2014 – looking back

J. Hagelberg; photo: D. Ridge

The following is my attempt to look back at 2014, seeing what happened at the Marshall Library, and to say thanks to my colleagues who have worked extremely hard in the last 12 months.

January: 
• We pick up the J.C. & G.B. Hagelberg collection; not all volumes were suitable to be added to the Marshall Library holdings, but some gems have been kept.
• Our colleagues Lisa and Oksana visit some other libraries to get ideas for a possible new Issue Desk at the Marshall.
• Introducing up to 50 online renewals, and allowing readers to renew vacation loans (one of the many ideas Simon Frost has had, and which we implemented).

cover of ebook / 31 A 62 Euro

February:

• We buy e-credits for ‘Economics of Money, Banking and Financial Markets’, European edition, Matthews/Giuliodori/Mishkin which will become the most-used ebook for 2014-15 in Cambridge.

• Marshall Library Survey is launched.

March: 

• Thanks to Lisa’s design skills, and Alfred Marshall encouraging our readers, our campaign to get more recommendations for new books is launched.

• Upgrading our subscription of the UN Comtrade platform to ‘Premium access’ allows virtual unlimited downloads of data sets.

April: 

• Free photocopies of reading list materials are being made available; some of these former counter items are still available 

• Easter Term Sunday Opening Trial - for 6 out of 7 Sundays in term time - is moderately successful.

• Further improvements to borrowing are introduced, primarily helping readers to be able to renew overdue books.

New Library Mug, design L. Wilkens

May:

• Winners of our Library Survey are announced. 

• Extra exam support: opening Mon-Fri at 8:30 between 26 May 2014 and 13 June 2014 was a cost-neutral attempt to support our students more (another of Simon Frost’s ideas).

• Library Survey Highlights published: http://www.marshall.econ.cam.ac.uk/news/library-survey-2014-highlights; students want an area where they can eat (the 'Social Area' is created in October 2014) and a dedicated group study space (still to do!); see also http://www.marshall.econ.cam.ac.uk/news/library-survey-2014-your-suggestions-our-feedback

• A design for a new Marshall Library mug – several designs provided by Lisa – is voted on, and has been available since June 2014: http://www.marshall.econ.cam.ac.uk/news/vote-for-a-new-marshall-library-mug-have-a-chance-to-win-1-mug

Social Area, October 2014

June: 

• Focus Group session of Library users – some very interesting suggestions are made by those students attending (e.g. high tables to sit at and eat; implemented). A lot of food for thought for us.

• joining forces with the UL and the Judge Business School we start a subscription to a new eresource: Bankscope.

July:

• IT colleagues improve WIFI access in the Library (as requested in the Library survey): 

Alfred Marshall's grave in August 2014

August: 

• Stock take reports 15 missing books in Open Shelf / Short Loan areas, of which of today (18 December 2014) 10 were found (thank you, Anita, Simon Frost, and Sue!), and 5 are still not accounted for; to be on the safe side we have replaced 2 of the books which are missing. We also use this time to work on converting some of our collection to a new category: Short Loans.

• We also visit Alfred Marshall’s grave. Marshall died 90 years ago. For some photographic evidence of our visit see http://picasaweb.google.com/cgresser/AlfredMarshallSGraveAndPostWorkPicnic?authkey=Gv1sRgCMOjxeWci777wwE

Old OPAC desk area

September: 

• MPhil inductions are keeping Simon Frost and myself busy. New carpet tiles arrive and are fitted on a very long Saturday…

• With the help of our great Custodians (Nathan and Gordon), almost all of the IT crew, and Simon Morris and Simon Frost we manage to dismantle and dispose of our old Issue Desk and various bits of furniture (after a long search for a new good home for bits of the furniture one or two longer “pieces” end up as a counter for a local catering company!)

Marshall Library, Issue Desks

October: 

•

Social Area, October 2014

New furniture for Issue Desk area and Social area arrives and is installed (see Lisa Wilkens’ post about this at http://marshlib.blogspot.co.uk/2014/09/new-design-for-library-entrance-area.html). 

• Economy of Reality-Maintenance installed; AnnaMaria Kardos (the artist) gives a talk in our library (see http://marshlib.blogspot.co.uk/2014/11/economy-of-reality-maintenance.html)

• Inductions and tours for undergraduates and Diploma students (Economics) and MPhil & PhD students (Development Studies); almost every member of the team is involved!

• More significant changes to borrowing are made: 

http://www.marshall.econ.cam.ac.uk/news/significant-changes-ahead-borrowing-after-7-october-2014

• Increase in Opening Hours: Mon-Fri 9 am to 9pm (not only 7pm) and Sat, as a trial for Michaelmas Term 2014, from 11 am to 6pm (not only 1-5pm).

Promotional Material re MT 2015 opening hours, L. Wilkens

November: 

• Annual Careers Event in Library

• A member of the Faculty is interviewed for a university podcast in our Archives Room (watch this space for more details in 2015!)

• Topping up DS-Print printing credit at the Marshall Library is introduced 

December:  

• Economy of Reality-Maintenance installation is taken down.

• Our Christmas Trees are going up.

Wishing you all a relaxing break, and a good start into 2015!

CG

The J.C. & G.B. Hagelberg collection

Most single book donations either fit into our collections’ profile, or we suggest to the donor that we could pass it on to another library in Cambridge. Less frequently we receive a donation which actually is a collection in itself. The recently catalogued J.C. & G.B. Hagelberg Collection comprises almost exclusively what can be broadly labelled as sugar-related publications, or (more specifically) on sugar production in Cuba.

Jerry Hagelberg; photo: David Ridge

John Paul Rathbone called Jerry Hagelberg (in an obituary at http://blogs.ft.com/beyond-brics/2011/09/09/bye-bye-mr-sugar/) “Mr Sugar”. Hagelberg was born in 1925 in Berlin, Germany, and died in 2011 in Canterbury, England. In the 1960s he worked as a consultant and researcher in Cuba, and advised the government there - and later in other countries - on sugar pro- duction. Hagelberg primarily published as a journalist, not only under his own name, but also under the following pen names: Gerardo Bernardo and Charles Wisley. His private library illustrated that Hagelberg’s thinking and writing was conducted by consulting academic scholarship.

The J.C. & G.B. Hagelberg Collection was much more substantial, but for various reasons we could not take all the books of this private collection. So far we have nearly cat- alogued all the books we have accepted, and you can see the 79 results at http://depfacfm-newton.lib.cam.ac.uk/vwebv/search?searchArg=hkey+Hagelberg&searchCode=CMD*&limitTo=none&recCount=25&searchType=1&page.search.search.button=Search

Whereas some books are more of a historical nature and interest, such as the 1972 publication titled Sugar without slaves: the political economy of British Guiana, 1838-1904 (Marshall Library classmark: 90 I 139), others, such as the 2005 Reinventing the Cuban sugar agroindustry (Marshall Library classmark: 26 FD 21) is a more recent academic collection of writing about sugar production on a large scale.

Some of these books have already been used, others wait for an eager scholar to consult them. We are hoping to include a couple more books from this private collection, in order to make it available to students and academics in Cambridge, as well as any external scholars (but we might need to ask visitors to consult these books outside term time).

CG