Edinburgh University Library is the main library of the University of Edinburgh and one of the most important libraries of Scotland. The University Library was moved in 1827 to William Playfair's Upper Library in the Old College building. The collections in Edinburgh University Old College were moved in 1967 to the purpose-built eight-storey Main Library building at George Square, one of the largest academic libraries in the world. [1] Today, Edinburgh's university-wide library system holds over 3.8m books, e-books and e-journals in total. [2]
The University was founded by Royal Charter from King James VI in 1582 and opened in 1583, however the library pre-dated this by three years. The initial collection was a bequest of 276 theological books from Clement Littill, an advocate who left his collection to the town in 1580. [3] [4] Until 1708, the teaching staff consisted of four regents and the Principal, the former taking each class through a year's part of the whole arts curriculum of logic, metaphysics, ethics and physics, which included the elements of mathematics and astronomy. Until the middle of the 17th century, by which time the library must have exceeded the 2,400-odd volumes listed in Robert Lumsden's shelf catalogue of 1637, the teaching tended to be commentaries on Aristotle.
The Special Collections Department has about 200,000 items in all branches of knowledge. There are 1,200 incunabula, about 9,000 printed books from 16th century, 35,000 from the 17th and 18th centuries, and 60,000 from the 19th century. An important part of this collection is German Reformation tracts.
Among the many collections of the library are two which were formerly in the possession of the 19th-century Shakespearian scholar James Halliwell-Phillipps. The first collection was acquired by the library between 1872 [5] and 1889, including a Shakespearian collection. The second collection was acquired in 1964 by purchase from Sotheby's.
The University of Edinburgh is also the host of a research project in conjunction with the British Library and ATILF called The Making of the Queen's Manuscript, which focuses on Christine de Pizan's Harley MS 4431. [6] The project is housed "partly in the French section of the School of Literatures, Languages and Cultures, partly in the Special Collections department of Edinburgh University Library (EUL)" under the supervision of the Project Director, Dr. James Laidlaw and the Project Officer, Dr. Andrew Grout, the Special Collections Digital Library Officer. [7]
The Main Library is situated on the south-west corner of George Square, chosen because this was the quietest section of the square. Opened in 1967, the eight-storey building was designed by J.M.Marshall and Andrew Merrylees of Spence, Glover and Ferguson, [8] [9] The horizontal library exterior is deliberately designed to look like a bookcase[ citation needed ]; the architecture features brutalist elements but also clear oriental features. The exterior columns on the north side feature bracketing and are non-weight bearing. Upon opening, it was the largest university library in the UK, with each floor an acre in size. Today the Main Library is a category A listed building whose design influenced several other university libraries such as those at University of Glasgow, Newcastle Central Library, and University College Dublin. [10] [11]
The current Librarian to the University of Edinburgh is Gavin McLachlan. [12] The current Director of Library and University Collections is Jeremy Upton. Previous Directors, Keepers and Librarians to the University include: Kenneth Logie, Andrew Munro, Thomas Spier, Andrew Suttie, Francis Adamson, James Nairne, John Mien, John Stevenson, John Kniland, John Dunlop, William Somerville, William Henderson, Robert Henderson, George Stuart, James Robertson, Andrew Dalzel, George Dunbar, Andrew Duncan, Alexander Brunton, John Small, Hugh Webster, Alexander Anderson, Frank Carr Nicholson, [13] Lauriston William Sharp, Erik Richard Sidney Fifoot, Brenda Moon and Ian Mowat, [14] [15] Sheila Cannell, and Dr John Scally.
The Bodleian Library is the main research library of the University of Oxford, and is one of the oldest libraries in Europe. It derives its name from its founder, Sir Thomas Bodley. With over 13 million printed items, it is the second-largest library in Britain after the British Library. Under the Legal Deposit Libraries Act 2003, it is one of six legal deposit libraries for works published in the United Kingdom, and under Irish law it is entitled to request a copy of each book published in the Republic of Ireland. Known to Oxford scholars as "Bodley" or "the Bod", it operates principally as a reference library and, in general, documents may not be removed from the reading rooms.
Cambridge University Library is the main research library of the University of Cambridge. It is the largest of over 100 libraries within the university. The library is a major scholarly resource for members of the University of Cambridge and external researchers. It is often referred to within the university as the UL. Thirty-three faculty and departmental libraries are associated with the University Library for the purpose of central governance and administration, forming "Cambridge University Libraries".
