Each February we close to the public for a fortnight for stocktaking. This gives us a chance to check our collections and carry out important work we can’t do while we are open to the public.
This year we focused on accessioning and cataloguing a large donation of library items, checking our pamphlet collections and checking our transcript of the 1901 Census for North Devon.
The largest of the projects (accessioning and cataloguing over 130 library items) was started about a week before our closure period. As cataloguing an item takes less time than accessioning it we got a head start on the accessioning and accessioned 36 items ready for cataloguing during the closure period. We spent four days in total accessioning and cataloguing library items and put 138 items onto our catalogue in total. Amongst the items we processed were two books by the Barnstaple born political caricaturist Francis Carruthers Gould. We also discovered a rather interesting article written by General Goering in 1936 for the West Country Magazine entitled Knights of the Air.
We also processed some more recent donations and purchases including books on textile mills, letters to the local paper and life in Devon during World War One.
Over 70 pamphlet boxes were checked and tidied including hundreds of local history pamphlets and guides. The transcript of 1901 Census for North Devon was also checked to ensure all the pages were in order and nothing was missing. The transcript covers over 160 North Devon Parishes in 17 volumes.
Discover more about our Library Collection visit our website http://www.northdevonathenaeum.org.uk/librarycollection.html
BarumAthena
Tales From the Archives 