 per session so please RSVP to library@queens.ox.ac.uk if you would like to attend. Open to all members of college, though priority will be given to students wishing to attend.
As this is new, we will also be grateful for any feedback on events as they happen, or suggestions for future events – particularly around our plans to host more invited speakers. Is there an author you’d like to see speak in College? Let us know! We’ve also been careful to start off with what we consider to be a small and sustainable programme – just a handful of new things, so if anything doesn’t work, we aren’t wasting too much in the way of time and resources. We can then make adjustments to our offering based on demand – so if you really enjoyed something, or you wanted to come to something but were unable to, tell us. We’re always happy to receive feedback, whether in person at the enquiry desk or via email.
We also have some exciting plans for similar events in Hilary. We are very excited about our plans for this academic year, and we hope to see many of you there!
Header image: Mauricio Villarroel Valenzuela
