Antarctic themed reading room opens in Central Library
Wellington’s scorching sun created a cool coincidence last week as a ceremony was held to open an Antarctic themed reading room at Victoria University.
The S.T. Lee Antarctic Reading Room, on level 5 of the Kelburn library, was formally opened by Vice-Chancellor Grant Guilford in a ribbon-cutting ceremony on Wednesday.
Funded by Singapore philanthropist Dr Lee Seng Tee, the quiet room features the newly acquired Colin Bull Book Collection, covering Antarctic, Arctic and both Polar Regions’ studies.
Professor Tim Naish, chair of the Antarctic Research Centre, says the room was planned and developed as a collaborative effort between the University’s Antarctic Research Centre and the library.
“The room aims to highlight Antarctica’s significance to New Zealand and showcase the Antarctic Research Centre’s contribution to teaching and research excellence”.
A two day symposium was held around the room’s opening, featuring talks on past discoveries, including the exploration of Antarctica’s Dry Valleys 57 years ago by Barrie McKelvey, one of the first two Victoria students to work on the continent.
Past and present staff and students presented research reports from subsequent expeditions, as well as plans for future research in collaboration with GNS Science and other institutions.
The Colin Bull Polar Book Collection was donated to the library by his family so that library users could benefit from access to its 1800 titles.
Colin Bull was an Emeritus Professor and Physics lecturer at the University from 1956 to 1961, and played a key role in the early development of Victoria’s Antarctic research programme, including leading the 1958-59 expedition to the Dry Valleys.
A feature of the opening was the address by Colin’s wife Gillian, who attended with two of their children. She said that the donation would mean a great deal to the polar scientist who passed away in 2010.
“He would be so pleased to know that his books are available to all people from all walks of life”.
For more information on Colin Bull and his collection, visit the Library website.