Smack Dab in the Middle Temple Law Library

Garden outside of Middle Temple Library

Another sunny day and another journey to a lovely library.
The Middle Temple Library, built in 1958, is a legal reference library but also holds a variety of other material that deal with biography, history, literature and a variety of other topics because the original purpose of the schools also provided "a generalist education".

Inside Middle Temple Law Library

According to their website is currently contains over 250,000 volumes covering the whole range of British, Irish, EU and US legal research resources, including law reports, journals, textbooks, loose-leafs, e-books and databases. As a part of its older collections it holds 9,000 early printed books, 300 manuscripts, is home to the Molyneux Globes, and a group of Prime Minister portraits dating from the 18th to 21st centuries.

Long ago, the library was faltering but a member of the Inn, Robert Ashley (1565-1641) bequeathed his large and varied personal library. The library continued to develop its collection through purchase and donation

Training and Development Librarian, Adam Woellhaf, told us that today, as a library serving the modern student of law, the library has:

ipads available for loan

database access

public access (by arrangement but at no charge)

textbooks organized by subject (whereas they were previously alphabetically arranged)
a two floors of basement storage for previous editions of textbooks
exhibition cases showcasing pieces form the rare book collections
an online catalogue (last updated in 2014)

Two prized items of the collection are the Molyneux Globes. Created by Emery Molyneux, the celestial and terrestrial globes are the first globes made in England, the only known surviving pair by this creator and the largest printed globes of this period. They originally date form 1592 and were presented to Queen Elizabeth I in July of that year and are referenced by Shakespeare in The Comedy of Errors.

Celestial Molyneux Globe

Observing and learning about the progression of this library shows how history can still be respected and referenced in a fully-functioning and forward thinking institution.

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