Happy 1st Birthday Wellcome Library Blog

Congratulations to the Wellcome Library Blog on receiving 20,000 visits in its first year from people in 139 countries.

Written by Wellcome Library staff, this is an entertaining and informative blog for those interested in the Wellcome's amazing collection of medical history items. If you haven't had a chance to visit, why not do so on its first birthday?

(Photo credit: www.himetop.wikidot.com)

Workers Memorial Day

Workers Memorial Day Public consultation
Department for Work and Pensions
Cm 7563

This consultation paper seeks views on proposals for official recognition of Workers Memorial Day in the UK.
It is a day for remembrance for workers killed, injured or made ill by their work. This day originated in Canada in 1984, and it takes place annually on the 28th April. In 2001 the International Labour Organisation recognised this day and announced that it should be a day of action for safety and health at work. It is now recognised in lots of countries.
From 1992 the day has been informally recognised in the UK and now they are growing calls for Government to provide the day with some form of official recognition, subject to the outcome of the consultation, formal recognition will first take effect in the UK on 28 April 2010.

Out of interest the UK has one of the best health and safety records in the world, but even with the best there were 180 workplace fatalities in Britain in 2008/09 and many more die as a result from diseases incurred when they are working. There are around 4000 cancer deaths due to past exposure to asbestos each year and frighteningly every working day over 400 people are seriously injured at work. It is estimated that it costs society £20 billion a year in accidents and ill health, but of course it is impossible to put a price on human suffering.
It is therefore a stark reminder that the 28th April helps challenge those people that trivialise and undermine health and safety and a chance to focus the minds of everyone to improve health and safety performance.
For the whole consultation paper click here.

(Picture credit www.hazard.org)

Keep the red flag flying

One of my favourite libraries is the Working Class Movement Library, based in Salford, which has some great on-line resources. There are milestones in the history of employment rights and trade unions, many of which, of course, feature official publications. It's got a blog, too.
What I love about the library is that it's developed from the personal collection of Ruth and Eddie Frow, both avid book collectors, who devoted their lives to the labour movement.

Who to discriminate against...?

The Department for Business Innovation & Skills (BIS) currently has a consultation on paternity leave. The proposals would give fathers a right to up to six months extra leave which can be taken once the mother has returned to work. Interesting, in light of the recent row about women's maternity rights allegedly "backfiring" (as reported by millionaire businesswoman Nichola Pearse, to the Treasury Select Committee inquiry "Women in the City"). She claims that "excessive" maternity leave stops employers hiring women of child-bearing age, due to the "nightmare" which ensues if they get pregnant. So, if the BIS proposals go ahead, and in the future men and women get equal amounts of parental leave, this should stop employers quietly discriminating against women of child-bearing age. Or will they simply discriminate against everyone of child-bearing age? But then they may fall foul of the age discrimation regulations. Where are all these employer-friendly automatons who don't have kids, get sick or get old?

Winter microbes

As we move towards winter many knitters (myself included) are busily making hats and scarves to ward off the chill. Keeping warm is considered effective in warding off winter germs, particularly influenza.
But what if knitting and microbes were combined?

Part of Manchester Science Festival contains The Big Microbe Knit at the end of this month. For those who fancy a trip to my native Lancashire you can go along and knit the common cold, swine flu (pictured, with beads representing the H and N proteins), cholera and tuberculosis microbes on 31st October. As well as perfecting your purls, you'll be learning scientific facts about the microbes.

Otherwise, you can download the microbe knitting patterns or pick up some inspiration from the Wellcome Image Awards 2009. As the pattern says, "Enjoy, and remember to always wash your hands"!

(Photo credit: Manchester Science Festival 2009 blogger page)

Do women have power?

This 1979 Report to the US Commission on Civil Rights is entitled “Battered Women in Hartford, Connecticut”.
It includes statistics that clarify how serious and widespread the abuse of women was at that time. An interesting paragraph about “Incidence” tells us that abuse occurs in upper and middle income homes as well as poor families. The same incidence is reported in every ethnic group. The level of education does not improve the dramatic situation: the incidence of abuse is similar among professionals, factory workers and unemployed men.
What I personally find amazing about this publication is how it goes straight to the heart of the problem: the reason for abuse against women is officially recognized to be the “institutionalized powerlessness for women”.
The only remedy would be that:
“Women must assume power politically, financially and socially. (…) women must be given equal access to jobs and paid equally for their work, women must be elected to political office”.
Although 30 years old, this report describes an on-going situation: in 2009, in every single democratic country all around the globe, women with the same skills, experience and job title, are paid less than their male colleagues. And women are definitely excluded from certain jobs, like the highest political roles: no Ms President so far…

Explore medical history online

The Intute website has reported several new medical online resources this week, including:

The National Library of Medicine has digitised key volumes from medical history, including De Humani Corporis Fabrica by Andreas Vesalius, Micrographia by Robert Hooke and Historiae Animalium by Conrad Gesner. You can listen to audio commentary, pan and zoom and read notes for each title here.

