Category: library
#Engage with Gladstone's Library
Gladstone's Library secures £126,729 National Lottery funding to support young person's project
by Rhian Waller | Monday, 18th March 2024
The project will empower young people (aged 16-24) to explore and discuss universal Gladstonian themes of religious tolerance, human rights, and democracy, and more challenging historical and contemporary topics such as slavery, colonialism, and minority rights.
Llyfrgell Gladstone yn llwyddo i sicrhau cyllid gan Gronfa Treftadaeth y Loteri Genedlaethol
by Rhian Waller | Monday, 18th March 2024
Bydd y prosiect yn grymuso pobl ifanc (16-24 oed) i archwilio ac i drafod themâu Gladstonaidd cyffredinol, gan gynnwys goddefgarwch crefyddol, hawliau dynol a democratiaeth, a herio pynciau hanesyddol a chyfoes fel caethwasiaeth, gwladychiaeth, a hawliau lleiafrifol.
First Minister of Wales Visit
Dyslexia Awareness Week 2022 Part 1 - Working With Dyslexia
by Rhian Waller | Thursday, 06th October 2022
British Dyslexia Association Dyslexia Week 2022 is this week! It runs until Sunday 9th October, with the theme of 'Breaking Through Barriers'.
Having dyslexia and working in a library could seem a bit of a contradiction - after all, one of the best-known symptoms of dyslexia is a difficulty with spelling, reading, and writing. However, Reading Room Assistant James has other opinions...
Part one of a two-part series by James.
De-accessioning in Stephen Gladstone Hall, 2022
The Countdown to Gladstone's Library Reopening
Sponsor a Shelf Extended!
Coronavirus Update
by Gladstones Library | Monday, 27th July 2020
In colour: King Edward VII and Queen Alexandra’s visit to Gladstone’s Library
by Gladstones Library | Tuesday, 10th December 2019
Early sepia-drenched photographs of Gladstone’s Library I have seen are curious. They are strange portals into a familiar but unfamiliar world. They can also be a bit like dusty moths, lifeless and flattened in the pages of history. I wanted to (amateurly) try and put a bit of colour in one.
De-accessioning in Stephen Gladstone Hall
by Gladstones Library | Tuesday, 09th July 2019
Gladstone’s Library is embarking on a 24-month deaccessioning project on a section of its collections. This is the first review of the Library’s collections since 2008-10. Collection use and user demographic has changed rapidly in the past five years and the Library now has collection use data which can help it make decisions.
Rare Books and Religious Texts: a reading list
Gladstone and the Romantics: our new April display
by Gladstones Library | Friday, 05th April 2019
Today when we consider the word ‘romantic’ we think of love and sentimentality, but the term ‘Romanticism’ had a much broader meaning, historically. Romanticism was a period which spanned the late 18th and early 19th centuries, emerging as a response to the disillusionment with the Enlightenment values of reason and order in the aftermath of the French Revolution of 1789. It covered a range of developments in art, literature, music and philosophy and William Gladstone himself would have been witness to its peak during his lifetime.
What libraries mean by Oliver Emanuel
Tales of the supernatural: the library’s hidden creature features!
by Gladstones Library | Monday, 04th February 2019
At Gladstone’s Library we rotate our History Room display every month to focus on an aspect of Gladstone the man, or our extensive library catalogue. This February I decided to give some of our lesser-known collections a little TLC by presenting a display on 'Tales of the Supernatural: The Library’s Hidden Creature Features!' Additionally, to give you all some extra background on this exciting topic, I’m writing this blog for our website.
Collection Spotlight: Beginning with A…
John Douglas – the man behind Gladstone’s Library
Tales of Wonder and timeless tales of horror...
by Gladstones Library | Thursday, 18th October 2018
The month of Halloween is in full flow; the nights draw closer, the mornings mistier, and that black cat at the end of the street grows ever more ominous each time you pass. So, as every fancy dress lover’s favourite day of the year looms over us like a pumpkin-shaped apparition, there has never been a more appropriate time to look into the spookier side of our collections here at Gladstone’s Library…
Edrychiad i fewn yr gasgliad Cymraeg / Looking into our Welsh collection
by Gladstones Library | Tuesday, 25th September 2018
Although not Welsh himself, in 1894 William Ewart Gladstone decided to found his library across the Welsh border for good reason. The beautiful, remote countryside of Hawarden village, as well as nearby historic areas such as Ruthin and Mold, are steeped in culture and Welsh heritage. With an abundance of hills, forests and, of course, castles, as well as the mountain range of Snowdonia, Gladstone envisaged that rather than the congested streets of London, Liverpool or Manchester, North Wales would serve as the perfectly serene backdrop for his incredible legacy as well as provide the necessary air of tranquillity for study and contemplation.
