UCL closure, 21 December to 7 January 2012

The holiday period is now fast approaching, and so UCL will soon shut down for a well-earned break. Bentham, as regular readers will be aware, would disapprove of our wasting time on such frivolities as holidays and ‘time off’—on Christmas Day 1814, for example, Bentham wrote several thousand words on religion, heresy, and atheism. There are, presumably, only so many games of charades a man can take before his patience snaps.

The Transcription Desk will remain fully available over the break, but it will be largely unstaffed after 5pm (GMT) on Friday 21 December, until Monday 7 January. I intend to release the regular Friday progress updates while UCL is closed, and will endeavour to answer any queries during this period, but there may be some delay in my providing a response. Transcripts submitted after 21 December will not be checked until I return to the office on 7 January. I apologise for any inconvenience this may cause, and am very grateful for your patience.

If you have any queries about these arrangements (or anything else), then please do contact us before the 21st.

Everyone involved in Transcribe Bentham, would like to thank all those who have volunteered their time and effort to the project during the last twelve months. Your contributions are highly valued, and are making a genuine contribution to research and in widening access to the Bentham Papers. It has been a hugely successful year: record numbers of manuscripts have been transcribed, and the the project has won another prize. Perhaps most importantly, Transcribe Bentham has received a grant which secures the future of the project, and promises significant improvements to the transcription interface. We will also be able to reveal some further very exciting TB-related news in the new year. It is no exaggeration to say that none of this would have been possible without you, the TB volunteers, to whom we are hugely grateful.

We would like to wish everyone a very happy festive period, and all the best for 2013!