On Monday evening took a group from the British Library Advisory Group around Breaking the Rules: they liked it, especially the last sections. Talked to Martin Wade of the National Library of Scotland afterwards - he is very complimentary. and we discuss exhibition spaces, digitisation projects and the spending review. Tuesday: revise the heritage materials list - I maintain the list for our prioritisation meetings - items over £40K or that need external funding. There are some imminent important sales and we need to get our strategy for these honed. Whoever thinks a librarian/curator's job is dull needs to think again. Then it's a debrief from Ronald on the last Executive Team meeting on Monday.
Then after a few emails - the Library and Archives Copyright Alliance list is afflame with discussions of its paper on orphan works - that's materials where the rights holders are untraceable (maybe I should become a lawyer) - I have to give a talk in the gallery on artists' books. It's the best attended so far and the questions are interesting and thoughtful. I start with Kahnweiler's revolution in art dealership - exclusive contracts, publicity and his publishing of new i.e. unpublished literary works by writers who were the friends of artists who 'illustrated' the works. Then the 1912-4 'golden age' of the artist's book in St Petersburg/Moscow, using any and every printing technique available - lithography, letterpress, rubber stamp, hectography etc. And on wallpaper, newsprint, burlap - and even gingerbread. Anybody can make a book without the mediation of a publisher (and sometimes printer). We walk back to Cendars' and Delaunay's 'Transsiberien' which hovers between the deluxe livre d'artiste and the artist's book.
Then it's a Directorate forum with a presentation on the 21st Century Curator Project by Matthew and on the Content Strategy by Graham. After the questions I interject that curators should take more ownership of their own careers and their involvement in the content experts' groups.
I polish off more emails and send the Collection Powerpoints to my fellow Collection Heads - I use it for the induction sessions, but I can't make the next session and Jude wants to do it anyway.
Time to go home. I hate it when they 'regulate' the Tube - it's like an unfair punishment at school, when you are made to suffer for somebody else's sins. It must be illegal under Human Rights legislation. Eventually I get home and decide on what to cook: mashed sweet potato, fresh brown mushrooms in milk, and (apologies to vegetarians) veal and sage. A glass (well actually three) of Chilean red restores me to humanity.