The Gladfest team reveal their unmissable festival events!
Winning architects of Gladstone’s Library RIBA competition announced!
by Gladstones Library | Monday, 16th July 2018
The Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA) is pleased to announce that Caruso St John have won the competition to design a prestigious new building for Gladstone’s Library in North Wales and redevelop the existing Grade I listed library and its landscape.
Day closure for Founder's Day: Monday, 2nd July
ReaderPLUS – protecting Gladstone’s users for the future
by Administrator | Tuesday, 15th May 2018
If you’ve visited Gladstone's Library recently, you might have noticed a change in the front corridor: new Reader Application forms! These grass-green beauties – very appropriate for spring – replace the well-known A4 Reader Form that every Reader will have completed at one time or another.
World Curlew Day: Books, birds, and St. Beuno
by Gladstones Library | Friday, 20th April 2018
21st April is World Curlew Day, the first annual international event with the aim of raising awareness of the Curlew, one of the most recognisable of wading birds (numenius arquata). According to the RSPB, there are 66,000 breeding pairs in the UK, with 140,000 individual curlews wintering on our shores and estuaries each year.
Preventing what is called ‘the black out of the mind’
by Gladstones Library | Tuesday, 17th April 2018
Before World War II, when the library was only 30 years old, Alec Vidler, the then Warden of St Deiniol’s Library, was preparing for a 'decrease in the number of ordinary visitors', which he called 'inevitable' is his 1938 report to the board of trustees.
Gladstone’s Library becomes internet sensation on Buzzfeed!
Inspirational books by inspirational women
by Administrator | Tuesday, 06th February 2018
On 6th February 1918 the Representation of the People Act was passed which allowed women over the age of 30 who met a property qualification to vote. This gave 8.5 million women the vote (though it is important to note that this only represented 40% of the total population of women in the UK and it wasn’t until ten years later that women achieved full equality in voting rights).
Gladstone's library of forking paths
Christmas reading recommends from the Gladstone's Library team!
by Gladstones Library | Friday, 15th December 2017
Gifting the perfect book to a person is one of the great joys of life; creating a perfect partnership which you can just feel in your bones will last.
With that in mind and as a little Christmas treat, the Gladstone's Library team have gathered together some of our books of the year and reading recommends perfect for stockings. If you are still looking for that perfect gift for someone special, we hope you can find inspiration within this guide!
Class mark K
by Gladstones Library | Thursday, 19th October 2017
I know what you're thinking, the title ‘Class mark K’ is pretty vague, but I just didn’t know how else to describe this magical corner of the Annex, where I lost a good hour of my day because of the sheer number of books that I just wanted to delve into...
Humanising Gladstone
Democracy by James Kirchick
by Gladstones Library | Monday, 07th August 2017
Staring at me from the desk in my bedroom at Gladstone’s Library during my recent residency was a postcard inscribed with a bit of the namesake’s wisdom:
Liberalism is trust of the people tempered by prudence. Conservatism is distrust of the people tempered by fear.
Things I learned while not editing my novel by Rowan Hisayo Buchanan
by Gladstones Library | Monday, 07th August 2017
I met my first Wikipedia surfer, almost 10 years ago. It was my first year at university. The polo-shirted boy explained that he spent hours clicking link after link. It wasted days of his life, he said and smiled. Back in my dorm, tucked into my duvet, I settled in with Wikipedia. I clicked a link. I read for a while, and then stopped. The site seemed useful, but I wasn’t entranced by the hyperlink pathway.
Work Experience by Olivia Jones
by Gladstones Library | Friday, 14th July 2017
Starting my Work Experience at Gladstone’s Library, I was given an introduction and tour of the library itself as well as the collections. Within the library are the History and Theology Rooms plus the Annex. After I was shown around, I helped to open the Reading Rooms and then carried out circulation of the books as well as reshelving them.
