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It
is my pleasure to introduce to you Frances Abercromby, Arts
Librarian of the Edinburgh University Library. Frances is a friend
and colleague of Sally Wood-Lamont. Upon my request she wrote a
short report for our Newsletter about the festivities taking place
in Edinburgh early December.
For those of you who were wondering what made Sally to go, live and
work in Romania, the answer is (at least) partly in this report. It
is something exceptional that Sally is doing for the Romanian
medical library colleagues and the people. This was all well
recognized by the Edinburgh University. On behalf of EAHIL Board and
members we congratulate Sally with her degree!!
Suzanne
Bakker
Honorary Degree
for the Chief Editor of the EAHIL Newsletter
An
honorary degree of Master of Arts was awarded to Sally Wood-Lamont
at an Edinburgh University graduation ceremony on 8th December 1999,
in recognition of all the work Sally has done in Romania, both in
the field of librarianship, and in wider charitable enterprises.
During the revolution of 1989 which overthrew President Ceaucescu,
the University Library of Bucharest suffered a serious fire which
destroyed much of its stock. A European appeal was made by academics
in Romania for help in rebuilding library collections, and in the
early 1990s Sally became co-ordinator of the highly successful
Scottish Books for Romania Appeal, which has seen over three million
books from Scotland being received by Romanian libraries, schools
and hospitals.
Partly
as a result of Sallys recognition of the urgent need for modern
medical books in Romania, she became Secretary/Co-ordinator of
Scotland Romania Medicaid, and to date over three hundred doctors
have had the opportunity to study for short spells in Scottish
hospitals. The selection of candidates, their placements and their
travel and accommodation have all been arranged - at a distance! -
by Sally.
After
two years (Nov 1993- Sep 1995) on sabbatical leave from Edinburgh
University Library, which were spent working in and from the
University Medical Library of Cluj (helping to automate the library,
and to teach Romanian librarians), Sallys commitment to Romania led
her to leave Edinburgh in 1995 to take up permanent residence in
Cluj-Napoca - in her own words, >There was just so much to do
here, I couldnt leave.
The
honorary degree was in recognition of much besides librarianship:
Sally teaches English to a group of physically handicapped adults,
and organises outings and entertainments to which they can
contribute; she has established the Scotland-Romania Language Link
through which students from Scottish universities come each summer
to teach English conversation to Romanian school children; and she
has been helping to organise the Shoeboxes for Romania appeal which
has raised money, and medical and sports equipment for children in
Romania.
On
the day of the graduation a group of ten of Sallys friends (several
of them also former colleagues) were invited to the ceremony to lend
support to Sally, and to enjoy seeing her being honoured. Here we
listened to a laureation address by Ian Mowat, Librarian to the
University of Edinburgh, in which he outlined some of the reasons
for Sallys award, and spoke of the pride felt in her achievements by
the staff of Edinburgh University Library.
A
reception hosted by the Principal of Edinburgh University was
followed by a long lunch, after which a rest was needed before the
festivities of the evening began. These took the form of a Scottish
ceilidh - a word from Scottish and Irish Gaelic which means a visit
or a gossip, and which now traditionally encompasses a lot of
energetic Scottish dancing with a fair amount of gossip for good
measure!
This
exchange of the formalities of the morning for the energetic dancing
of the evening provided the perfect end to a pretty special day for
your chief editor - and her friends!
Frances
Abercromby,
Arts Librarian
Edinburgh University Library
Contents
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