National Maritime Museum. 11 June 2018

Monday. 11 June 2018
Caird Library & Archive, National Maritime Museum
https://www.rmg.co.uk/national-maritime-museum

Today the LIS group traveled via tube and ferry to Greenwich, London for a tour of the National Maritime Museum's Caird Library and Archive.

Our tour was led by Mike, Library Archivist and Vicky, Archivist Assistant.  The National Maritime Museum was opened by King George VI in 1937 and is home to an extensive collection of maritime history and artifacts. The library is named after its first benefactor, Sir James Caird, a wealthy Scottish shipping magnate who provided funds and materials for the museum including manuscripts, rare books, atlases and art. Mike explained that the library provides a wealth of information about topics such as: shipping companies, ships, crew lists, medals, naval battles, exploration, WWI, WWII, genealogy and more. The Caird Library utilizes the Universal Decimal Classification (UDC) for cataloging. For more information about the UDC, a different classification system than that of the Library of Congress or Dewey Decimal systems used in the United States, click on the link below.

http://www.udcc.org/index.php/site/page?view=about

Mike told us that 1/5th of the collection is currently on display with 4/5ths located in storage. Library staff retrieve items on the half hour and users can have six items checked out at one time. The library also hosts extensive electronic resources which can be accessed through the following link.

https://www.rmg.co.uk/national-maritime-museum/caird-library/resources

Caird Library Enquiry Desk.

Issue Desk

Lloyd's Registers of Shipping

I had to ask what this word meant. This is the Security Desk. 

LIS looking at treasures of the National Maritime Museum.

This volume is comprised of letters describing the transportation of Napolean Bonaparte and his
imprisonment in St. Helena after he surrendered at the Battle of Waterloo.

One of four 17th century journals by Edward Barlow. He was a sailor and wrote about his life at sea and his travels
down the Thames. The journal features very detailed drawings of ships and geographical features he observed while at sea.

The items in this image all relate to the Titanic voyage and subsequent rescue effort

Pages from Edward Barlow's beautifully written and illustrated journal.