Work Experience by Harriet Lewis-Wilson
by Gladstones Library | Friday, 14th July 2017
The first day of my Work Experience at Gladstone’s Library incorporated a range of tasks that helped me get familiar with the library itself. I was introduced to the helpful, friendly staff and Interns who then showed me what I needed to do to open up the library which included turning on lights and checking the books were in the right place.
Work Experience by Kate Robertson
Work Experience by Mia Mori
Work Experience by Owen Yale-Helms
Gladstone's Library in the New York Times!
by Gladstones Library | Monday, 08th May 2017
Gladstone's Library is delighted to have been featured in the New York Times (both online and in the physical paper!) in this wonderful piece about what Gladstone’s Library stands for. The title of the piece is ‘A Refuge for Liberal Values Beneath a Stern Victorian Gaze’...
Changes to Reading Room opening hours after 5pm
by Administrator | Tuesday, 04th April 2017
We are delighted to announce that just under 11,000 people worked in the Reading Rooms in 2016! That’s more than ever before, the highest number we’ve yet recorded. Many of those working in the Reading Rooms are enjoying our collections: use of books, journals and archive material is going up year-on-year. User feedback indicates that you, like us, are delighted to be part of a thriving, bustling working environment.
Stay and study with us on a residential course
The Swiss Intern
The Treasures of Closed Access: Samuel Wesley’s Life of Christ
by Gladstones Library | Monday, 27th February 2017
The Closed Access section of the Reading Rooms contains some of the Library’s oldest and rarest literary works and collections. It includes about 15 Incunabula, texts printed between 1450 and 1501, as well as a collection of books once owned by the Glynne family, of whom Catherine, William Gladstone’s wife, was a member.
One of the books housed in Closed Access is Samuel Wesley’s The Life of our blessed Lord & Saviour. An Heroic Poem.
Flashing at Gladstone's Library?!
Academic Book Week, 23rd - 28th January: Books from the GladLib collection!
Gladstone’s Library features on Telegraph Travel
Gladstone's Library on BBC Radio!
Support for scheme recognised at national awards
Watch: Founder's Day 2016
A book list with a difference
by Gladstones Library | Sunday, 17th July 2016
‘Books are a delightful society. If you go into a room filled with books, even without taking them down from their shelves they seem to speak to you, to welcome you.’
With the wisdom of William Gladstone ringing in our ears, we asked the ‘delightful society’ of Gladstone's Library staff to tell us about a book that they love.
A book-list with a difference.
Work Experience in Marketing - Niamh Yale-Helms
by Gladstones Library | Friday, 15th July 2016
I am a sixth form student from Hawarden High School studying Mathematics, History, English Language and Media Studies. After having started my year 12 syllabus in History studying British Prime Ministers and already gaining a strong interest in William Gladstone and his work, I immediately thought of Gladstone’s Library as an apt location for work experience as it's just a few minutes down the road from where I live and has an abundance of literary works which link into the British Parliamentary Reform I have been studying.
Summer 2016 at Gladstone’s Library
by Hayley Butler | Thursday, 07th July 2016
Sunshine or no sunshine, the Library is the place to be!
OK, so the heatwave we’d hoped for has not materialised quite yet but every so often those rays do break through, bathing the ground in a glorious sunlight, and July is looking promising!
Here at the Library we have events and activities for all weathers…
Reading List: Politics of the Mid-Tudor Crisis
by Gladstones Library | Friday, 01st July 2016
A Reading List for Gladstone’s Library.
Bloody Mary, The Life of Mary Tudor - Carolly Erickson (1996)
This biography contains information not only on the early life and the short but ruthless reign of Mary I, but the political manoeuvring which took place after the death of Edward V on 16th July 1553, when, on his deathbed, he named Lady Jane Grey as his successor, despite his father’s Third Act of Succession. This left both of Henry VIII’s daughters, Mary and Elizabeth, without a legal claim.
The book details how Mary then raised an army to take the throne for herself and the turning of the Council of Lords on Jane and John Dudley.
*Available in Gladstone's Library at shelfmark M 27 M1 / 12
Reading List: European dictators of the 20th century
by Gladstones Library | Friday, 01st July 2016
A ‘dictator’ is defined as ‘a person exercising absolute power, especially a ruler who has absolute, unrestricted control in a government without hereditary succession’ (www.dictionary.com).
