In the Library Foyer we celebrated the work of the late Benjamin Zephaniah, British Poet, actor, musician and professor of poetry. Zephaniah was awarded Honorary Doctor in Letters by University of Roehampton in 2019.
We honoured Holocaust Memorial Day (27th January) with a display on 'the Fragility of Freedom' curated by 1st Year History students.
On the First Floor (at the top of the stairwell) we marked UK Disability History Month. 2023's theme was Disability, Childhood and Youth, and the display featured related titles from the library's collections. Have a look at our Featured Collection on Disability & Neurodivergence for more inspiration on the theme.
To celebrate the launch of Southlands College's London Life project, the Library Foyer featured a selection of some of our London themed books. The project focused on a different aspect of London's rich cultural heritage each month, and the first theme was London museums.
As part of the project we featured our collection of exhibition catalogues from a wide range of London museums, including the British Museum, Imperial War Museum, Museum of London, Wellcome Collection, V&A and many more. Have a look at our Featured Collection Resource List or pop into the library to browse the collection.
October was Black History Month, and this year's theme, Saluting our Sisters, paid homage to black women who had contributions ignored, ideas appropriated and voices silenced. A display on the panels in the Library foyer celebrated the work of black women writers and display panels featured books from the library's collections. For more inspiration on the theme, our Black Lives Matter Resource Lists are full of suggested Fiction and Non-Fiction titles from the library's collections.
5 July 2023 marked 75 years of the National Health Service, the first health system to be available to all, free at the point of delivery. Our display gave an insight into the training and learning of UR nurses (items kindly on loan from the Roehampton nursing department)
In June we celebrated Pride Month with a display in the library foyer. For more inspiration have a look at our LGBTQ+ Resource Lists which promote resources across a variety of academic disciplines from our print and online collections.
On the First Floor we marked the contributions and sacrifices of the Caribbean community as part of Windrush 75 (the 75th anniversary of the arrival of the Empire Windrush in Britain).
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The Library foyer hosted the second exhibition of material from the Wandsworth Borough Collection. In a partnership between Wandsworth Council and the University of Roehampton, the material was selected and researched by 2nd year Applied Humanities students under the guidance of Dustin Frazier Wood, Senior Lecturer at the School of Humanities and Social Sciences, and our archivist Kornelia Cepok. The exhibition engaged with processes for the creation of imagery.
On the First Floor we marked the coronation of King Charles III, showcasing items from the Whitelands and Froebel College Archives from previous coronations.
We celebrated Hedgehog Awareness Week (30th April-6th May) with some hedgehog themed books from our collections!
Wetlands Trust mural - In April we were delighted to host an interactive @WWTLondon mural in the library. The mural was created to help people learn more about the role of wetlands in fighting the climate and nature crises.
Our main display this month celebrated Women's History Month in March and International Women's Day on 9th March. The theme for 2023 was Celebrating Women Who Tell Our Stories, recognising women, past and present, who have been active in all forms of media and storytelling including print, radio, TV, stage, screen, blogs, podcasts and more.
We curated an online Resource List to accompany the display and highlight our e-book collections, as well as a Snapshot from the Archives highlighting some notable women who feature in our Special Collections.
The Library marked LGBT+ History Week 2023 with a display and Resource List to highlight our collections. This year's theme was #BehindTheLens, which celebrates LGBT+ peoples’ contribution to cinema and film from behind the lens. Directors, cinematographers, screen writers, producers, animators, costume designers, special effects, make up artists, lighting directors, musicians, choreographers and beyond.
The Library celebrated Lunar New Year with a selection of picture books for the Year of the Rabbit. For more illustrated picture book inspiration, we showcased the Library's wonderful collection of Alice in Wonderland books in the lobby.