Official opening of new Archive Services visitor facilities

By gtougher on June 17, 2010 • ( 0 )

On Monday 14^th June the Principal, Professor Anton Muscatelli, came to Archive Services to officially open our new visitor facilities. The Chancellor, Sir Kenneth Calman and the Clerk of the Senate, Professor Graham Caie also attended, alongside University staff, business archives clients and representatives from our funders.

Our research facilities at 13 Thurso Street have been extensively refurbished. You can see details of our transformation here.

We have a new and improved reception and discussion space, search room, administrative office, and lounge with tea and coffee making facilities and a plentiful supply of biscuits!

Readers can benefit from more space and better light in which to consult material. Our IT facilities have also been improved and all desks are now equipped for laptop use. There is also a new lounge which means that visitors can have a break from their work whilst enjoying a hot drink.

Our new facilities mean that we can welcome staff, students and members of the public into a pleasant and bright environment in which to work.

Before cutting the cake, which was decorated with an architectural plan of the new facilities , the Principal spoke highly of GUAS. He talked about the richness of the archives that we hold, both in terms of the University Archives and the Scottish Business Archive, comparing these archives to a jewel box. Most importantly, the Principal highlighted the importance of the records that GUAS hold which number over 1000 collections, spanning over 7 centuries.

To mark the occasion, the Principal was gifted a framed copy of a letter which Adam Smith had written to the then University Principal about his Rectorship, which talks about his time as a student at Glasgow University as being ‘by far the happiest and most honourable period’ of his life. You can find out about Adam Smith here.