Find of the Week (13)

This find of the week is courtesy of a donation handed into the local history department. An older gentleman handed the find into the library,he had little family and thought the libraries & museums department would be the best place for the find.

The find was inside an old metal tin, wrapped in paper and looked as though it hadn't been looked at for years. The find was a children's medal from 1902, it had the profiles of Edward the VII and Queen Alexandria on one side and the Dumbarton shield (elephant & castle) on the other side with the date 27th June 1902.  

The medal was to celebrate the coronation of Edward the VII in June 1902, however the original coronation date of 26th June had to be postponed as the King had appendicitis, the decision was taken by his consultants that 'at whatever inconvenience to the public, His Majesty's condition rendered an immediate operation necessary', the operation was successfully completed by Sir F. Treves.

In Dumbarton the town has started decorating buildings, setting gas illuminations and decorating homes with flags and bunting. The executive committee arranging the municipal celebrations had to cancel all celebrations including, the school choirs(over 1000 kids), maypole dancing, the regatta, the town procession and the firing of the royal salute.

The coronation was rescheduled and the King was crowned on the 9th of August 1902 at Westminster Abbey.

 In Dumbarton in the weeks leading up to the coronation many of the towns    residents were giving the thought of celebrating the cold shoulder. The town asked for subscriptions towards the funding of the coronation celebrations, the donations were slow in accumulating, however a total of £450 was reached. The town used the funds to put together a programme of festivities for the coronation. They included a religious service, competitions for vehicular and equestrian turnouts, firing of a royal salute, dancing, sports, fireworks and a bonfire.

The town again decorated households and businesses in flags and bunting, the towns bridge was decorated with streamers and the municipal buildings and burgh hall were decorated in flags, gold crowns and shields.

The highlight of the evening celebrations was the electric display at the Leven Shipyard, with ribbons and lights hanging from mast to mast at the quay side.

Chloe's Chemoo Cows

http://chloeschemoocows.com/

Have you ever heard of Diffuse Intrinsic Pontine Glioma [DIPG]? No. Neither had I until last year. Chloe, to whom the website is dedicated, was diagnosed with DIPG late last summer.

I am honoured to have known Chloe who was courageous, bright, talented, charming and funny. Chloe touched the hearts of all who knew her, her smile could light up a room, she was surrounded by amazing young friends and a fantastic family.Chloe's zest for reading and her ability to make my niece smile, will always be my abiding memories.

Sadly, after fighting the tumour with all her might, she passed away on 16th June 2011. 

In honour of their very talented daughter, her parent Mark & Elaine have set up the charity and website   Chloe's Chemoo Cows  

Mark & Elaine never stopped searching for information on DIPG, and the information they gathered has been used in the creation of the website. There is an excellent explanation of DIPG for all to understand, including symptoms and treatments. 

At the heart of the website are the chemoo cows, each child at the Schiehallion, (Yorkhill Hospital, Glasgow) receiving chemotherapy treatment will receive a chemoo cow. The website is also packed full of fun things to do, colour in your chemoo cow, try a chemoo wordsearch or learn some cow jokes, its all on the website.   

To know that their are kids out there gaining a little comfort from Chemoo Cow is a fantastic legacy.

So, in honour of Chloe have a look at the website, try to remember those little Chemoo Cows, just incase, one day, you need to know or someone close to you needs to know information on DIPG.

tech

Found this http://youtu.be/x-9FaJPhFxQ it was uploaded in 2008, what would the figures be now? Just how dependent are we now on technology to live our daily lives. At the moment I've got the pc running, an external hardrive hooked up, my satellite tv recording programs, my smart phone lying by my side, a usb stick plugged in, a kindle beside my bed and I'm not a technolgy geek, in the gadget sense.
It's made me think about those  'when we were kids' posts, back in the days before the mobile phone, the modern pc and the games console. I used to remember the phone numbers of friends and family, when a red phone box was a life saver - now I know 2 numbers and the rest are stored on my smart phone, accessed at the touch of a button of flick of my thumb.To read, I picked up a book, magazine or newspaper, now I plug in a device, flick a switch and have constant news updates. To write to my friends was the only way of communicating long distance, now I text, use social media or email. So, technolgy has changed the way I work, socialise and communicate in 2011.....so what will be added to my collection of social gadgetry over the next few years.
For now, I'm going to turn off my pc, pick up a book and listen to the tick tock of my clock.

