On Monday 23rd October, past and present students gathered with other lovely people at the rather majestic Stationers’ Hall to attend the inaugural Stevenson lecture. The evening was a celebration of book historian and UCL professor Iain Stevenson (1950-2017) hosted by Bloomsbury Chapter and UCL Publishing. Simon Eliot gave an inspiring talk entitled: ‘Letters, Leaflets, and Lectures: Before and Beyond the Book 1840-1945’ – we learnt lots (including the correlation between pay and height for Victorian male servants) and were reminded of weird and wonderful things (such as the reason for the holes in our front doors).

At the end of the evening, Daniel Boswell presented the U.C.L Stevenson Award 2017. We obviously wanted to know more about the winner and runners up, Claire, Dominic and Sarah – so here is a little insight!

Winner: Claire Ormsby-Potter

A fun fact about yourself:

This question always gives me conniptions because I’m never sure what’s interesting, haha! How about – I actually trained as a teacher after leaving University, but realised that it absolutely wasn’t for me.

What was your favourite moment of the year?

I’m not sure it’s possible to identify a single moment. The whole course was a really great experience for me, and all the opportunities I had as part of it were unbelievable.

What project/piece of work were you most proud of and why?

Probably my Children’s assignment. I got my highest mark for it, and just waxed lyrical about books for ages, interspersed with cartoons I drew. It was a lot of fun!

Runner Up: Dominic Aveiro

A fun fact about yourself: 

Not many people know this about me (…okay, maybe quite a few people do), I used to be in the Metropolitan Police Service…and before you ask, the answer is yes – I have arrested someone.

What was your favourite moment of the year?

This is a hard one for me as there are so many great moments to draw from. Nevertheless, I will have to focus upon a string of moments, or to be more precise, Thursdays. Why were Thursdays so important? Well – not only had the academic week ended for us (though all our classes were great) – it also meant going to the pub! Here, great friendships were forged. Not surprisingly (or perhaps, surprisingly?), the pub was an environment that was highly conducive to communication.

What project/piece of work were you most proud of and why?

Without a shadow of a doubt, my absolute pride and joy was the piece of work I did for Children’s Publishing. I basically designed a DK-inspired Dragon Ball piece on InDesign with the skills I had gained from Publishing Skills. This is the wonderful thing about the Publishing MA – skills are transferable…and encouraged!

If you want to see what they’re up to now, give them a little follow:

Claire: @okyeahbut

Dom: @DominicAveiro

Sarah: @sjfcarver

Editorial note (Anne Welsh): UCL DIS is fortunate to benefit from the Stationers’ Company Postgraduate Bursary Scheme, with a member of the MA LIS cohort under 25 years old being selected each year for the generous financial and mentorship package. On 27 October, the bursary holder for 2013-14, Charlotte Middleton was made free of the Company, alongside Aislinn O’Connell, who holds an award from the Stationers for her PhD in Publishing. This year’s recipient, Tavian Hunter, also attended the ceremony to receive her bursary certificate and meet her mentor.

In this blog post, Charlotte describes the award and what joining the Stationers’ Company has meant to her as a new information professional:

Receiving one of the Stationers’ Bursaries has been fantastic. In addition to the bursary itself – which contributes considerably to the cost of the Masters’ fees – bursary recipients also receive guidance and support from a mentor, provided by the Stationers, in their studies, their work and in their interactions with the Company. My mentor, Sarah, was kind and friendly; she showed me around her work, encouraged me to attend Stationers’ events and introduced me to other members of the Company.

Recipients also receive the first three years of your membership of the Stationers’ Company for free which is, in my opinion, what sets this scholarship apart. Membership of one of the London Guilds is a rare honour, as well as being excellent fun.

Since receiving the bursary I have attended several new members’ evenings which are a great opportunity to meet other young and new Stationers, and there are always excellent wines and canapés. I have visited the Stationers’ Library and Archive on several occasions, attended the Printers’ Carols Service at Christmas and enjoyed several networking events.

I have also attended several excellent talks: the first about the digitisation of the Stationers’ Registers; the Annual Lecture about the printing of currencies and passports; and another about the history of private printing presses in Britain.

I also attended the Lord Mayor’s Show Luncheon after last year’s parade, and this year I have had the privilege of helping to organise the Stationers’ float and walk in the parade.

Being a member of the Stationers’ Company is a tremendous honour: to be granted the opportunity to be part of a Guild with such a prestigious six hundred year history in the book trade, to meet fascinating people and to drink excellent wine is by far the greatest aspect of this bursary.

I would encourage anyone who is thinking of applying to do so.

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Charlotte Middleton (@Middletonwest) was the Stationers’ Company Postgraduate Bursary recipient for UCL in 2013-14. Having completed her MA LIS, she is currently building a portfolio career in Special Collections, and is one of the panellists at the CPD25 event ‘Applying to Study Library and Information Science’ on Tuesday 18 November 2014.

Applicants for the MA LIS who are under 25 are encouraged to apply for the Stationers’ Company Postgraduate Bursary Scheme and will be contacted by the Department at the appropriate stage in the application process.

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