During the 20th century, Europe experienced some of the most manipulative and cunning dictators in history, including Mussolini, Hitler and Stalin. Below are a series of reading lists relating to this topic, to some of the most brutal dictators Europe has known.
A translation of Gladstone’s German annotations
by Gladstones Library | Thursday, 16th June 2016
William Ewart Gladstone, the founder of Gladstone's Library, was a diligent and intelligent man. Apart from being Britain’s longest serving Prime Minister to this day, he also managed to read 22,000 books and even found the time to annotate 11,000 of them. And not just in his native language, English; he also annotated his books in at least five other languages: Latin, Italian, Greek, French and German.
Work Experience diary - Ewan Jackson
by Gladstones Library | Wednesday, 08th June 2016
The reason I wanted to spend my Work Experience at Gladstone’s Library was because I wanted to be surrounded by literature. Gladstone’s Library offered a fantastic chance to be personally enhanced by its vast selection of books and debates whilst advancing my career skills and vocabulary. The Library also provided a prime opportunity to understand the versatility necessary to be a successful employee.
Work Experience diary – Beth Morgan
by Gladstones Library | Wednesday, 08th June 2016
I am a year 10 student in St Richard Gwyn Catholic High School, studying English Literature, French, and Drama. Outside of school (and my time at Gladstone Library), I go to my local drama group. The reason I wanted to spend my Work Experience at Gladstone Library was because I was looking for a place that fitted in with my three GCSE options. After researching some different options.
The Film & Theology DVD collection at Gladstone’s Library
The Curious Case of the Changeling Chairs
by Gladstones Library | Friday, 13th May 2016
Spring is a time of change and natural miracles. Just to walk around Hawarden is to be faced with ample evidence of this: the leaves are new-green, lambs hop in the fields, and country strolls frequently feature herds of cows who enjoy slobbering on my hands and terrorising my taurophobic co-worker.
Gladstone's Library, commuting and Kung Fu
by Gladstones Library | Wednesday, 11th May 2016
I am asked frequently by visitors to Gladstone's Library, and by my friends, what it is that I do during my time here. This blog will give a bit of insight into my routine as the only non-residential intern currently on the team at Gladstone's Library.
Guest blog: On Liberty and democracy at Gladstone's Library
Guest blog: Writing Echo Hall at Gladstone's Library
by Gladstones Library | Monday, 21st March 2016
I first heard about Gladstone’s Library in 2011 when I picked up a leaflet at the Hay Festival. I am a huge fan of William Gladstone, a Prime Minister who, for all his failings, really tried to improve the lot of ordinary people. So I was delighted to discover his library existed, and furthermore that it was possible to stay there. I was in the midst of writing my novel Echo Hall at the time and the idea of a writing retreat at Hawarden was very tempting. But, it’s a long way from Oxford and being a busy working parent it wasn’t until 2013 that I finally managed to make the trip.
What We're Reading...Kirsten-Rose Brooks, Library Intern
by Gladstones Library | Friday, 18th March 2016
Welcome to a new series on the Volume blog, What We're Reading, in which members of the Library team divulge their current reads and what they think of them. This week, it's my turn: Kirsten-Rose Brooks, one of the three library interns, avid reader and aspiring writer.
The Gladstone's Library team: what we're reading
Explore Your Archive week: a delve into the stacks
by Administrator | Wednesday, 18th November 2015
14th – 22nd November is national Explore Your Archive week, an initiative conceived by The National Archives and The Archives and Records Association aiming to showcase archives and tell amazing stories. To tie in with this, we‘ve decided to delve into our own archival collections and do some exploring of our own…
A polite notice to budding photographers
George Osborne visits Gladstone's Library
Reading List: 'Racism' by Matthew Grubbe
Reading List: 'Alexander Solzhenitsyn and Russian Literature from the Soviet Period' by Tesni Jones
Reading List: 'Islamic Culture and the Expression of Faith Through the Arts' by Danielle Povey
The Rocky Mountain Land Library
Take a leap down the rabbit hole at Gladstone's Library
Airbus comes to Gladstone's Library
Great Accommodation at Gladstone's Library
by Gladstones Library | Friday, 13th February 2015
Gladstone's Library: Offering great accommodation near Chester & North Wales
Recognised as one of the most important research libraries and collections in Wales & 5 star accommodation reviews on trip advisor Gladstone's Library is a truly wonderful place to stay.