Well, after four plane rides, a night in a hostel, a train, and a taxi, I finally made it to St. Andrews. It was quite a journey! That was three weeks ago! Since then, I'm slowly becoming accustomed to life in Scotland.
The biggest difference (other than the accents!) is the weather. Being so far north, the sun doesn't set until around 10pm. It's actually pretty nice. Having five hours of sunlight after getting off work makes the day seem only half done! However, I'm already dreading the winter...
Biggest mistake thus far: bringing so many pairs of shorts and short-sleeve shirts!!! It's COLD here!!! At least for the summer. The normal temperature is in the 50s (I haven't quite learned Celsius yet...). I had to buy a scarf. However, I of course bought a wool scarf featuring the Ross clan tartan, which my family stems from when they emigrated in 1732.
So, I'm sure many of you are wondering what I'm actually doing over here. For the months of June and July I'm a visiting scholar with the Universal Short Title Catalogue. The goal of the USTC is to catalogue all printed books printed in Europe from the invention of the printing press (mid-1400s) until the mid-seventeenth century. The project began in 1997 and has been a great success thus far. It is a resource to scholars to help them identify the location of specific books. Basically, if you search for a book, it will tell you what libraries across Europe have the specific book.
I know it's hard for many to comprehend, but you must understand most books from early modern Europe only survive in one copy. It is therefore important to identify and locate various works. My job this summer is helping catalogue works printed in Normandy, France during the first half of the seventeenth century. Additionally, I will be working at the Special Collections Library, handling and creating catalogue entries for rare books. That's the fun and exciting part! Especially since many of these books have never been catalogued before.
I find it fascinating that libraries have thousands of books, yet very often have no idea what their collections hold. For example, within the past month, the library identified a multi-volume set of books that had been in the library for over one hundred years and had never been checked out. The books were a gift from the King of Siam (current day Thailand). As they were in Thai, no one in the library at that time new what they were. It turns out they are copies of the sacred texts of a specific sect of Buddhism and are very rare. A great find!
Anyway, I hope that briefly gives you an idea of what I'm doing this summer. I've had plenty of adventures thus far and will for sure tell you all about them! I'll probably post a few more updates to catch up with the present, but will then plan on updating once every two weeks.
So check back!
The biggest difference (other than the accents!) is the weather. Being so far north, the sun doesn't set until around 10pm. It's actually pretty nice. Having five hours of sunlight after getting off work makes the day seem only half done! However, I'm already dreading the winter...
Biggest mistake thus far: bringing so many pairs of shorts and short-sleeve shirts!!! It's COLD here!!! At least for the summer. The normal temperature is in the 50s (I haven't quite learned Celsius yet...). I had to buy a scarf. However, I of course bought a wool scarf featuring the Ross clan tartan, which my family stems from when they emigrated in 1732.
So, I'm sure many of you are wondering what I'm actually doing over here. For the months of June and July I'm a visiting scholar with the Universal Short Title Catalogue. The goal of the USTC is to catalogue all printed books printed in Europe from the invention of the printing press (mid-1400s) until the mid-seventeenth century. The project began in 1997 and has been a great success thus far. It is a resource to scholars to help them identify the location of specific books. Basically, if you search for a book, it will tell you what libraries across Europe have the specific book.
I know it's hard for many to comprehend, but you must understand most books from early modern Europe only survive in one copy. It is therefore important to identify and locate various works. My job this summer is helping catalogue works printed in Normandy, France during the first half of the seventeenth century. Additionally, I will be working at the Special Collections Library, handling and creating catalogue entries for rare books. That's the fun and exciting part! Especially since many of these books have never been catalogued before.
I find it fascinating that libraries have thousands of books, yet very often have no idea what their collections hold. For example, within the past month, the library identified a multi-volume set of books that had been in the library for over one hundred years and had never been checked out. The books were a gift from the King of Siam (current day Thailand). As they were in Thai, no one in the library at that time new what they were. It turns out they are copies of the sacred texts of a specific sect of Buddhism and are very rare. A great find!
Anyway, I hope that briefly gives you an idea of what I'm doing this summer. I've had plenty of adventures thus far and will for sure tell you all about them! I'll probably post a few more updates to catch up with the present, but will then plan on updating once every two weeks.
So check back!
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