University of York Library

😄

*sighs nostalgically* The number of hours I spent in the JBM...

(We'll gloss over the number of Danish pastries consumed in the cafe next door. Ahem.)

A colour shot of the 60s brutalist Morrell Library

* you remember the asterisk from the first post, next to 'much loved' building? That's because - you won't believe this, especially having made it this far down the thread - some people DON'T love it. They hate it in fact, they've told us. Extraordinary people.

Look at it.

<thread ends>

A student climbs the library bridge with the Morrell in the background

60s cars parked in front of the crisp, white Morrell

An ariel shot of the campus showing the lake, central hall, the library and other buildings

Finally, some exterior shots, including an ariel shot of the campus once the first wave of buildings were all finished in the mid to late 60s.

Happy birthday to the JBM! Here's to the next 59 years. 🎂

Empty shelves in the Morrell

A stylishly dressed student talks to a member of staff on the desk

A colour shot of students working at desks on the mezzanine floors of the Library

Here's some shots of the Morrell, all from the 60s. The first shows the moving-in phase - the shelves are up but no books have been shelved yet.

The second is touchingly titled 'The new Library'.

Pic three is a colour shot of Floors 3, 2 and 1, in use for studying much like they are right now.

>>

Show looking up at the Morrell - the building is largely finished by the bridge is still being constructed

The Morrell under construction - the outline is all there but not all the windows are in place.

Here we see not just the library but also parts of Chemistry being built in the first pic, and the Morrell cranes at work in pic 2.

Lovely to see the martini glass Chemistry tower...

Interior next.

Pen drawing of the 'book / reading area' - includes notes on where smoking will be possible...

Pen drawn plan labelled 'Dimensions etc' showing plans for books and shelves

Early 60s campus map labelled University of York Site Plan

Formal architect's plan showing a floor of the Morrell

Some hand-drawn plans from 1963 here! 😮

Along with an original campus plan, and then a 1965 architect's drawing of the a floor of the Morrell.

Love all this stuff. Love imagining the people with their pens in 1963 who drew these...

Construction next.

Black & white image showing the lake (very still), Central Hall looking alien, Vanbrugh College and behind that a very white and clean Morrell Library

The Morrell Library is 59 years old today!

Join us on a brief pictorial trip back in time with his much loved* brutalist building, starting with this cracking picture of the mid-60s campus, with the Morrell behind Central Hall.

Look at those crisp architectural lines. Woof.

Next up: plans >> 🧵

The Fairhurst and Morrell buildings behind a sunlit lawn beneath a very bright sun

Probably the last time the sun will be like this in 2025 so COME INDOORS WITH US, VISIT THE LIBRARY

It was pretty extraordinary wasn’t it 😮

The river is up in #York! If you like slightly whimsical videos of flooded rivers with a mellow sound track, this video is for you.

Normal service will resume shortly.

We know a lot of our followers use Academia Edu - definitely worth reading the new Ts and Cs before deciding whether to accept them...

bsky.app/profile/npos...

In case you missed it - welcome to the library!

That's such a lovely thing to say, thank you...

(We've done this for several years now, based on an idea from the British Library. Lots of other libraries have done their own versions too - we'd encourage you all to do the same! People really love it.)

Welcome to those stepping into an academic library for the first time: it is massive and it can be intimidating but this is YOUR space. Welcome returning students – we hope you’re feeling refreshed! Welcome people of Yorkshire. Welcome visitors to the Borthwick, ready to get hands-on with 1,000 years worth of history in our archives. Welcome 3rd years who haven’t really been to the library much before but need to turn your 2:2 into a 2:1 sharpish; no judgement here. Welcome taught postgrads whose dissertations will be NICHE; we’ll support you any way we can. Welcome children of students, here to use the Family Study Room. Welcome watcher of the Entourage Season 1 boxset we inexplicably have in our audiovisual collection. Welcome people who love the Burton because it is Silent. Welcome people who love the Fairhurst because it isn’t. Welcome new academic, having a little look to see if we already stock your books. Welcome to the explorers of augmented and virtual realities in our Creativity Lab. Welcome first member of your family to go to University, you’ll be brilliant. Welcome to York everyone, and welcome to the Library.

