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Zoological Society of London Library Visit by Sophie Rose

By Anne Welsh, on 17 October 2014

ZSL

Editorial Note: We are grateful to Ann Sylph, Emma Milnes and their colleagues for hosting this Induction Week visit to the Zoological Society of London Library. – Anne Welsh, Programme Director MA Library and Information Studies.

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On Thursday 25th September two members of the Library and Information Studies course visited the Library at the Zoological Society of London and were given a tour by former UCL DIS student and Assistant Librarian Emma Milnes. The Library is used for research by staff, MSc students studying at the ZSL, members of the public and animal handlers.

 

When the Society first formed in 1826 it comprised a collection of living animals, a collection of preserved dead animals for studying and the bibliographic library. When the Natural History Museum decided to gather a large collection of stuffed animals the ZSL decided there was no longer a great need for this collection and disbanded it.

 

The Library uses the Library Management System EOS to manage the catalogue and the bibliographic classification Bliss. The team working in the Library and Archive comprises one archivist, a librarian, assistant librarian and library assistant. They are currently undertaking the mammoth task of cataloguing the  retrospective library card catalogue with a team of volunteers who also help with the preservation of books.

 

On 1st September the Zoological Society marked the centenary of the death of the last ever passenger pigeon and we were shown some of the artwork collection depicting this breed. This pigeon was once the most common bird and experienced a dramatic extinction over only a few decades following a rise in hunting and deforestation.

 

We also toured the stacks in the basement, the large journal collection and were allowed to handle the oldest book in the library. The library also displays a rare life-painting of the dodo. The online catalogue can be accessed at http://z10300uk.eos-intl.eu/Z10300UK/OPAC/  . If you wish to visit the library, you should contact the friendly team.

 

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Sophie Rose (@surfarose) is studying for her MA LIS.

Image: Sophie Rose, used with permission of the Zoological Society of London Library.

Note: the appearance of the byline on this post is auto-generated, indicating that it was posted by Anne Welsh. Sophie Rose is the sole author of this piece.

 

Filed under Class visits, Events, MA LIS, Student posts

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