Trying to find a new book to read isn’t always as straightforward as it seems. Of course, you can easily take to the internet, searching for leisure title inspo, but inevitably you find yourself getting lost in the long lists of recommendations online. You spend all your time trawling through the titles, debating between this one and that one before realising the spare time you once had has now slipped away, resulting in you making your own list of ‘books to read when I find the time.’ Ironic, don’t you think? (Alanis Morissette classic – couldn’t resist!)
Continue reading “Don’t judge a book by its cover – go on a Blind Date with a Book”The Student Art Prize
The Student Art Prize launched in October 2019 to expand opportunities around creativity and to develop a new permanent student art collection, housed within the university’s wider art collection, but available as a resource for the whole community.
Want to know more about the University’s annual art prize, see works by previous winners, meet other artists, find out more about our ‘Art Prize Art School’ programme and, most importantly, find out how to apply? The launch party for the 2021/22 Student Art Prize will take place on Tuesday 9th November, 5.30pm-7pm at the Oriental Museum. Spaces are limited and booking is essential.
To get you in the mood, here are 3 of the shortlisted works from last year’s prize where the theme was HEROISM, accompanied by some words from the artists:
Continue reading “The Student Art Prize”Journeys: Reading the World
This February saw the launch of our new online exhibition Journeys: Reading the World, showcasing material relating to travel and tourism from our rare books, archives and manuscript collections. David Wright, Assistant Curator (Exhibitions), gives us a preview of the exhibition, which we would encourage you to visit for yourself.
There is a certain irony to us launching an exhibition about the pleasure, value and excitement of travel when are all mostly stuck indoors, unable to venture much further than the local supermarket, but so far visitors seem to be finding it a pleasant escape from the mundanity of lockdown.
Continue reading “Journeys: Reading the World”#Hist2020: History Day 2020, celebrating our collections
Every year University College London organises a day for academic, cultural and heritage institutions to come together to showcase the enormous range of historic collections in archives, libraries and museums. In pre-Covid times, the day would be held at Senate House and would be attended by anyone in London with a serious interest in historical research.
Continue reading “#Hist2020: History Day 2020, celebrating our collections”Multicultural Amman: Engaging Jordan’s Youth (Part 1)
إشراك جيل الشباب الأردني في التعلم عن ماضي عمّان وتعدد ثقافاتها (ممول من المعهد البريطاني
Ross Wilkinson, Learning and Engagement Manager, reflects on an ongoing collaborative learning project which stretches from Durham to Jordan:
Back in the heady pre-lockdown days of August 2018, I received an email from a colleague in Archaeology, Dr. Arwa Badran. Arwa asked to meet as she was putting funding towards a project to help youth engagement in museums and needed the support of the Learning and Engagement Team. I had worked with Arwa previously on the Museum and Artefacts MA course, and at this point I assumed a simple engagement with local partner museums in the region or possibly wider, nationally…
Continue reading “Multicultural Amman: Engaging Jordan’s Youth (Part 1)”
Learning Online #MuseumFromHome
In a pre-coronavirus world, we at the Learning and Engagement Team spent our days engaging school children; families; community groups and those with access requirements to enjoy and use the truly amazing collections of Durham University. We were able to work with all walks of life in amazing buildings – with equally amazing collections – Durham Castle, Palace Green Library and the Oriental Museum and hopefully, raise aspirations for young people in our region to go to university and have as much fun with researching collections as we do.
Calligraphy Support Scheme #MuseumsUnlocked
Gillian Ramsay is an Assistant Curator at the Oriental Museum, part of the University Library and Collections family. She kindly shared her recent blog post for the Islamic Art Subject Specialist Network about the work being done in partnership with them from our collections. Thank you so much to all of the staff at Museums for sharing the fascinating collections during lockdown; this is an especially well-timed post as it touches on Ramadan, which is currently being celebrated by Muslims all over the world.
Continue reading “Calligraphy Support Scheme #MuseumsUnlocked”
An Audience with Bill Bryson
On Wednesday 29th January, we welcomed acclaimed author and former Chancellor Bill Bryson back to the Library that bears his name. Bill hosted a Q and A in Small Island Coffee which, fittingly, was named after one of his books, Notes from a Small Island. He has been quoted as saying,
“I couldn’t believe that not once in twenty years had anyone said to me: ‘You’ve never been to Durham? Good God, man, you must go at once! Please – take my car’.”
We were delighted to welcome Bill back to the town he so loves!
#FreePeriod
Being Period Positive at the Billy Bee
At the end of last year, any regular visitors to The Bill Bryson Library will have noticed the ‘Period Positive Drive’ donation point near the entrance:
This initiative was a collaboration between The Student Wellbeing Team and Durham Students Union’ with the ultimate aim of providing sanitary and incontinence products to students and staff who are ‘caught short’ in a busy, central study area.
A journey in self-promotion
Earlier this year I was involved in the production of the new Library and Collections promotional video. The aim was to move away from an instructional or overly corporate approach, and create something inspiring and emotive (as engaging as ‘this is how the self-issue machine works…and now we move on to the Dewey Decimal Classification’ type videos are…)