Our hyper-local, mega-specific, extremely niche personal welcome screen is what greets new students and staff as they enter our library...

Your library quickstart guide Welcome to the library, new students!

York Departments, Schools, Groups, academics etc - if you have the chance, please point incoming students towards the Library's Quick Start Guide to help get them up to speed with all we can offer them:

www.york.ac.uk/library/visi... #UoYTips

Is the pond in this context idiomatic (ie the Atlantic Ocean) or the literal pond (or 'lake') we have on campus? 😄

A perfect flat white

The cafe, showing a counter with someone ordering, and some stylish black furnishings

The coffee is a unique blend developed especially for us by a local company, York Coffee Emporium.

It will eventually be found elsewhere on campus but for now it’s OURS ALL OURS 😍

A teal coffee cup on a wooden table, behind which can be seen a cafe with stylish copper light fittings and various chairs

The library cafe has had what the young people would describe as ‘a glow up’ and it is now seriously nicer than it was before.

Importantly, the coffee is *objectively* nicer than it was previously, in our opinion… ☕️

We're BACK!

And what better way to celebrate than to share the recent (as in last half an hour) news which has academic Bluesky scratching their heads - a 3 month pause to the REF criteria setting process...

(cc @uoyopenres.bsky.social)

2029.ref.ac.uk/news/pause-t...

Right here it is, our OoO.

Please don't be too entertaining while we're gone because it's hard enough catching up with emails...

In the meantime if you've not already read the Researcher's Guide to Bluesky, what better time to start?

>> blogs.york.ac.uk/library/2024...

👋

In short, it was brilliant.

Sadly the council took the sign down after the mistake was pointed out to them. Maybe a new sign clarifying the whole heavy goods vehicles situation could have been added next to it, and original left as a glorious tribute to administrative errors?

OKAY you twisted our arm we'll tell you all about it - basically Swansea council contacted their usual translation service and asked for 'No entry for heavy goods vehicles' in Welsh, and duly put the reply they received onto the sign, the reply was actually "I am out of the office at the moment"...

Due language road sign in Swansea, Wales. The English says 'No entry for heavy goods vehicles.' The Welsh says 'Nid wyf yn y swyddfa ar hyn o bryd' - which is Welsh for 'I am out of the office at the moment'

We are considering setting up some sort of social media out-of-office post later today, because the person who runs this account will be on leave for a couple of weeks.

Which reminds us of this, the greatest misuse of an out of office reply ever... One for the linguists.

Thoughts + Comments + Reflections This is a space for reactions, recommendations, and discussions. Thank you for engaging with my curation! :)

There's also a Padlet for extended discussion on this curation. Please feel free to add any thoughts, comments, or reflections after engaging with the project. Thank you!

padlet.com/bdx504_1/tho...

Collectively, the curated works elucidate prominent working-class figures’ roles in shaping, resisting, and enduring sociopolitical conflicts, ultimately contributing to the intersectional construction of cultural memory.

Explore the curation at: subjectguides.york.ac.uk/visibility-a...

Supplementary materials – including podcasts from Kieran Yates and Working Class History, social media posts, and ongoing promotional material provided throughout the curation process serve to facilitate greater accessibility to the research.

Each curated work serves as a critical lens through which to explore the lived experiences and pivotal contributions of working-class women, with links to resources to facilitate further independent enquiry.

..material ranging a variety of subjects. Contexts span factory floors and production lines to the aesthetics of the female grotesque in Richard Billingham’s photography and from groundbreaking Black educators like Beryl Gilroy to Britain’s poorest towns as examined by Kerry Hudson in Lowborn.