Yesterday we hosted our second rare books workshop for schools. Primary 5/6 from Inverallochy Primary School came to research building and book design for their class topic.
The pupils got a chance to see some of the treasures from our collection, including a book of landscape design which gave them some good ideas about how to present design ideas.
We then discussed how the pupils take care of their books at home and at school before voting on how they thought we look after our rare books here in the Special Collections Centre.
A visit to one of our stores gave the pupils an opportunity to find out if they had voted correctly. We had a look at some of our special books, such as a tiny bible which would fit in your pocket and the pupils they lent a hand moving the racks of books.
Back in the Learning Room we had a look at some of the bookplates from our collection and the class were given a brief to design and produce their own bookplates.
The pupils’ designs had to meet the following criteria:
- Size: 8cm x 8cm
- Colour: Black and white only
- Must be decorative
- Must reflect the book collection or type of books read by the owner
The class produced lots of bookplates to take back to school with them and then headed along to Union Terrace Gardens for a picnic lunch. We hope the weather stayed dry for them!
If you would like to bring your class to do our “This book belongs to…” workshop, email us at scc.learning@abdn.ac.uk.
Posted by: Sarah and Lynsey
UoA Collections 
Lianne- It was a great day seeing the books and making the bookplates.
Chloe- I liked learning how to make bookplates and learning how to take care of books.
Kyuss- It was a great seeing all the books and seeing how old they were and I really liked seeing the littlest book in the whole University.
Caitlyn- I liked learning about all the old books and how they are fragile.
Jack- It was amazing and I learned so many things about books.
Annie- It was a fantastic day I had great fun I learned to take books out from the middle so the cover doesn\’t get torn. The best part of the day was making the bookplates but we had to be careful because the ink was messy.
Clariassa- I thought seeing the special collections was very interesting. Some of the books are very old and amazing.
Michaela-I thought the colourful circles were cool because when you touch them your hand turns the same colour.
Alice- It was an amazing day I had good fun.The most interesting thing that I did was when we was looking at the old books because I learned alot. My favourie book was the smallest one.
Morgan-I liked learning about how they look after the books.
Lewis- I liked it when we did the survey of how we think we look after our books.
Joshua- In the libary I liked the door that turns and as you go in you can see all the stairs.
S-J-It ws a great day and I learned a lot about books.I really liked making our own book plates it was really fun!
Mariha-It was an amazing day at the library and I learned that some book covers are made out with pig skin.
Joe-I enjoyed learning how to keep the books safe in a dark place a dark place and it needs to be cold.
Faith-I learned alot about books,by needing good care especially when they\’re old and fragile.
Billy-I thought that the colourful circles were really fluffy and bibles can be really small as your thumb.
Emma-I liked it when they showed us how to make your own book plates, about the books you like.
Nicole-I liked the part when we got to move the shelves to get in to see the books.
Cameron-I liked it when the ladies showed us the really old books and I learned how to create a book plate with ink.
The children thoroughly enjoyed the whole experience.They were inspired by looking at the different design aspects of the new building and gained a great deal from the workshop activities which were very appropriate for the age group.Communication for trip arrangements were excellent and Lynsey and Sarah helpful and patient with the children.