The event is free to members and £3.00 to non-members.
Dr Scally has provide the following information. He is on twitter as @scallyjj
John Scally is National Librarian and Chief Executive of the
National Library of Scotland. The National Library is Scotland’s legal deposit
library giving it the right to claim a copy of everything published in the
United Kingdom. The Library holds over 26 million physical items and has an
even greater digital library of electronic formats. It is one of the world’s
leading centres for the study of Scotland and the Scots. The National Library
recently opened a new library centre in Glasgow at the Kelvin Hall, offering a
range of resources to the West of Scotland community.
Dr Scally grew up in Paisley and was educated at St Mirin’s
Academy, the University of Strathclyde, the University of Cambridge and the
University of Wales. He has a number of research interests including aspects of
17th and 18th Century British history, the history of the
book and book illustration. He has published on a range of topics such as the
Scottish parliament before 1707, the British Civil Wars of the 1640s, popular print
in Scotland and a book on Robert Louis Stevenson. He has taught and guest
lectured on many subjects in a number of institutions most recently on the
impact of technology on libraries.
Synopsis
The Myth of the Universal Library?
Throughout history there have been attempts to assemble the
complete range of human knowledge in one place. Often the aspiration has been
triggered by an advanced society or a technological breakthrough that appeared
to bring the possibility closer than before. The Library of Alexandria, the
Renaissance and the Internet have framed some of the attempts that will be
surveyed during the course of the talk. Will the universal library remain a
worthy aspiration for society in the internet age or merely a figment of our
collective imagination?
