InterALIA, June 2005

Visit to Ramsay's Medical Bookshop and the Supreme Court Library

Acquisitions SA hosted a visit to Ramsay's Medical Bookshop and the Supreme Court Library on Tuesday 24 May at 4:30 pm. The event was very popular with twenty six people attending including a number of enthusiastic TAFE library students. The visit to Ramsay's began with a talk by Michael O'Brien who spoke about the Ramsay Group, which has been operating for many years and has customers in all parts of Australia. The Adelaide base of Ramsay's is the only shop front with most orders being placed via their web site or by e-mail. Michael also spoke about services that Ramsay's offer to libraries, including the ability to order a wide range of health and medical related material published in Australia and overseas and often with the added bonus of a ten percent discount. Our visit to Ramsay's was completed by a very generous selection of light food and drinks courtesy of the company.

The group then proceeded to the Supreme Court Library, for the second part of the visit. Robert Elson provided a general overview of the Library and its services and discussed in some detail acquisitions information relating to library suppliers, materials ordered and the library budget. Bruce Greenhalgh, the historical collection librarian, gave a presentation featuring some of the more unusual items in the historical collection, including a recording made in the 1960's of a speech given by the chief justice at that time, Sir John Mellis Napier.

Copies of the Guide to the Supreme Court Library were distributed and the visit ended at 6:00pm when the group were escorted out of the building through the back entrance and into the dimly lit area at the back of the old supreme court which for most was a new and very interesting experience.

Robert Elson, convener, Acquisitions SA