"SELF HELP" - MECHANICS WORLDWIDE 2009 

Programme of Events

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Thursday 24th September

09.00-10.00		Registration
10.00-10.15		Welcome by Convenors Bob Draper, Peter Ford and Jim Lowden, Convenor for  MW2004 & Robert Anderson, President Association of Independent Libraries
10.15-11.15		America's Membership Libraries Richard Wendorf, Boston Athenaeum, USA
11.15-11.45		Coffee break
11.45-12.45		In-borne Genius or the Product of a System? The paradox of Samuel Smiles'  views on Technical Education.  Adrian Jarvis: Hon. Research Fellow, Liverpool University
12.45-13.15		Timothy Claxton - London - St Petersburg - Boston Jim Lowden, Melbourne, Australia
13.15-14.30		Lunch break - delegates free to visit local museums etc
14.30-15.50		Mayor's Guides, John Bulman & David Clark (BRLSI Members) to show delegates some of the highlights of Bath.
16.00-16.45		The Life and Work of Isaac Pitman, a Bath Resident. Stuart Burroughs, Museum of Bath at Work
16.45-17.05		Tea Break
17.05-17.50		Books, Baths and Billiards: The Story of Greenock Library & Institution. Keith Manley,  Institute of Historical Research, University of London
17.50-18.40		The Herschel family". (William Herschel was the discoverer of the planet  Uranus and lived  in New King Street, just south of BRLSI)  Dr Gary Mathlin, University of Bath
19.00-20.15		Civic Reception, Roman Baths

Friday 25th September

09.30-09.45		Meet at BRLSI
10.00-11.00		Visit to the Mayor's Parlour and Guildhall
11.00-11.45		The Cultural Heritage of Bath. Stephen Bird, Director Bath Heritage Services Lecture in the Guildhall
12.00-14.45		Conference Lunch, Bath County Club. Principal Guest Lady Gass, Lord Lieutenant of Somerset
15.00-15.45		Mechanics' Institutes in Australia Bronwyn Lowden, Melbourne, Australia
15.45-16.30		The Second Wave and Self-Help: The Schools of Arts of the Suburbs and the Rural Towns of New South Wales.  Roger K Morris, President Sydney Mechanics' School of Arts,  Hon. Assoc, Adult Education University of Technology, Sydney, Australia
16.30-17.00		Tea
17.00-17.30		The Perilous Act of Lecturing - Clara Lucas Balfour, 1808 - 1878, prolific travelling lecturer. Janet Cunliffe-Jones, BRLSI
17.30-18.15		Science Liberality and Good Taste: The nineteenth century movement for Subscription Botanic Gardens Dr Ann Brooks, formerly with the Portico Library, Manchester UK
18.15-19.00		Contemporary Higher Education From the Perspective of an Institute of Technology. Dane Gordon, Emeritus Professor, Rochester Institute of Technology
19.00		Reception sponsored by the Association of Independent Libraries
20.15		Showing of a film with a Bath theme

Saturday 26th September

Association of Independent Libraries (AIL) Annual General Meeting - all Conference Delegates welcome to attend.

10.50 - 11.15		President's address, Dr Robert Anderson, Vice-President, Clare Hall, Cambridge
11.15 - 11.45		A Library for the Literate: a museum for the masses Dr Michael Powell, Librarian, Chetham's Library, Manchester
11.45 - 12.15		Mechanics, Artisans, Operatives, Labourers and others Peter Hoare, Former Chair of Historic Libraries Forum
12.15-12.45		Annual General Meeting
12.45 - 14.00		Lunch
14.00 - 14.30		Where are the Mechanics' Museums? Dr Robert Anderson, Vice-President, Clare Hall, Cambridge.
14.30 - 15.00		Samuel Smiles in Leeds Geoffrey Forster, Librarian, Leeds Library
15.00 - 15.30		Tea and Bath Buns
15.30 - 16.00		Devon and Exeter Institution - past present and future Roger Brien, Devon & Exeter Institution
16.00 - 16.30		Libraries and Revolution in Ireland" John Killen, Linen Hall Library, Belfast

Sunday 27th September

Conference Visit to Salisbury and Stonehenge

Monday 28th September

09.15-10.00		The John Murray Archive David McClay, National Library of Scotland, Edinburgh
10.00-10.30		"Is reading a self-help book an occasion of self-help?" Scott Cherry, Loughborough University
10.30-11.00		The Bury Institute in Lancashire Prof. Wallace Kirsop, Monash University, Australia
11.00-11.30		Coffee Break
11.30-12.00		Self Help & the London Mechanics' Institute - Birkbeck after (George) Birkbeck Richard Clarke, University of London, Birkbeck
12.00-12.30		Samuel Smiles and a Philosophy of Success Tom Butler-Bowdon, Author of '50 Self-Help Classics' and '50 Success Classics', Oxford UK
12.30-1.45		Lunch
13.45-14.15		Mechanics Institutes in Sussex & Hampshire          Jana Sims, Institute of Education, London
14.15-14.45		Swindon Mechanics' Institute Daniel Rose, Swindon New Mechanics' Trust
14.45-15.15		St Agnes Miners & Mechanics Institute Keith Atkinson, St Agnes
15.15-15.45		Tea
15.45-16.00		Concluding Matters

End of Conference