Becky Howell (Scottish National Portrait Gallery)

The Scottish National Gallery is currently moving forward with a project to transform its lower galleries and offices into a new space for the display of Scottish art. As part of this, in November 2016 the curatorial department and the library were moved out so that construction work could begin. The library was put in temporary storage at the National Library of Scotland, before eventually moving to its new home at the Gallery of Modern Art in August 2017.

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As maternity cover for the librarian at the Scottish National Gallery from October 2016 until September 2017, my contract encompassed both the move from the Scottish National Gallery to the National Library, and then the subsequent move to the Gallery of Modern Art. The library was packed and transported to the National Library during my second week in post, giving me a week get familiar with the collection. Curatorial staff, including myself, were then put in a temporary office on the grounds of the Gallery of Modern Art.

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During this time, alongside my day-to-day work, I also had to make sure that plans for the new storage set aside for the library collection would be sufficient to accommodate the entirety of the library (c.50,000 items including books, journals, sale and auction catalogues and archive material). From before I started, adequate space had never been guaranteed, and throughout the planning stages the library needed to be fought for. Having spoken to librarians from other institutions, I’ve found that issues of space needed to accommodate collections and the need to justify a library’s existence are common in our sector. My talk will look at my first-hand experience of this project, how I dealt with the challenges it presented, and how I coped with being a librarian without a library.

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Becky Howell has worked in the arts and heritage sector for over twelve years in a variety of institutions including the V&A, Royal Academy of Dance, University of Edinburgh, and National Galleries of Scotland. Originally from East London, Becky now lives in Edinburgh where she is Librarian and Research Assistant at the Scottish National Portrait Gallery.