Talk:University of Manchester Library

Merged mess
IHMO this article is now a mess. Just for starters, the JRULM was not established in 1899. The whole point of separate articles is so that the categories make sense enabling users to search. I will leave it unless there is a consensus for demerging. Cutler 20:32, 2 July 2007 (UTC)

Do you have to be registered as a student to use the library?
As above. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 172.206.152.42 (talk • contribs) 00:31, 2 August 2007


 * No, but it helps. See . Mike Peel 06:44, 2 August 2007 (UTC)
 * All members of The University of Manchester, M/c Medical Society; various other categories can obtain access to at least part of the services see JRUL webpages or phone 0161-275 3716.Felix Folio Secundus (talk) 06:05, 26 March 2009 (UTC)

Librarians
Articles exist for Charles W. E. Leigh, Moses Tyson and F. W. Ratcliffe on the Latin Wikipedia as well as for the JRUL and the John Rylands Library.--Felix Folio Secundus (talk) 15:19, 11 October 2009 (UTC)
 * Janet Wilkinson is the author of: Study visit report, 1993--Felix Folio Secundus (talk) 05:30, 9 December 2009 (UTC)

Chronology
As the Owens College library, which became the library of the Victoria University of Manchester in 1904 has a history of 153 years before 2004 when the merger which formed the present university and university library occurred it is best to regard 1851 as the founding date rather than 1824 which the present university has included in its corporate image.--Johnsoniensis (talk) 07:27, 22 April 2015 (UTC)

Recent changes
This article has recently been amended by one editor: here is relevant discussion copied here in case other editors wish to express a view on these changes:- Hello, As the Owens College library, which became the library of the Victoria University of Manchester in 1904 has a history of 153 years before 2004 when the merger which formed the present university and university library occurred it is best to regard 1851 as the founding date rather than 1824 which the present university has included in its corporate image. The library which later became the UMIST library (called the Joule Library for the last 25 years of its existence) was in existence for 180 years before it became part of the John Rylands University Library on 1 October 2004; it was also much smaller than the other library with which it was then merged.--Johnsoniensis (talk) 13:16, 24 April 2015 (UTC) What you say isn't true, the universities merged together in 2004 so it means the history and collections of the libraries merged together. The first collection from these libraries as 1824 so that is the date we are going with. The current library isn't just based on John Owen's college library of 1851. Please leave my text as it is. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Joccay (talk • contribs) 14:48, 28 April 2015 (UTC)
 * University of Manchester Library (on User talk Joccay)
 * The University of Manchester Library (on User talk Johnsoniensis)
 * Changes to the account of the history of the library such as these are not I think preferable to the previous version which earlier editors (including myself) had compiled. The present version overemphasises the former UMIST library as an element of the library even though it was completely separate from the others until the present university (legally a new foundation) was created on 1 October 2004. From 1851 until the early 21st century there was a continuous process of accumulation and organization of library materials and three new library buildings (1898, 1936 and 1981) and changes to the library's name. In 1930 the Manchester Medical Library was added to it, and in 1972 there was a merger of the Manchester University Library with the John Rylands Library, though both remained in their existing buildings. To this large library the much smaller library of UMIST was added in October 2004.--Johnsoniensis (talk) 10:13, 3 May 2015 (UTC)

- I'm not trying to undo work by previous editors, my colleague was someone who originally worked on this page but that related to the Victoria University of Manchester line of library history. It didn't make sense what was there before my edit. It doesn't really matter on the size of library buildings or collections - there are currently 12 sites that make up the University of Manchester Library and the collections started in 1824. Our library staff have agreed with the text to be inline with the University's own history. It would be good to link it to references to prevent future edits by other people but I don't know how to link to references I have as they are internal to the University.--Joccay
 * Thank you for your explanation; it helps other editors understand why you are making particular changes if you provide edit summaries. I am not sure what you mean my "colleague was someone who originally worked on this page". Rewriting the history of institutions to accord with the views of the current staff of those institutions seems to conflict with Wikipedia's policy on neutral point of view; members of an institution are likely to introduce some bias into their contribution. (Though this cannot be added to the article I have been told by a former member of the Joule Library staff that very little of the earlier collections were retained by the library of UMIST.) It would be helpful if you told me more about the sources you have used as they might improve the article if they were added. Please read this advice about reliable sources.--Johnsoniensis (talk) 14:45, 5 May 2015 (UTC)

History
"Originally established as the Library of the Manchester Mechanics Institute in 1824, in 1851 the library of Owens College was established at Cobden House on Quay Street, Manchester." This sentence is grammatically odd and does not summarise the history of the institution adequately. There was no university in Manchester until 1880; and there ws no university library until 1904. One hundred years later in 2004 the successor to the Mechanics' Institute library (the Joule Library of UMIST) was merged with the John Rylands University Library to form the present library which adopted its present name at a later date. Perhaps something like the information box on the University of Manchester article would be useful instead of this promotion of "1824" which has been reintroduced.--Johnsoniensis (talk) 18:30, 3 May 2020 (UTC)