Small and Special provides free access to the results of a project into the early development of The Hospital for Sick Children at Great Ormond Street, in London, which was England's first in-patient hospital for children. The project to analyse the patient registers of the hospital from 1852 to 1914 has been carried out in partnership with Kingston University and funded partly by the Wellcome Trust.

Delta classic public health texts provides free access to full text PDFs of key works in the History of Public Health made possible by Delta Omega - the Honorary Society for graduate studies in Public Health, governed by the National Council. They are generally out of print, or not widely available in libraries. Included from the Nineteenth Century are On the mode of communication of cholera by John Snow, The Contagiousness of Puerperal Fever by Wendell Holmes, Notes on Nursing by Florence Nightingale as well as Reports of the Sanitary Commission in Massachusetts.

(Text: intute.ac.uk, photo credit: National Library of Medicine)

Take a tip from me

Naively, I used to think that tips - to hairdressers, waiters, etc. - helped top up their meagre wages. In fact, their employers used tips as a kind of subsidy to augment the low wages that workers in these industries received. The Department for Business Innovation & Skills has just published The national minimum wage: a code of best practice on service charges, tips, gratuities and cover charges which makes it clear that this practice cannot legally continue, and everyone must receive the National Minimum Wage.

Another NLS

I've been back in Scotland for two weeks now, but on my way back I stopped off at Singapore to break the journey.
For me, no visit to a city is complete without visiting its main library, so I went along to the National Library of Singapore. There was also the added attraction of air-conditioning, my respite from the relentless humid heat....
Seriously, it is an impressive set up. The Central Public Library, the 24-hour bookdrop, study lounge, Lee Kong Chian Reference Library, gardens, exhibition space, rental facilities and library e-kiosks are all housed in a 102.8m high environmentally-friendly building with 59,000 sqm floor space.
Like the National Library of Scotland, the Singapore library collects books under the provision of a Legal Deposit Act (Singapore's National Library Board Act 1995). Unlike the National Library of Scotland which collects one copy, it requires publishers to provide two copies of every publication.
In the northern hemisphere's NLS we have the Bibliography of Scotland; our southern counterpart has Singapore National Bibliography. Both libraries' main function is to preserve works of writers, publishers and producers in all forms and to make them available for public research. It made me feel very close to home.
One thing that is very different to my workplace in Edinburgh is the creation in Singapore's library of its own weather system. An auto irrigation system provides moisture and atrium spaces draw wind in, creating natural ventilation.
So on the next autumnal blustery day here I'll remember the thick heat of Singapore and smile!

(Photos show view of Singapore and the National Library of Singapore main sign)

Dancing and delicacies

It's officially spring here in Australia and the 10th International Congress on Medical Librarianship is in full swing. So far we've been treated to a Brisbane childrens' choir recital and an Aboriginal dance to welcome us to Queensland. We were privileged last night to attend a reception hosted by Her Excellency the Governor of Queensland at her beautiful Victorian home.
Jan has given a paper on the Medical History of British India project and I am due to present my poster this afternoon. We've been delighted to meet so many librarians from 44 countries and discuss our work and the weather (of course!).
There was a fascinating talk on the history of veterinary medicine through postcards yesterday. We learned that in some areas men castrated sheep with their teeth (hence the term "prairie oyster" as a delicacy). And we saw the picture to prove it!

