Newsletter 43 - Spring 2005

The Hampshire Field Club Library

C M Woolgar

The HFC&AS Library contains:

• Approximately 1000 volumes on history, archaeology and natural history in general, rather than principally about Hampshire
• About 30 sets of periodicals, largely the result of exchanges with other English local history societies

It is located at the Hartley Library, University of Southampton, which is the main library of the University, located on its Highfield Campus. The books are within the new Special Collections area, adjacent to the Cope collection on Hampshire and the Isle of Wight; the periodicals are largely inter-filed with the Library's periodical collections.

Catalogues
All the periodicals appear in the Library's On-line Public Access Catalogue (OPAC), available over the internet at http://www.library.soton.ac.uk/

All books acquired since 1981 and all books borrowed since that date will also appear in the OPAC; the balance of the material is described in the Library's card catalogue and is re-catalogued when it is borrowed.

Other materials in the collections of the University Library
There are web pages that describe the holdings for English local history and related collections and internet sites at: http://www.library.soton.ac.uk/subjects/historylocal/index.shtml

The web pages for Special Collections - http://www.archives.lib.soton.ac.uk/ - contain a guide to the Library's archive collections, including Hampshire material, and to the Cope collection. The catalogue of the Cope collection is included in the Library's OPAC, following a retrospective catalogue conversion project. We expect the Cope collection catalogue to appear in the Hampshire bibliography file that is to be mounted by Hantsphere.

The Library's OPAC is also included in COPAC, the co-operative catalogue of the Consortium of University Research Libraries, at http://www.copac.ac.uk/

Opening hours and access
In term, the Hartley Library opens 82 hours a week: details of this and vacation openings are given on the Library website, http://www.library.soton.ac.uk/. The printed Special Collections, i.e. including the HFC Library and the Cope collection, are open for the same hours as the rest of the Hartley Library; the opening hours for archives, manuscripts and rare books are 0930-1700 Monday to Friday, by prior appointment. The Library is open to all, provided that readers carry evidence of identity. Changes to security routines from last autumn require all readers to use tickets for entry, but day tickets are available. Members of the Hampshire Field Club have the privileges accorded to external borrowers: to obtain a borrower's ticket, HFC members need to contact the Library in advance. Enquiries can be directed to libenqs@soton.ac.uk (for general library questions) and to archives@soton.ac.uk (for those connected to the Special Collections).

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