Photo feature

Have a look at our new feature, our Flickr badge, which has photos of some of our collections, an exhibition launch party, and the Kolkata Book Fair (more to come). You'll find it on the right hand side under the "Subscribe" information. Just click on any of the wee boxes in the "badge" and you'll be taken to the Flickr page with my photstream where you can view all the pics.

The lurking plague

During retroconversion of our printed catalogue, my colleagues discovered The plague manual, published by the World Health Organization in 1976. It was bubonic plague, caused by Yersinia pestis, which caused over 25 million people to die between 1347-1352.
There are several forms of plague: bubonic, pneumonic and septicaemic. Plague is certainly not a disease of the distant past; it is endemic throughout the world today.
The Plague Manual describes plague survey teams, the Central Plague Laboratory guidelines, serological and bacteriological examination of plague-suspect material, fleas and plague control methods. Annexes contain diagrams showing how to skin a small mammal and flea anatomy.
The WHO's webpage on plague contains today's plague manual, plus factsheets and disease outbreak information.

Rate for the job?

The National Minimum Wage came into force 10 years ago today (Wednesday 1st April) despite fears from some quarters that it would "destroy" thousands of jobs; research shows that this has not been the case. The legislation is backed by penalties for employers who do not pay the minimum wage and these have been strengthened in recent years.