(Photos show Brisbane Children's Choir at ICML 2009 opening ceremony and Francine Millard putting up the Medical History of British India poster)

Winter in Brisbane

ICML 2009 kicked off on Sunday 30th (I think - still a little jet-lagged) with a visit to Mount Coot-tha Botanic Gardens. The librarian, Linda MacMahon, introduced the speakers, Prof. John Pearn and Ross McKinnon.
Prof. Pearn spoke about ethnobotany (indigenous medicine), with fascinating facts such as: the average GP prescribes around 65 types of medicine, yet aboriginal children as young as 5 know 650 different medicinal plants. Of course this knowledge was transferred by oral history rather than written sources. A lot of the plants have both nutritional and medicinal qualities and were treated to extract their various compounds. In fact, one of the first exports from Australia after the "discovery" of the country in 1788 was eucalyptus, used for its many medicinal properties.
Ross McKinnon, director of the garden, gave an entertaining talk on the diverse enquiries a botanic curator can get, such as the case of the exploding trousers (really). In New Zealand, farmers clearing ragwort from their farms using sodium porate found that their clothes literally exploded. One unfortunate man exploded while on his horse (both died...). Of course, this was because the chemical weedkiller reacted to the cotton in the clothes and caused an explosive reaction, The botanical experts at the garden advised using a particular insect to destroy the ragwort rather than a dangerous chemical - problem solved. I think that beats any OPU enquiries into a cocked (bush) hat!

p.s. Winter in Brisbane reached 31 degrees...!

(Photos show Ross McKinnon showing librarians around the gardens and the inside of the BioDome)

A library for all

Jan and I are in Brisbane for the International Congress of Medical Librarianship. We have just had a fabulous and inspiring tour of Queensland State Library. Located on the South Bank, with wonderful views of the river, this library won awards for its architecture. The building has a light airy feel and blends well with the outside environment, with many outdoor spaces for events. Inside, readers can relax on sofas or in armchairs and sleeping is not discouraged.
The John Oxley Library, founded in 1934 by a group of interested members of the public, is a vital part of the State Library. It collects, by gift, donation and legal deposit, items relating to or published in Queensland. Some items on display include specimens of cloth from the three voyages of Captain Cook, a transcription of William Bligh's log from his ship Providence and some early estate maps of the Gold Coast. There are numerous art objects on show, plus a display of handbags.
A children's area, firepit for indigenous story sharing, meeting rooms, theatre, and a large Internet area (where I am now), make this a place for everyone to come and enjoy. Mind you, I would be too busy looking out of the window to do much reading!

(Photos show side view of State Library of Queensland and the view from near the firepit of the riverfront)

We're moving!

We're moving offices, but our blog's staying right here. However, as we're up to our ears in skips, etc. our posts may be a little sparse for a few days, but keep popping in! (or better still, subscribe, so you don't miss anything).

OPU exhibition

Thousands of events are taking place over Edinburgh just now ....the fringe has arrived. However, there is one small event that you will love to see and that is the Offical Publications Exhibition. It is taking place at the National Library of Scotland for the month of August and it is a display entitled Celebrating a Decade of the Scottish Parliament.
Elaine Simpson and Catherine Davies have put a small collection of items together the display cases, outside the reading rooms.
Items on display will be a quiz about the Scottish Parliament, an item in Scots language, code of conduct for the Ministers and other interesting items from the Scottish Parliament first decade.

Celtic Connections?

We've been fortunate to be awarded more funds from the Wellcome Trust to digitise more material for the Medical History of British India Online project, this time the reports of the Lunatic Asylums. They're a fascinating resource for the study of mental illness, but also very revealing of social and moral attitudes of the day.

One, General report no. 6 on the lunatic asylums, vaccination and dispensaries in the Bengal Presidency, 1873 reports that "Burmans are like Celts - clannish; they associate and combine together for mischief ...they defy discipline...and incite misconduct in others..."

Of the types of mental illness documented, most are reported to be the result of ganja, but also includes "40 patients addicted to onanism, which I consider to be a predisposing cause to idiotcy ... in spite of every care and treatment, they still continue to practice this fatal vice, which has already deprived them of reason and is hurrying them to their graves."

These 40 are men, but the women are the subject of study because of the "[probability] of menstrual irregularity being the existing cause of insanity". Anyone who's had PMS ( or been on the receiving end!) will sympathise...

You are what you eat

The Food Standards Agency (FSA) caused a bit of a furore in the press this week when it published its report on organic food which claimed that there was no nutritional benefit in going for the organic food option. Pro-organic campaigners protested that the report had "missed the point", but the FSA had never intended to look at chemical residues in food, such as pesticides in veg. and anti-biotics and growth hormones in livestock. From a purely nutritional aspect, no difference was found in organic compared to non-organic, though of course many people choose organic to avoid chemicals, and for animal welfare and environmental reasons.

18 inches or less!

