SEMINAR ON THE HISTORY OF LIBRARIES

A series of research seminars, which are freely open for anyone to attend, has been organized by the Institute of English Studies, School of Advanced Study, University of London.

Venue: Senate House, Malet St., London WC1E 7HU.
Meetings will take place monthly during term-time on Tuesdays at 5.30 p.m.. Most meetings will take place in Room G 37, Senate House, except those on 2 November, 5 April and 5 July (indicated below).

Seminar convenors: Giles Mandelbrote (Lambeth Palace Library); Dr. Keith A. Manley (The National Trust / Institute of Historical Research); Professor Simon Eliot (Institute of English Studies); Professor Isabel Rivers (Queen Mary); Professor Henry Woudhuysen (University College, London).

The seminars are jointly sponsored by the Institute of English Studies, the Institute of Historical Research, and the Library & Information History Group of CILIP.

AUTUMN TERM 2010

October 12 Dr. Nigel Ramsay (University College, London): `Libraries for schools, hospitals and the professions in medieval and Tudor England'.

What sort of libraries were there in medieval and Tudor England, apart from those of the monastic houses and the Crown? What sort of access to books was offered by institutions to the laity, in towns or even in the countryside? The scale on which libraries were set up in
hospitals and schools and by the legal, medical and other professions demonstrates an unsuspected enthusiasm for library-creation among the laity and secular clergy.