Her Majesty the Queen and my birthday

Well, what a busy it week it has been. On Monday it was the Aberdeen Local Holiday so I had a day off. This was very good since it was my birthday. But, in reality it wasn't a day off because I went to attend the official opening of The Sir Duncan Rice Library at the University of Aberdeen. The library was opened by Her Majesty the Queen accompanied by the Duke of Edinburgh. The event was superbly organised, the atmosphere was fantastic and, as ever, I met many old friends. I am full of admiration for the work of my good friend Chris Banks and her team (particularly my other good friend, the incomparable Wendy Pirie) for the way in which they accomplished the whole "new library" project. Aberdeen University has ever right to feel justifiably proud of its new library which is a stunning piece of architecture by the Danish firm schmidt hammer lassen. I have to say that it was terribly kind of Aberdeen University to lay all of this on for my birthday and it was especially kind of Her Majesty to come along too.

Tuesday saw me at an Executive Meeting of Grampian Information where we discussed many matters including training events for the coming year and about our forthcoming Annual Conference which is to be held at the Sir Duncan Rice Library and which also features a Danish angle in the form of Jens Thorhauge who retired earlier this year as Director of the Library and Media Agency in Denmark and who is arguably one of Europe's most well-informed and knowledgeable library professionals. At the risk of conflicting interests, Grampian Information has some very competitive pricing for the conference and we would love to see colleagues from elsewhere in Scotland. Our other keynote is Steve Yorkstone with Gordon Hunt and Alison Hunter doing the parallel sessions.

Wednesday saw me in Glasgow for some meetings. Then on Thursday I was up in Elgin doing a workshop with some of the library staff in connection with the re-development of local heritage services which I have mentioned previously and what a productive and creative session it was too. Lots of good ideas flowed from this and I was delighted to be joined by my former PhD student Dr Kate Friday whose research looked and the online behaviour of family historians. This was followed by a project management meeting connected with the same project. In the evening I had another of those local history talks....this time in Oldmeldrum.

Today I was doing a mid-way viva for one of our research students and that was a really, really stimulating way to spend the morning because the discussion was so animated and enthusiastic. Fantastic to see a doctoral candidate with such a great grasp of their research. I was impressed.

The week ended with a birthday lunch with friends and colleagues and it was absolutely lovely. I am lucky to work with such wonderful people and, indeed, always have been lucky in this respect. A number of bottles of Pouilly Fuissé - my favourite - flowed at Malmaison this afternoon. I received some lovely and very generous presents including, from my mother, a librarian's dream present - a complete set (29 volumes) of the original Dictionary of National Biography.

Next week looks set to be every bit as busy with our own Autumn Gathering at the Carnegie Conference Centre in Dunfermline which is an event I look forward to every year and this year's programme is very interesting with something for everyone. I am looking forward to hearing as many of the sessions as I can manage. As ever, there will be lots of people to catch up with and I'm really looking forward to seeing Biddy. I'm delighted that our CILIP CEO, Annie Mauger, is coming along too. So, see you there I hope :o)

 

Where did the long summer holidays go.....

Well, I am afraid that the Presidential Blog has been neglected a bit of late. As you might have guessed, September is a slightly chaotic time in the life of an academic as all those things that you had planned to get done during the "long" summer period suddenly crowd in around you ahead of the return of students. Indeed, the students have started reappearing this week for Freshers and Induction with actual teaching beginning next Tuesday. So, your president has been gainfully employed doing the day job over the last few weeks.

I was supposed to be at CILIP's Big Day in Newcastle last week. This was something I had been looking forward to but, unfortunately, a family issue arose which meant that I couldn't make it and I was bitterly, bitterly disappointed to miss it. Tonight I am off to the opening of the Moray Book Festival in Elgin, an event which I spoke at last year. I've been out doing a number of local history talks over the last while including one on the Earls of Aberdeen to Ellon Historical Society and another on the use of the Census in Local History (as opposed to family history) to Aberdeen and North East Scotland Family History Society. I think I have something like twelve or fourteen such speaking engagements over the next year and have bookings right up to September 2013!

Next Monday, I am attending the official opening of Aberdeen University's wonderful new library. It will be opened by Her Majesty the Queen and there is a lovely programme of events across the day. I will, of course, be wearing the Presidential Chain although I fear it might not compete with those rather sumptuous ones which Her Majesty has as part of the Order of the Garter or Order of the Thistle ;o)

I am in the midst of doing annual staff appraisals at the moment so these two events are very nice diversions. Not, of course, that I don't enjoy doing annual appraisals you will understand. With that, it is time for the next one. Oh my cup runneth over.