Series LSBU/2/8 - Library

Identity area

Reference code

LSBU/2/8

Title

Library

Date(s)

  • 1915-present (Creation)

Level of description

Series

Extent and medium

4 boxes

Context area

Name of creator

(1893-present)

Biographical history

The library opened in the Borough Road Building in March 1893 with a gift of 2,000 volumes from John Passmore Edwards and £200 from Lord Rosebery, with which to buy books and technical appliances. The library and adjacent reading room were situated on the ground floor. In May 1941 the library was damaged by a bomb falling in the light well behind the building and was not fully repaired until the early 1950s.

In the 1970s it moved to the London Road building. There was also a library in the Wandsworth Road building for the Faculty of the Built Environment. The Polytechnic of the South Bank began investigating the possibility of implementing an automated library system in 1976. The Library purchased a mini-computer to provide an automated book issue system and catalogue and these were introduced first at London Road Library in September 1981 followed by Wandsworth Road Library in September 1982. The system was then introduced at Manor House, New Kent Road and the Institute of Engineering, Science and Technology (IEST).

In 1992 the library moved to its current site on Southwark Bridge Road. Originally named the Centenary Library (it opened 100 years after the Borough Polytechnic was established), it is now named the Perry Library, after Baroness Perry, the first Vice-Chancellor of the University.

In February 2006 the Library and Information Services Department merged with other departments to become the Centre for Learning Support and Development. The Library and Learning Resources Department was formed in August 2011.

Archival history

Immediate source of acquisition or transfer

Content and structure area

Scope and content

Contains records produced by the Library, comprising:

LSBU/2/8/1 Library Committee, 1915-1971;

LSBU/2/8/2 Annual Reports, 1978-2007;

LSBU/2/8/3 Library Guides for Students, 1972-present;

LSBU/2/8/4 Study Starter Packs, 1980s-2003;

LSBU/2/8/5 Library Newsletters, 1972-1989;

LSBU2//8/6 Library Ephemera, c1960s-present;

LSBU/2/8/7 Library Plans, c1970s;

LSBU/2/8/8 Perry Library, 1991-1992;

LSBU/2/8/9 List of Rare and Historic Books held in the Library, 1984.

Appraisal, destruction and scheduling

Accruals

Expected.

System of arrangement

Conditions of access and use area

Conditions governing access

Conditions governing reproduction

Language of material

  • English

Script of material

Language and script notes

Physical characteristics and technical requirements

Finding aids

Generated finding aid

Allied materials area

Existence and location of originals

Existence and location of copies

Related units of description

For photographs of the various libraries please see LSBU/7/3/3.

Related descriptions

Notes area

Alternative identifier(s)

Access points

Subject access points

Place access points

Genre access points

Description control area

Description identifier

Institution identifier

Rules and/or conventions used

Status

Level of detail

Dates of creation revision deletion

Language(s)

    Script(s)

      Sources

      Accession area