Haiti Crisis

Already one of the poorest countries in the world, with unstable government and little social organisation, Haiti's devastation by the recent earthquake is a further blow. In 1993, the beginings of the United Nations Stabilization Mission in Haiti (MINUSTAH) was established, to try and restore democracy and a functioning civil state. In 2009, the former US president Bill Clinton was appointed as the UN Secretary General's special envoy to Haiti, and has instigated health provision in the beleaguered country.

Has all this come too late to reverse the decades of exploitation, misguided interference and deliberate political intervention? With the world's attention now focussed on the plight of the Haitian people, perhaps there is some hope.

Crisis over?

Some news items are saying that the H1N1 Influenza A virus is no longer as large a threat as feared last summer. It is also being suggested that health officials over-reacted leaving vast stores of unused vaccine.
Introduction to pandemic influenza, which has just been catalogued, is an essential text with a strong emphasis on preparedness.
It aims to promote a better understanding of influenza and raises questions in each chapter. The book includes biomathematical modelling, epidemiology, policy issues and selected papers for further reading.
Following three global pandemics in the last 100 years and the recent avian and swine influenza outbreaks, preparedness should still be of vital importance.

Mull of Kintyre Chinook helicopter crash - case re-opened?

A recently discovered internal Ministry of Defence memo has shown that there were very serious concerns about the safety of the Chinook Mark II helicopter fleet, several months before the fatal crash on the Mull of Kintyre in 1994. The special forces crew and 25 senior members of Northern Ireland's intelligence community were killed.
A Royal Air Force investigation finally found the two pilots guilty of gross negligence. As well as the official reports, including Select Committee on Chinook ZD576, you can also find the House of Lords' discussions about it online.

Along with Sir Stephen Young's conclusions after the Fatal Accident Inquiry, we also have CD-ROMs containing the transcripts. These were supplied by Steuart Campbell, who wrote a book about the incident.

(Image courtesy of RAF)

Christmas Cheer

If you have not already seen the small exhibition outside the Official Publications Unit in Causewayside then hurry along to it. It is entitled Christmas cheer and I searched our collection for items that have a festive feel.
There is a fantastic book from the Victoria and Albert collection, about Christmas lists, a book with headings inside that you can fill in and then consult each year to make a perfect Christmas.
There is also a book about festive dining, some wonderful recipes in this of times gone by.
There is a selection of Christmas cards produced by the NLS, I couldn’t display all of them but did enjoy looking through the collection.
I couldn’t forget to put two parliamentary papers in the display one from Westminster and one from the Scottish Parliament about Christmas trading.
I thoroughly enjoyed looking through the Official Publications collection and I found the most amazing things.
Watch out for future displays.
Merry Christmas to all.

Extraterrestrial Intelligence Research

These hearings before the U.S. Subcommittee on Space Science and Applications were held in 1978. The subject of the discussion was a program called SETI- Search of Extra Terrestrial Intelligence, and whether it was worth it funding this again. Such a program has many philosophical implications and opens up to an infinite range of scientific questions. Both aspects are explored in these utterly fascinating hearings.
The discussion begins with a very simple, although exciting and potentially scary, calculation: how many “good” planets are out there? how many planets sufficiently close to a star providing the heat and light necessary for the development of intelligent life? Well, the answer may be beyond our capacity to produce a mental image: there are 10 billion “good” planets in our galaxy, and billions of galaxies in the space. The longevity of those civilizations must also be taken in account: some of them will have gone through their histories and have perished. This “reduces” the estimated number of civilized planets to one billion. Although this doesn’t mean that each potentially good planet is actually hosting intelligent life, the chances are still so wide that the existence of extraterrestrial intelligent life is almost certain, according to this discussion.
In spite of this, a visit to another civilized planet still remains unreal: advanced culture would be so far from one another on the average, that none of them could afford, in terms of energy expenditure, to visit their nearest neighbours, even if they knew where those neighbours were. So the ultimate challenge would be to communicate with Extraterrestrial Intelligent Life through radio transmissions.
The discussion goes further on what the SETI program should investigate, all the main issues seem to be related to Biocosmology:
- Extrasolar Planetary Search: “If we discovered that only certain classes of stars had suitable planetary systems it would reduce the number of target stars to be searched.”
- “A second aspect of biocosmology would be to continue to study the origin of life.” The discoveries would confirm our present beliefs on how life began but could also explain how chemicals became DNA and how DNA evolved into the living cell. “Then we could say with confidence: (…) it will happen in other places”.
- “A third aspect of biocosmology should be studies of the evolution of intelligence. We think intelligence has survival value and would be favored in natural selection. The sentient organism withdraws from danger; the insensate organism does not; the intelligent animal uses better strategies to seek food, avoid danger and protect its young.”
Other aspects were investigated during these hearings: which type of radio waves are more likely to succeed? In which directions should they be sent? Every question has many answers, very different from one another. A more practical reason to look for extraterrestrial life is also openly explained: “The discovery of other life is not only a legitimate mission for NASA but it is also an essential one without which popular interest and support will fade. It is probably fair to say the NASA exists because it was felt that a space program might discover other life in the solar system.”
The interest in reading these hearings resides in the combination of exploration and research, in a fascinating but still, 30 years later, obscure matter. Scientific issues might have changed and developed further, but not the philosophical curiosity that makes us look up into the dark sky and ask the question: “Are we alone?…”

Find out more at NLS…
…or visit the NASA website, and the Astronomy Picture of the day Archive.

