June 2009 Recap [GlasgowUniPhoto.com]

The first month of the Glasgow University Photo Blog (GlasgowUniPhoto.com) has now passed. The following thumbnails will take you back through all 30 of the photos from June 2009.

And with that we move on towards July 2009. You can always find each month’s photos in one place in the Archives.

Main Building and The Square

The buildings you see to the left and the right make up a part of The Square (formerly The Professors’ Square). The aforementioned buildings used to house, as you may guess by the name, the residences of the professors, with the last one moving out as late as the 1980s. The building on the right is the Stair Building, which houses the School of Law, and the building on the left, addressed as 1-4 The Square, houses various administration offices and services.

Dead centre in the photo is the north-west corner of the Main Building, of which I’ll post pictures of for this entire coming week.

[Poll #2: What is your connection to Glasgow University?]
Click on the photo above for a larger version.
© 2009 GlasgowUniPhoto.com

University Tower

Yup, it’s the University Tower once again, this time from up close. The shots from a distance don’t give much testament to its actual size.

Well, neither does this shot, but atleast it’s taken from the foot of the tower, as opposed to hundreds of meters away.

If you want a hands-on take on the actual size of the tower, you have to get to the top ledge to the sightseeing deck. (I don’t think it’s actually referred to as a sightseeing deck, but it’s the highest point where visitors can go, so I’ll keep calling it that until someone corrects me.)

You wanna get up to the top of the tower? Ooh, that’s a bit tricky. See, the tower was built to the safety standards of 1871, so there are very limited opportunities to get up there. I managed to get up to the top during Freshers’ Week, and I’m planning on getting up there again this Freshers’ Week (especially because I now have a better camera than a year ago.)

[Poll #2: What is your connection to Glasgow University?]
Click on the photo above for a larger version.
© 2009 GlasgowUniPhoto.com

University Library in the Winter [Library Week]

And thus we finish the inaugural theme week with a winter’s scene of the Library. I plan on holding a Library-themed week several times a year, during which I plan on going exploring around the library and especially the Special Collections on the 12th floor, so there will definitely be more treasures from the library.

Oh, don’t let the above shot fool you. Glasgow is not known for its white winters. But, when (if) it does snow it provides for a nice alternate reality of the dark soot-covered brickwork of the Victorian tenements and the brutalist 1960s architectural wonders. (I say that with affection, ok?)

So, tomorrow it’s back to business as usual, with random visuals and factoids from the University of Glasgow. The next theme week will come in just a few short weeks, with Museum Week planned for sometime in July. I would appreciate any feedback about the concept and execution of this past theme week, and any tips, hints and suggestions, even criticisms would be very welcome! Just drop me a line in the comments below any post or via the comment form.

If you would like to participate in the next Library Week with a library from your school or city, check the Library Week page for more information.

As we end the very first Theme Week and say buh-bye to the library, for now, I’ll end with reminding you that the Main Library of the University of Glasgow is not the only library on campus, as you’ll also find:

• Adam Smith Library (Social Sciences or Psychology, located in the Adam Smith Building)
• Chemistry Branch Library (Chemisty, located on Level 5 of the Joseph Black Building)
• James Herriot Library (Veterinary Science, located at the Garscube Estate a few miles north-west of Hillhead)
• James Ireland Library (Dentistry, located on 378 Sauchiehall Street)
• Law Workshop (Law, located in the basement of the Stair Building in University Square)
• Language Centre Library (Located in the Hetherington Building)

In addition to all this, the Mitchell Library, the largest public reference library in Europe, sits just a mere mile or so away from the University, just by the M8 and the beginning of the city centre.

This post is a part of Library Week (June 22nd – 28th)
Don’t forget to visit the Library website, their Flickr account, and their blog.

[Poll #2: What is your connection to Glasgow University?]
Click on the photo above for a larger version.
© 2009 GlasgowUniPhoto.com

Soviet Studies [Library Week]

As mentioned yesterday, the Soviet Studies section at the Glasgow University Library is HUGE! (.gif file here, in new window) Especially considering the amount of volumes largely outnumbers the amount of Politics volumes, and by quite a bit, I’ve always wondered why the collection is so vast.

I may have found a partial answer with some digging, and the answer is donations, from three specific people in particular: Louis Sinclair, the widow of Isaac Deutscher, and Rudolf Schlesinger.

Sinclair donated an extensive collection of works by and about Trostky in numerous languages. Deutscher was Trotsky’s biographer, and Schlesinger was a co-founder of the University’s Institute of Soviet and East European Studies.

If Communism and Socialism are your interests, or you like to dabble in Soviet History, the Glasgow University Library has  a, well, an extensive and overwhelming collection of many original works.

This post is a part of Library Week (June 22nd – 28th)
Don’t forget to visit the Library website, their Flickr account, and their blog.

[Poll #2: What is your connection to Glasgow University?]
Click on the photo above for a larger version.
© 2009 GlasgowUniPhoto.com

Politics Section [Library Week]

This little corner on the 6th floor of the Library Annexe is where I spend a significant amount of time whilst at the Library. As a Politics student, naturally much of my books and materials can be found right here, on the 6th floor annexe of the University Library, as well as at the Adam Smith Library in the Adam Smith Building (makes sense, doesn’t it?). Now, even with that, what you see in the picture is roughly about half the Politics materials, with the rest being in the Adam Smith Library and in the Short Loan section on the 2nd floor of the main library building. The wall at the very end of the picture is the Anthropology section. If you turn left at the Anthropology section, you get the Soviet/Slavonic Studies section, which is, well, HUGE! Take a look at the floor plan of this particular floor of the Library Annexe (.gif file here, in new window) and you’ll see what I mean with HUGE.

Now, why would a University in Glasgow, Scotland have an excessive Soviet Studies section? I’ll try to answer that question tomorrow.

This post is a part of Library Week (June 22nd – 28th)
Don’t forget to visit the Library website, their Flickr account, and their blog.

[Poll #2: What is your connection to Glasgow University?]
Click on the photo above for a larger version.
© 2009 GlasgowUniPhoto.com

Greek Testament [Library Week]

Although my studies are limited to Social Sciences, I have gone wondering around the library a few times just for kicks, or to follow my fiancée around while she’s looking for her essay materials. I found this on the tenth floor of the library, in the Theology section. From what I can tell, it dates back to the mid-1800s by Henry Alford and is the fourth volume out of four.

As the University has an ecclesiastical foundation (or, in other words, a theological or church-based beginning), there are many religious and theological volumes to be found, many dating back several hundred years (and can be found in the Special Collections on the 12th floor). The church-based roots are evident as the University itself was founded by a Papal Bull (an official letter of communication from the Pope) issued by Pope Nicholas V in 1451, and the first years of the University were spent in a charter house at the Glasgow Cathedral. The University Library dates back to 1475 when the first donations by the University’s Chancellor, Bishop John Laing, were recorded.

This post is a part of Library Week (June 22nd – 28th)
Don’t forget to visit the Library website, their Flickr account, and their blog.

[Poll #2: What is your connection to Glasgow University?]
Click on the photo above for a larger version.
© 2009 GlasgowUniPhoto.com