Programme: Library Lives: Books, Borrowing and Beyond, 2.00-4.00pm, Saturday 22nd May
An online event hosted by Innerpeffray Library
The Books and Borrowing Project is pleased to announce the project’s first public event, to be held at the famous Innerpeffray Library on 22nd May at 2pm. This free online event will highlight Innerpeffray’s unique Borrowers’ Register and the stories it can tell about the library’s books and borrowers. Come along to find out about the methods you can use to identify the people and books behind Innerpeffray’s borrowing records.
Please register at Innerpeffray’s events page –
we look forward to seeing you online!
2.00pm
Examples and Approaches:
Short talks on research with library records
Welcome to Innerpeffray Library
Lara Haggerty, Innerpeffray Library Keeper of Books
Innerpeffray Library: Social, Historical and Cultural Contexts
Dr Katie Halsey, University of Stirling
In order to place Innerpeffray Library and its archival records in their wider historical and social contexts, Katie will talk about the different types of historical libraries in our period, and discuss how Innerpeffray fits into the broader cultural context. Katie will then briefly introduce the ‘Books and Borrowing’ research project’s aims and objectives.
Innerpeffray Library A Brief Introduction
Lara Haggerty, Innerpeffray Library Keeper of Books
Lara will give a brief history of Innerpeffray Library covering the founding, development of the book collection, records of borrowing and the move to museum and research collection.
Borrowing Records: What & Why?
Dr Jill Dye, St Hilda’s College, Oxford
Jill will give a brief overview of what borrowing records are and in what formats they tend to appear. Jill will go on to describe the potential uses of such records to family history and library researchers, giving examples of what they are (and aren’t) able to reveal.
Can they read?: Books and Borrowing, Enriching the Research Story
Marian Gerry, Volunteer and Trustee, Innerpeffray Library
The presentation features an Innerpeffray library volunteer’s research illustrating the use of books and borrowers to explore the teacher’s teacher. Marian will use an individual and their context to discuss the contribution the borrowers register can make to the historical narrative of the 19th century “literate village and well read artisan” in lowland Scotland.
Innerpeffray Library’s Visitor Books
Isla Macfarlane, PhD Student, Innerpeffray Library and University of Stirling
This talk will introduce the Innerpeffray Visitor Books, which started recording visitors to the library in 1859. After discussing the kind of information you can find within sources such as visitor books, Isla will demonstrate how to find out more about people in the past by discussing an example of a local repeat visitor from Crieff.
Meanwhile, in Dumfriesshire: Westerkirk Miners’ Library
Alex Deans, postdoctoral research fellow, University of Stirling
Alex will introduce an example of a different type of library: one founded for the miners of Westerkirk in Dumfriesshire. Looking at the similarities and difference between Innerpeffray and Westerkirk will show some of the other ways in which libraries were founded and used in this period, and how this influenced the books and borrowers in their records.
3.00pm
Interactive Research Session
Challenge the Keeper
In this live research session, working with volunteer Gillean Ford, Keeper Lara Haggerty will attempt to find examples of books read by borrowers at Innerpeffray in response to live requests. By interrogating the register records and the catalogue we can match names to books. This is your chance to meet the borrower and their reading material – requests can be made on the day and in advance.
Closing Comments
Dr Katie Halsey