-------- Original Message --------
Subject: changes at the British Library
Date: Sun, 28 Feb 2010 17:42:31 -0600
From: voigtsl
Reply-To: voigtsl
To: MEDMED-L@ASU.EDU
References: A

Colleagues,

I have recently returned from a research trip in
England and write to report on another development
for those who study manuscripts. This information
is second hand, but it comes from a staff member
in the (now olim) Dept. of Manuscripts, so I believe
it is reliable. I do not want to be alarmist, but this
information may be of use if you have plans to work
in the British Library.

On 18 February, the CEO [sic] of the British Library
announced a re-organization of the BL. Many existing
Departments are being abolished, including the
Department of Manuscripts, which will, as I understand
it, be subsumed in something called History and
Classics. The head of MSS no longer has a position,
although he may apply for a new post. It is by no means
clear what all the implications of this change will be,
especially for readers, but one consequence appears to
be that MSS may now be catalogued in a new Department
of Cataloguing, and not necessarily by experts in
paleography and codicology as is now the case in the
Department of Manuscripts.

Again, this re-organization may have little impact on
readers, but at least it may be useful for those who
work with medieval manuscripts to know of these changes
at the British Library.

all best, Linda

p.s., I also was told from what I believe is a good
authority that a chair in palaeography at Oxford has
recently been endowed, although it will not be filled for
a couple of years. Perhaps Larry Eldredge can tell
us more about that.

Linda Ehrsam Voigts
Curators' Professor of English Emerita
University of Missouri-Kansas City
Kansas City, MO 64110 USA
VOIGTSL@UMKC.EDU