A Glimpse of Heaven

A Glimpse of Heaven Catholic Churches of England and Wales
by Christopher Martin
This item is a beautiful book full of amazing photographs of Catholic Church architecture in England and Wales.
In 1791 Catholic worship and church building became legal again. Previously in the reign of Elizabeth 1 (1558-1603) when the Church of England was established, the Catholics faced stark choices. They had either to conform to the Church of England, using their own parish church but with all the traditional furnishings and images removed, or they would have to face crippling financial penalties and even imprisonment.
In the 1840s the situation was transformed. The confidence and growing wealth encouraged church building on an ambitious scale. The photographs in this book show the amazing splendour of the churches and furnishings and decoration.
English Heritage has only 18% of the Catholic churches listed, and English Heritage are busy in partnership with Catholic dioceses to demonstrate many more deserve recognition for their contribution to the historic environment.

"Rome Reborn"

Some treasures from the Vatican Library:

- Henry VIII, letters to Anne Boleyn, in English and French, before 1533
The Library acquired these loving letters to Anne Boleyn, from the period, towards the end of Henry’s marriage to Catherine of Aragon, when he had made Anne Boleyn pregnant and was trying unsuccessfully to obtain a divorce.

- Galileo Galilei, Sunspot observations, 1612
Galileo’s skills as an observer enabled him to create and use the first telescope. These drawings represent sunspots, whose existence proved that the sun wasn’t the perfect, unchanged body that traditional cosmology wanted it to be.

- Homer, Iliad, in Latin and Greek, 1477
These marvellous illustrations were made by a north Italian artist, who here represented Greek and Trojan heroes in ancient armour and costumes, while ships and tents were contemporary. Later images in this series are either merely sketched in or omitted entirely: perhaps funds or time ran out.

These images can be seen in the catalogue from the first of a series of exhibitions that the Library of Congress presented during the 90s about great libraries of the world. The series began with the Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana (Vatican Library), the prototypical research library of western culture. Founded by Pope Nicholas V in the 1450s, its collections are not primarily theological and acquisitions policy was focused upon the liberal arts and sciences. The most comprehensive areas are: history of the exact sciences, East Asian languages and literatures, and music history.
Three hundred and fifty years later, the Vatican Library remains the richest collection of western manuscripts and printed books in the world.
Renaissance intellectuals understood that an individual book- especially a manuscript could often be a historical as well as literary document. Especially when the author was a great scientist and writer, or ruler and statesman.

This book, rich in illustrations as it is, offers an amazing Roman experience to the NLS user: a journey through the Vatican Library collections, without leaving Edinburgh. It is also worth remembering that, even if you’re planning a visit to Rome, it is not normally possible to visit the Library as it is not open to the general public, with strict exceptions for researchers.

Read this book at NLS: shelfmark F1/LC.4/51

Saying sorry

Interesting to see that the Australian government will apologise to the thousands of migrants who were sent to that country as children, and that the British government will follow suit. It's a sad story, these kids were from workhouses and slums, sent by charities and other organisations to have a (hopefully) better life elsewhere. But their parents hadn't given permission for them to be taken away. In 1998, the House of Commons Health Committee made recommendations on this matter (including setting up a database and offering counselling services), which also tackled the issue of a formal apology. It states "[the committee] considers that these policies were misguided. To those and their families who see themselves as still deeply scarred it offers sincere regrets. To all it offers a sympathetic recognition of the special challenges they faced in building their lives". Eleven years later, it seems a formal apology is on the cards.

We featured this story in our blog a while back, about the "New Lives for Old" book published by the National Archives (Kew). It's full of heart-breaking first-hand accounts, pictures and letters and is a moving story about a practice which didn't end until the second world war.

You can read it here at the Library, shelfmark GRO.2008.4.1

"Viewpoints"

"Viewpoints: a selection from the Pictorial Collections of the Library of Congress” was published in 1974 to offer an overview of the American library’s collection of images. From a varied selection of historic photographs, modern and ancient prints and drawings, two images caught my attention.

This first is an engraving by Giuseppe Maria Mitelli, a Bolognese artist of 17th century: it is headed in rebus form “il [mondo] e’[per] lo piu’ [gabbia] di [matti]”- the world is, for the most part, a cage for madmen.
Clockwise from the top we find Fortune sitting, then the Artist, near the top and outside the cage, absorbed with his palette and sketchbook, the Astronomer, gluttons in the middle, musician and merrymakers at the bottom. Lying on the floor with glasses, and reading the Cabala, there’s an old Jew. On the left a man with a book under his arm is looking through a magnifying glass (maybe a Scientist?). Others are trying to catch coins that are being thrown down from the top of the cage.

The second image is a drawing from 1910 by Charles Dana Gibson and it looks to me as a tribute to beauty and art. This drawing is simply wonderful: for the technique (pencil and pen-and-ink on paper), the subject, the inspired aesthetic pleasure represented. No wonder it’s called: “The sweetest story ever told”.

These two images seem to capture the two main purposes of art: showing the human condition with all its pain and trouble, and offering a consolation, through the beauty and grace of the artistic creation.

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).