Heythrop Library

Lots of changes, most of the improvements have been made, but the following four might have escaped your notice – even if you are a library member who regularly uses our reading room.

First up: inspired by a regular user of the reading room, who construct their own standing desk by finding door-stopper volumes to build a tower of books to rest their laptop on, we recently bought a height-adjustable desk:

Second: whilst librarians do not mind answering questions at all, being asked every day when we are closing seems like a missed opportunity to explore things (ideas about knowledge, world peace or a shared sense of humanity, to name just three). So we have added a sign to our new acquisitions trolley telling anyone walking into our reading room when the Library will close that day:

The opening hours during London Jesuit Centre teaching times (as well as the other times of the year) are also displayed: a) on our library desk, and b) in the glass cabinet just outside the Library. We hope that this simple measure will free us up to have more meaningful conversations. Though a word of warning: please do not ask us about the meaning of life, as the answer given might be 42.

Third: we have added more shelfmark labels to give you a better idea of which classmark and topical section you are looking at – still some to go, but hopefully they will help our readers to find our books in the reading room:

If you can’t find a book which you believe is on the shelf, definitely please ask us.

Fourth: as of this week, we have – with the help of a great staff member of Open Fifth – finally found how to change the location display in a brief library record for a book or journal. Before it just stated

Availability: Items available for loan: Heythrop Library (1) : Classmark.

Now it more helpfully states

Availability: Items available for loan: Heythrop Library (1) : Mount Street Reading Room Classmark.

If you are already a member of the Heythrop Library, please let us know whether one or some of the above improvements is helpful to you. If you are not already a member of the Library, what’s stopping you?
CG