It's been unseasonably hot of late and looks set to get hot again over the coming weekend. So if you're local, why not stop by the Library, step out of the heat, and chill in our air-conditioned spaces? Whether you are a digital nomad working remotely using our reliable, high-speed Wi-Fi network, cracking on with your research, working on your dissertation, or simply interested in crashing with a good book, the cool air, comfy seating, and cold water on tap is all free, Monday - Saturday, all summer.
Three Wagner operas as you've never seen them before
The latest exhibition from our Rare Books collection is now on display up the wooden stairs on the first floor of the Library. On display now on the first floor Library landing showcases the poetic interpretation of three of Wagner's operas by Irish poet, critic, and journalist Thomas William Hazen Rolleston, illustrated by the prolific American-Hungarian artist Willy Pogány.
These books are just a few of the many wonderful illustrated books and works of graphic art, architectural imagination, natural history illustration and more that are here for you to request, use in the Library and photograph for use in your work. Preservation concerns force us to keep them stored under controlled conditions, and we absolutely love it when students use these rare and fascinating works of literature, architecture, design and illustration to delve more deeply into their subjects. Ask us about what rare books we have for your subject!
The question of where evil comes from has taxed philosophers for millennia. Written towards the end of LGBTQ+ History Month, this post explores the somewhat narrower question of where discrimination comes from, its basis in useful, natural instincts that adapted poorly to globalisation, and how we can all work to make the world a more accepting and inclusive place.
Between silence and legibility: Queer female desire in Early Modern England
Now showing in the Library Atrium this LGBTQ+ History Month, History student Megan Conway presents an exhibition inquiring into the History of women who loved other women. Seen, suspected, imagined, and feared, the patriarchal fixation on the centrality of men left the love between women inadmissible to recorded History and absent from criminal law. While Medicine pathologised female sensuality, the Establishment failed to label and contain that which it feared, which was woven playfully and provocatively through art, performance, and literature. This display reflects on the instability on the edge of History's lens, recounting what happens to those who live on the fringes of what is admissible to contemporary understanding - the "space where intimacy flickers into view before disappearing again".
Now showing in the Library for Gypsy, Roma, Traveller, Showman, and Boater History Month, this latest exhibition from Dr Annabel Tremlett in collaboration with local GRTSB writer, artist, and activist Amanda Garrie, explores local connections with and between people with Gypsy, Roma, Traveller, Showpeople and Boatpeople (‘GRTSB’) heritages. These are all such different groups with different traditions, languages and cultural practices in countries across Europe. But they are still connected through histories of travelling and nomadism, strong affiliations to kin and community, with deep traditions in crafts, music, trading, toolmaking, and entertainment.
