--- Begin Forwarded Message ---
Date: Tue, 20 Feb 2001 17:25:34 -0000
From: Francis Herbert <[log in to unmask]>
Subject: Royal Geographical Society (with IBG) : closure of Collections
Sender: Francis Herbert <[log in to unmask]>


This Monday 19 February several sections of the British media announced the
decision by the Heritage Lottery Fund to award the Royal Geographical
Society (with the Institute of British Geographers) GBP4.5 million for a
two-part project called 'Unlocking the Archives'.  Briefly, the two parts
can be summarised as follows:-

1)  The intellectual part chiefly involves the retrospective conversion to
an international standard (MARC 21 and ISAD(G)) of the separate card
catalogues - each hitherto following different cataloguing standards (or
none!) - of the Library, Map Room, Picture Library, Artefacts, and Archives
(the latter in the sense of internal records and international
correspondence).

2)  The physical part concerns excavation beneath our garden for a
centralised, increased, and environmentally-controlled storage and reading
area for the five Collections of the Information Resources Division; and for
a new entrance, education centre (extra seminar room), and altered use of
present parts of Lowther Lodge (1873-75) and of the Centenary extension
(1928-30).

It has been customary, immediately following the Society's Annual General
Meeting on a Monday in June, for the Collections to closed for cleaning,
stock-checking, etc. for a period of 3 or 4 weeks.  After the AGM on Monday
4 June 2001 this closure period may now be slightly extended to 15 months...
About ninety percent of the Map Room's materials (including gazetteers) will
be inaccessible, due to out-storage.  In the interim the same procedures for
non-members, regarding access fees and prior appointments, apply and can be
seen on the Society's website (under 'Collections').

Please feel free to copy, and to forward, this announcement to any likely
users.  Thankyou,

Francis Herbert (Curator of Maps, RGS-IBG)
[log in to unmask]
http://www.rgs.org
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