Lucile Ltd London, Paris, New York and Chicago 1890s – 1930s
By Valerie D. Mendes and Amy De La Haye
V&A Publishing

This delightful book is my coffee table book choice of the month.
It centres upon an album of fashion designs by Lucile.
Lucile is Lady Duff Gordon, who was an early divorcee and a Titanic survivor.

The dress and coat designs are beautiful, the range and depth of colours is a visual treat. You want to touch the designs as they are rich and vibrant; the sheen of fabric and the drape of material makes you forget that these are pictures and not the real thing.
One thing that stands out is the very noticeable narrow waists 18 inches or less. Even though the women look stunning, what would it have been like to have been pulled and prodded into a corset to achieve the hourglass figure?
Lucile was probably the first designer to have fashion houses in London, Paris, New York and Chicago. She has been credited with starting the first fashion parade now known as the catwalk show.

The all seeing eye

The telescope: a short history has just been catalogued.

Richard Dunn’s book offers an illustrated overview of the history of the telescope. He writes that the telescope’s true inventor may never be known. Surviving records suggest 1608 when Hans Lipperhey and others applied for a patent. The name ‘telescopium’ was formally announced in 1611, two years after Galileo began making telescopes.
Dunn’s lively narrative chronicles Galileo’s first astronomical observations and Draper’s moon photographs of 1840. He describes the 1957 Jodrell Bank radio telescope dish as Britain’s post-war national pride and tourist attraction. The epilogue looks to the future, building on the legacy of the Hubble Space Telescope and Large Binocular Telescope. The telescope has developed from small instruments to giant radio arrays; beginning as an extension of human sight it allows man to see in previously unimagined ways. From looking out at space to understanding the origin of the universe, this book shows both history and potential of this remarkable instrument.

Vanity Fair portraits and other coffee table books

Sometimes a book comes in that we can all drool over (not literally - we are much too preservation conscious for that), and Vanity Fair Portraits is a beauty. It was published to accompany a major exhibition at the National Portrait Gallery, London, and the Scottish National Portrait Gallery, Edinburgh, last year, and the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, earlier this year. If you missed it you can always hop over to Australia to catch it at the Portrait Gallery in Canberra, 12 June-30 August 2009...

Lived in London is all about those "blue plaques and the stories behind them", and is another richly illustrated official publication (English Heritage this time). A bit too hefty to carry with you on a London walk, nevertheless it is full of fascinating stuff about famous London inhabitants. In Bedford Square alone you can find such diverse figures as the Indian scholar and reformer Ram Mohun Roy, Anthony Hope (who wrote the Prisoner of Zenda), Thomas Wakley, founder of The Lancet,the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood, and, just round the corner, Dame Millicent Garrett Fawcett, pioneer of women's suffrage.

We get lots of "art" books, usually exhibition catalogues from government-funded institutions, both UK and overseas, so don't think it's all "dry" government statistics here!

The Pound in your pocket

The Bank of England's Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) today (Thursday 9th July) decided to keep interest rates at .05%. If you're in the dark about how they reach their decisions, and wonder if black magic and possibly chicken's entrails are involved, then you can find out all about them on the Bank of England website (where you'll also read all you ever wanted to know about quantitative easing...).
We get lots of publications by the Bank and about the Bank, including those from the House of Commons Treasury Committee on appointments to the MPC, such as the scrutiny of Spencer Dale's appointment.

2009 influenza pandemic

Last week the World Health Organization announced the first flu pandemic since 1968.
The Lancet's H1N1 flu resource centre has free resources, pdf documents, video and links and is well worth a visit. You can sign up for email updates, too.

(Photo credit: The Lancet)

Knitty gritty

Knitting has become a very fashionable pastime; perhaps it is a bid to step out of our hi-tech busy lives and create handcrafted items and gifts at home or with others. This feature on the Victoria and Albert Museum's website includes 1940's knitting patterns and knitting podcasts.
A fine example of Official Publications white propaganda on the NLS Propaganda web feature shows a booklet of patterns. Dating from 1941 (see photo opposite) the booklet encourages women to do their bit for Britain by knitting for the army.

OPU also collects publications from the V&A. Recent acquisitions include:

Art Deco fashion
Hats: an anthology
Japanese art and design.

If you are feeling inspired to do your bit with yarn and needles, this month celebrates World Wide Knit in Public Day, with "knit-ins" happening all over the globe starting this weekend (13th June).

(Photo credit: National Library of Scotland)