ColleGe news
New Librarian Balliol’s new Librarian, Naomi Tiley, has come to Oxford following two posts at Cambridge. Inspired to become a librarian by a summer job in Cambridgeshire public libraries, she worked first at St John’s, where the variety and challenges of the work convinced her to stay in College libraries (‘When I wasn’t teaching six- and seven-year-olds about the Fire of London using 17th-century collections and buildings, I might be making a publicly available catalogue of letters exchanged between Greta Garbo and Cecil Beaton or unjamming the photocopier’), and then at Christ’s, where she was ‘privileged to work with another amazing combination of old and new libraries’. Both colleges gave her experience of special collections, which made her realise ‘the power of special collections to inspire and excite just about anyone who has the opportunity to engage with them’. The Librarian and Assistant Librarian use images of real and imaginary beasts from Gaspar Schott’s Physica curiosa (1662) in outreach sessions with visiting school groups.
Balliol’s new Librarian, Naomi Tiley
so balliol’s ‘fantastic special collections of early printed books, manuscripts, archives, and ephemera’ were a big part of what drew her to the college. the appeal of the job, she says, was that ‘balliol has a first-class library which it takes seriously. i have heard it described, not undeservedly, as the jewel in the college’s crown. the library is already well used by the college community, which understands the enormous positive impact of a good library on academic standards. there is an institutional commitment to preserving the special collections and making them accessible to a wider audience. with this sort of support, i welcome the challenges on offer at balliol.’ one of these is ‘to keep improving the library so that it provides current and future students with excellent support for their learning’. she has recruited a new assistant librarian, fiona godber, formerly of all souls, and taken the archivist, anna sander, on to the library team. ‘with this 16
new crew, we have been updating procedures and systems to ensure the library runs smoothly’ and ‘working to make our service more user-friendly and responsive’. in doing this, one of naomi’s main pleasures has been meeting the people who use the library. ‘squash-and-biscuit breaks, which we offered as a breather during trinity term, gave me a great chance to meet some of our students and hear their ideas about the library.’ Her other challenge is ‘to make the most of all the library’s assets for the college’. Having studied access to special collections for her masters dissertation (http://rarelysited. wordpress.com/paper/), she is convinced ‘a proactive approach by library staff is necessary to alert people to the existence, interest and accessibility of these collections’. to this end, as well as supporting anna sander in her work at the st cross Historic collections centre and adding more of balliol’s early printed books to the university’s online catalogue, naomi hopes to encourage the use of the special collections for college teaching, alumni and outreach events. she is making plans with Kate Kettle (the david freeman outreach and student support officer), who already brings school groups to the library, to offer prospective students a chance to work with the special collections through interactive sessions led by library staff, students or fellows. ‘we know
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that visiting school students will be motivated by the experience of getting close to unique, historical material and they will have a chance to test and develop some of the skills they will need to move on to higher education, such as interrogating sources and articulating complex ideas.’ such initiatives support naomi’s view that the library – both the space and the collections – is not just an intellectual hub for the college but also something that inspires and involves: a point of interaction for the college community, alumni and members of the public. she invites college members old and current to keep in touch with the library, including via its facebook page (www.facebook. com/BalliolCollegeLibrary) and the manuscripts and archives blog (http:// balliolarchivist.wordpress.com/). as for the space, naomi is also looking further ahead. ‘ultimately, we would like to make use of the space opened up on the broad street site by the special collections’ move to st cross. the library is a popular place to work and room to sit is currently at a premium. using this space effectively will involve refurbishment, a brilliant opportunity to decide what the college wants from its library and how to future-proof the building, the collections and the service.’ what is her vision of the future? ‘i would like balliol to boast the best college library in oxford.’