The Hunterian is a complex of museums located in and operated by the University of Glasgow in Glasgow, Scotland. It is the oldest museum in Scotland. It covers the Hunterian Museum, the Hunterian Art Gallery, the Mackintosh House, the Zoology Museum and the Anatomy Museum, which are all located in various buildings on the main campus of the university in the west end of Glasgow.
The John Rylands Research Institute and Library is a late-Victorian neo-Gothic building on Deansgate in Manchester, England. It is part of the University of Manchester. The library, which opened to the public in 1900, was founded by Enriqueta Augustina Rylands in memory of her husband, John Rylands. It became part of the university in 1972, and now houses the majority of the Special Collections of The University of Manchester Library, the third largest academic library in the United Kingdom.
William John Watson FRSE LLD was a toponymist, one of the greatest Scottish scholars of the 20th century, and was the first scholar to place the study of Scottish place names on a firm linguistic basis.
Edinburgh College of Art (ECA) is one of eleven schools in the College of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences at the University of Edinburgh. Tracing its history back to 1760, it provides higher education in art and design, architecture, history of art, and music disciplines for over three thousand students and is at the forefront of research and research-led teaching in the creative arts, humanities, and creative technologies. ECA comprises five subject areas: School of Art, Reid School of Music, School of Design, School of History of Art, and Edinburgh School of Architecture & Landscape Architecture (ESALA). ECA is mainly located in the Old Town of Edinburgh, overlooking the Grassmarket; the Lauriston Place campus is located in the University of Edinburgh's Central Area Campus, not far from George Square.
New College is a historic building at the University of Edinburgh which houses the university's School of Divinity. It is one of the largest and most renowned centres for studies in Theology and Religious Studies in the United Kingdom. Students in M.A., M.Th. and Ph.D. degree programmes come from over 30 countries, and are taught by almost 40 full-time members of the academic staff. New College is situated on The Mound in the north of Edinburgh's Old Town.
The Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh (RCPE) is a medical royal college in Scotland. It is one of three organisations that sets the specialty training standards for physicians in the United Kingdom. It was established by Royal charter in 1681. The college has over 14,000 fellows and members worldwide.
Robert Wodrow was a Scottish minister and historian, known as a chronicler and defender of the Covenanters. Robert Wodrow was born at Glasgow, where his father, James Wodrow, was a professor of divinity. Robert was educated at the university and was librarian from 1697 to 1701. From 1703 till his death, he was parish minister at Eastwood, near Glasgow. He had sixteen children, his son Patrick being the "auld Wodrow" of Burns's poem Twa Herds.
Gerard Baldwin Brown, FBA was a British art historian.
McEwan Hall is the graduation hall of the University of Edinburgh, in Edinburgh, Scotland. Designed by architect Sir Robert Rowand Anderson, it was funded by philanthropist William McEwan at a total cost of £115,000. Completed in 1897, McEwan Hall today is a category A listed building.
James Paterson PRSW RSA RWS, was a Scottish landscape and portrait painter associated with The Glasgow Boys movement of artists. He is best known for his landscape paintings of Dumfriesshire, where he lived, at Moniaive from 1885 to 1905.
The Caledonian Mercury was a newspaper in Edinburgh, Scotland, published three times a week between 1720 and 1867. In 2010 an online publication launched using the name.
The Brotherton Library is a 1936 Grade II listed Beaux-Arts building with some art deco fittings, located on the main campus of the University of Leeds. It was designed by the firm of Lanchester & Lodge, and is named after Edward Brotherton, 1st Baron Brotherton, who in 1927 donated £100,000 to the university as funding for its first purpose-built library.
William Home Lizars was a Scottish painter and engraver.
Edinburgh University Women's Union was a students' union for women at the University of Edinburgh in Edinburgh, Scotland. The union became the Chambers Street Union before accepting the admission of men to membership in 1971, ahead of merging into the new Edinburgh University Students' Association in 1973.
Andrew Nisbet Bogle was a Scottish minister of the Free Church of Scotland who moved to the Church of Scotland as an administrator and then served as Moderator of the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland in 1930.
George Stuart FRSE LLD was an 18th-century Scottish classicist. He was joint founder of the Royal Society of Edinburgh in 1783.
Robert William Johnstone CBE, FRCSEd, FRSE, FRCOG, was a Scottish obstetrician and gynaecologist. For some 20 years he was Professor of Midwifery and Gynaecology at the University of Edinburgh. He was a founding Fellow and subsequently vice-president of the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists. He served as president of the Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh from 1943 to 1945.
Robert Burn (1752–1815) was a Scottish architect. He was father to the architect William Burn.