Find of the Week (12)

It's been a while since I added a 'find of the week'. Due to restructuring at work and preparing to move house my time to blog has been limited. However, I did find this little gem the other day.
So, how do you go to bed? Is it pj's, shorts, old t-shirt, nightie, naked?This piece from the Omaha Herald, reprinted in the local newspaper,tells the tale of an old maid and her bedtime routine.

New Job

First came the restructure, second came a very long job profile and third came the interview last Wednesday. The interview was in two parts, a PowerPoint on "my vision for my section of Arts & Heritage over the next 3 years" and then some good questions on increasing access to collections, team working,  promotion of service and improving access and provision of reference services. I enjoyed delivering the PowerPoint, I concentrated on:
Increasing engagement with the community
Improving awareness and access to collections
A Partnership apprach

So instead of Information Services Librarian its now Local History and Reference Librarian.

2011 - January

The working year began today. I've spent the past fortnight eating, drinking, reading and playing the occasional game of Guess Who.  
I opened outlook at 8.52 am, I thought people would be too busy over the holidays to send enquires, I couldn't have been more wrong. I was amazed not only by the amount of enquires but by the complexity of them. Thankfully the fight against the ever increasing inbox is now being fought jointly by me and my new secret weapon - Isabel the newly appointed Information Services Assistant. I'm not alone anymore.
The first project for this year is based on intergenerational learning and is funded by Museums and Galleries Scotland. 'Climbing Tress - The Census' will focus on working with Primary 5-7 pupils and older members of the community, we will be developing and delivering workshops to be used during school visits, a census pack for all local primary schools with links to the Curriculum for Excellence. The project will give children an understanding of what the census is and how it has developed since the 1840's. We will be bring the census to life by using local maps, valuation rolls, photographs and the census records of key local figures. The project will culminate in an open day during Scottish Local History week, which will include an exhibition within Dumbarton Library, family information sessions on Scotland's People and Ancestry, ensuring all generations of the family work together to search the resources for information on their family histories.
It's also another year of change, development and opportunity, the service is being restructured and the local studies/history section is now placed within the new Arts & Heritage department. The opportunities this presents are fantastic, to work with our very skilled and dedicated arts and museums team is fantastic.

Enquiry List

I mentioned in my last blog post – ‘every day I make someone smile’. Yes, I probably do, but it’s not down to telling them a good joke or offering them a chocolate, it’s about helping them find the answer to an enquiry. Like anyone in an information role I work through steps to ensure I can answer as accurately as possible. I ensure that I ask the right questions, use the right resources and have the tenacity to find the answer. I make the best use of the resources available to me and I am constantly sourcing additonal information to improve the service that I deliver.
The list below is a selection of some of the enquires I received this week in the local studies department;

• American author emailing to find out when he can come in to collect digital copies of archive photographs of the local football teams
•  TV researcher from a new family history programme following up earlier emails about local printing and dying industry – what examples of archives/photographs can we send for final selection
• Where can I find plan/map of Dumbarton cemetery?
• American lady enquiring about a Scottish Long Clock – just bought the old clock and the label of the back has a few words leading the enquirer to Dumbarton
• Local walking group wanting to know if I present local history talks over the winter period
• Do we hold copies of local newspapers for 1884 in particular July to October.
• Another local authority contacting us on usage of certain archive photographs that we hold for a new exhibition, looking at reproduction costs / copyright
• Information on a boat built by Denny the ‘Sir Walter Scott’ what information do we hold on its build. Also looking for a copy of the book ‘William Denny Shipbuilder’, he could source a copy for £250.00. (I could send him an inter-library loan for under a tenner. Or show him online where he could buy it for under twenty).
• Man brought in an old bottle he fished out of the River Leven can we tell him anything about the local dairy company name engraved on the bottle.
• Someone wondering why their great grandmother was born in the local Poor House.
  
• Gentleman from New Zeland looking for information on the Nobles of Ardmore and Ardkinglass’ covering both the Kenny and Geils families. Including local maps and photographs where possible.
• Council Legal Department asking for ownership details from valuation rolls from 1950’s, 60’s and 70’s.
• Library Centenary Year – mug shots in local paper, staff want copies for archive and personal use.

This list does not constitute my whole working week, however it does represent how varied the enquires received can be.