Tea And Biscuits

Out on a U3A visit to the National Library of Scotland Map Library in Causewayside - a 'Marmite effect' building that is either loved or hated. Designed by Andrew Merrylees, erswhile partner of Sir Basil Spence, it stands on the site of the biscuit factory of Robert Middlemass. Most of he elegant factory was demolished to allow more appropriate use of the land (for example, creating basements) but the main entrance was preserved and the carving above the door now dominates one wall of the staff common room. (Pity about the chairs in front). I blipped that as it is not seen by the public, whereas the map reading room has open access and maps available to view on request to staff.

Our excellent guide, Senior Map Curator Chris Fleet, gave us an idea of the collection held in the library (maps, altasses, gazetteers and so on) and illustrations of the of development of maps (anything from Pont to Google), he then took us through the storage areas and up to the terrace on the 4th floor, before returning to the reading room where he had assembled a collection of geological maps. We returned to the conference room for a demonstration of on-line access using the different search criteria, being assured that any problems we may have might be sorted out with a simple phonecall to the library.

I can see many hours of browsing maps ahead. Let's hope there will still be time for Blip.