Student helpers were a resource first used when Prof David Welsh was responsible for gathering a library for New College. A series of photographs from the late 19th century testify to the important role students played in the running of the library.
New College Library was largely the domain of its passionate librarian, Rev Dr James Kennedy. Kennedy fiercely censored the books available, ‘eyeing with stubborn suspicion the literature of progressive thought’. Works he deemed questionable were ‘hidden behind tables or forms’ and students were prevented from browsing the shelves (Watt, 1946, p. 162). This would change from 1892, however, when a group of six students assisted Kennedy in cataloguing and organising the library’s vast collection.
Click on the images below to look through photos of the Library helpers!
