Optional visits - Thursday 12 June
National Library of Scotland
NLS is Scotland's national collection and one of the largest libraries in the UK, containing 13 million items including the
recently-acquired John Murray Archive. A legal deposit library, NLS has in recent years been working to widen access to its
collections both online and on site. Two tours are available, one covering the public facilities on George IV Bridge, including a
look at the John Murray Archive exhibition and the in-progress visitor centre development, and the other covering the 'back room'
processes in the Causewayside Building, where the intake of 6,000 items a week is received, catalogued and processed.
University of Edinburgh
The Main Library of the University of Edinburgh was built in the 1960's, and is a fine building, but much in need of updating.
We are in the midst of a 5 year project to redevelop it, with the first phase due to be completed in June. The project is exciting
but complex. The visit will show you how the space is will be transformed-at how we can introduce new elements appropriate for the
twenty-first century learner and researcher into the existing space, and at how we are maintaining service in the building during the
period of transformation. See www.is.ed.ac.uk/MLRP
Edinburgh College of Art
Edinburgh College of Art is a small specialist Higher Education Institution with an international reputation for courses and research
in the visual arts, architecture and design. This is a chance to visit the new College Library, completed in 2007 as part of the
development of Evolution House, itself the most recent addition to the College estate.
QMU
An opportunity to visit QMU's innovative new campus: a vibrant new academic village with high-tech buildings and attractive
landscaped spaces, featuring an innovative learning resource centre at the heart of the development. The Learning Resource Centre
is a one-stop shop for the learning, teaching and research needs of the staff and students of QMU, and has 1000 study spaces.
Napier University, War Poets Collection
The War Poets Collection was established at the Craiglockhart Campus of Napier University in 1988 as a tribute to two major poets
of the First World War, Siegfried Sassoon and Wilfred Owen. The commemorative exhibition marks one of the most famous literary
meetings of the 20th century, when both men were patients at Craiglockhart War Hospital undergoing treatment for neurasthenia.
The exhibition includes significant first editions, association copies, letters and photographs.
Scottish Poetry Library
The Scottish Poetry Library is a unique national resource, funded by the Scottish Arts Council. It is the place for poetry in
Scotland for the regular reader, the serious student or the casual browser. It has a remarkable collection of contemporary poetry
with an emphasis on Scottish writing in English, Scots and Gaelic - and works from Europe and almost every part of the world feature
too. It also has collections of audio/visual material, cuttings, Braille, periodicals, and a children's section. Borrowing is free
to all. Services include a postal lending scheme; enquiries; schools workshops; exhibitions and events; publications; reading groups;
poetry reading website; an online catalogue and index to Scottish poetry periodicals; the Edwin Morgan Archive.
Royal College of Physicians
An opportunity for visitors to see a unique collection housed in some spectacular library architecture in central Edinburgh.
The College Library was established in 1682 and was the first in Scotland specifically intended for the study of medicine. Sir
Robert Sibbald, who had been the foremost figure in the creation of the College, donated "three shelves full of books to the College
of Physicians." Since then the Library has provided over three hundred years of continuous service to members of the College.
SPICe - Scottish Parliament Information Centre
Scotland's new Parliament sits at the foot of Edinburgh's famous Royal Mile in front of the spectacular Holyrood Park and Salisbury
Crags. Constructed from a mixture of steel, oak, and granite, the complex building has been hailed as one of the most innovative
designs in Britain today. Drawing inspiration from the surrounding landscape, the flower paintings by Charles Rennie Mackintosh and
the upturned boats on the seashore, Enric Miralles, one of the world's premier architects, developed a design that he said was a
building ""growing out of the land".
This visit will provide delegates with an opportunity to tour the public and limited working areas of the Scottish Parliament and
learn about the work of the Scottish Parliament Information Centre.
Please not that owing to parliamentary business the Plenary Chamber will be excluded on the tour.
Literary tour
Led by Anna Burkey, Edinburgh UNESCO City of Literature Trust, the literary tour will commence with a history of the Grassmarket
and the central role that is has played in the city's past - both literary and otherwise. Anna will proceed to intertwine our
conference them and your interests with the literary heritage in the vicinity finishing the tour at the Storytelling Centre on
the Royal Mile so delegates may wander at leisure.
In 2004 Edinburgh became the world's first UNESCO City of Literature, pioneer in a new international network of cities under
UNESCO's Creative Cities programme. The City of Literature Trust is a charity that works with partners to promote literary activity
in Edinburgh, champion Scotland's literature and develop literary partnerships around the world. Find out more about Edinburgh's
world of words - join our free e-bulletin - www.cityofliterature.com