An Introduction to the work of National Trust Libraries by Christine Tate, CILIP North West New Professionals Support Officer

Towards the end of 2018 I asked our student representatives if there were any libraries in the North West that they wanted to visit. The students said that they would like to learn more about special collections and suggested that we might visit a National Trust library. I contacted the National Trust and they kindly facilitated a visit to the library at Lyme Park in Disley. 

We were escorted into the house and led up the staircase to the library. We were invited to make ourselves comfortable and we were pleasantly surprised to find out that we were allowed to sit on the sofas! Tim Pye, the National Trust’s Libraries Curator, and Nicola Thwaite, Assistant Libraries Curator, provided us with a detailed and informative overview of the work of National Trust libraries and their special collections.

National Trust Book Collections 

Book collections are the most important collection held by the National Trust, they currently have over ½ million books. The collection includes rare books that are held in historical properties and this makes them vitally important. However, in its earlier days, the Trust had sidelined books; they were seen as a burden that came with the property and their significance was not appreciated until the first librarian was employed by the Trust in the 1960’s. The Royal Oak Foundation, the American arm of the National Trust, secured funds for the cataloguing and conservation of the collection as well funding for a permanent librarian.

Tim discussed with the students what makes a special collection 'special'. Factors identified included:

- Provenance

- Rarity 

- Signs of ownership or use

- Items that are exemplars of a type of printing or binding 

The books in the National Trust collection are special as they are tied to particular owners and properties. They are often held in the original home where they were bought and enjoyed.

The National Trust collection is also distinct due to the sheer variety of properties and diverse libraries that it owns. Examples include the Workers' Library at Quarry Bank Mill, and a 19th century gentleman’s library at Tyntesfield. 

Reflecting on Similarities and Differences

Tim identified a number of ways that the collection is different to that of a research library:

1. Almost all of the properties where the books are held are sub-optimal conditions. There is a risk a fire, flood, pests, damp and theft. 
2. The team are under-resourced. In a research library that held a collection of the same size Tim estimated that there would be 7 to 8 full-time staff members. The team currently has 2.2 FTE.
3. The geographical spread of the collection means that it takes time for the team to collect books for requests - they are supported by house staff and specialists but there are still barriers that mean they can’t just pop down and collect a book.
4. The collection is not an active research collection due to the lack of facilities that they have for viewing the collection. They try hard to facilitate requests from researchers but they are not set up for the service in the way that the British Library or the National Research Libraries are. For example, there is one library where scaffolding has to be erected so that the books can be accessed – this process means it can take months to fulfil a request. The collections are open to the public. This means that visitors can get up close and personal with the books but it also exposes the collection to the risk of damage or theft.

However, there are also a number of similarities in the way that the National Trust collections and research libraries are managed. For example, The National Trust is working to catalogue all of the books that it holds. They have been cataloguing systematically since 1991 and there is at least another 10 years’ worth of work. The number of books to be catalogued increases as purchases are made and new collections are discovered at the properties.  There is a team of around 8 cataloguers that are performing this work.

Similar to a research library, the books in the collection are listed on COPAC

The team also help the properties to understand their collections. They explain what the books can help them to do, to understand what they have in their collection and how to bring the books alive. 

The team encourages engagement with the collection through exhibitions. They use Turning the Pages software and kiosks to allow visitors to view digitised items. Last year they used image recognition software on phones and tablets to allow visitors to scan a shelf and then open up a digitised version of the books on the shelf.  The team are trying to explore every way possible for their books to sing and even have a Facebook group – National Trust Libraries. 

The National Trust purchases items for their collections. Previously, books and manuscripts were often sold by the families living in the properties as a quick way to make cash. The Trust are trying to re-purchase these 'escapees'.

The Library at Lyme Park

Nicola then introduced us to the collection at Lyme that was housed in the beautiful library where we were sitting. 

The National Trust acquired Lyme Park in 1946. However, at this time the Trust acquired just the property and not the content. The library at Lyme has only become part of the Trust’s collection over the last ten years. The library has around 12,000 titles. It is quite an unusual collection for the National Trust as only 300 of the books are indigenous to the library. 

The other items from the original collection have been sold over the years. However, there are still some significant books that remain in the collection including 2 medieval manuscripts.

The most significant book in the collection is the Missale ad usum Sarum dating from 1487. This book was sold from the collection but it was re-purchased and returned to Lyme in 2008. It an important acquisition as records and annotations indicate that it was at Lyme soon after its publication and it gives a link to the family in this early period. 

The library was refurbished in 2008 to mark the arrival of the Missale back into the property. Reproduction wallpaper and furniture were sought including the comfortable red sofas that we sat on during the talk. Visitors are encourage to browse the library, borrow one of the books available for reading and spend time imagining life in a country house. 

Nicola explained that the libraries curators face some difficulties when cataloguing books from family collections. For example, families would traditionally re-use the same first names so it can be tricky to interpret which ‘Peter’ wrote his name in the front of the book when there have been 13 Peter or Piers over the years! In order to be sure that the correct family member has been identified the handwriting can be compared with the archive but for some catalogue records they currently state ‘probably Peter 13th…’ 

The collection includes a number of books by Thomas Legh who has been described as ‘Lyme’s very own Regency Indiana Jones'. One of the books includes an account of his travels in Egypt. The team have discovered serendipitous connections with other National Trust properties in the books – the families often knew or even married each other, or were also members of the same societies and associations. 

After Nicola’s talk we were invited to take a closer look at the items in the collection in Lyme. We really enjoyed being able to get hands-on experience, chatting to Tim and Nicola about the items and getting some careers advice at the same time. 

Thanks 

I would like to express my thanks to the National Trust for facilitating the visit and to Tim and Nicola for donating their time to give the students such a valuable insight into their work.