New College Library is located in Edinburgh, Scotland. It is one of many libraries belonging to the University Of Edinburgh. Our guide today is Sheila Dunn, Site and Services Supervisor. The New College Library was founded in 1843 and possess one of the largest theological collections in the United Kingdom. It services the University's School of Divinity.
The collection contains a large assortment of books, as well as journals. Books are shelved using Library of Congress classification. There is wireless access throughout the library. They also offer E-books, E-journals, various databases and E-reserve for course materials.
Although the library receives some funds from the federal government, it is not a public library. However, they do offer limited services to the general public some of which require a fee.
During our tour we were also given a tour of the library archives. We traveled down to a storage section of the library that housed many old manuscripts and various works. On one floor it was very warm and humid. I asked why it was not temperature controlled. I was told that while this collection was antique it was not rare enough to require special care. The floor below with the older and rarer books was climate and temperature controlled. That was one of the things that was the hardest to accept for me. Many of items in the collections of the various libraries we visited would be considered antique in American libraries. Because the history of the United Kingdom is so much older than America they have a different idea of what is considered "old".
