Issue 21 Spring 1996 Children in Cathedral Libraries Sarah Gray	Collections under which this       article appears:       Particular Libraries Related Articles or Resources

CHILDREN IN CATHEDRALS TODAY
Back in the 12th century, the only children to use books in Canterbury Cathedral Priory would have been the young novices - boys handed over by their families to be trained as monks. Their contact with the books would have minimal - most lessons having to be learned by heart from readings aloud - and it is doubtful whether they got much enjoyment from the experience. At that time the books were probably stored in cupboards near the places where they were needed, though later on in the 12th century a "purpose-built" book store was provided in the slype: a dark cul-de-sac off the cloisters where the virgers now keep their brooms, buckets and vases.

Today the picture is very different. Crowds of children come to the cathedral every day, often on organised school trips, and a growing number of these include a visit to the library. The slype is now out of bounds, but the children are able to enjoy the experience of seeing old books in one of the longest-surviving library buildings in the country, rebuilt in 1664 on the site of the prior's chapel which, in the early 1440s, had provided space for an extra library floor for the growing and magnificent collection of monastic manuscripts. Sadly the vast majority of these have been lost to Canterbury, but the library today still provides a treasure house of materials for scholars of all ages.

In common with many other cathedral libraries in Britain, Canterbury is working hard to build links with schools, taking advantage of the topics specified in the National Curriculum. For many years the library has hosted visits from school children from as young as nine years old, and their obvious interest and enjoyment encouraged library staff to try to think of ways of improving the quality of these visits. The appointment in recent years of education officers to many cathedrals, including Canterbury, has been a great advantage, providing among other things a communication-bridge between cathedrals and schools - both local and more distant. In many cathedrals there is now a well-established educational programme, increasingly involving the use of the library - either directly in the library buildings themselves or, where space or access make this impossible, by provision of books or manuscripts from the libraries as part of an exhibition or workshop.

ON-SITE ACTIVITIES: THE PRINTING WORKSHOP
In Lichfield, the cathedral library is involved in three types of visit. The annual Open Door Scheme is a fortnight when the cathedral is open for 9-13 year-olds to explore and enjoy many different activities. A trip to the library is always included, to look at manuscripts and learn about calligraphy and illumination. Older children come to the library to learn about the development and history of the Bible, and are given illustrated project sheets and the opportunity to examine some original early versions. Other project sheets are available to tie in with the National History Curriculum, and cover such subjects within the Medieval Realms section as "The cathedral and the community" and "What they believed and what they did". St Paul's Cathedral also hosts school trips, some including a visit to the library. Ways of using library materials to support the National Curriculum are already being studied, and it is hoped that educational links with the library may be expanded when the new Crypt lecture area is completed.

One priority which has to be borne in mind when making plans in a cathedral library is that, as well as being a valuable rare books resource, the library is also a department of the cathedral - along with the archives, stained glass, visits departments and so on. It is important that any promotional activities should complement the many other activities organised by the Dean and Chapter. In Canterbury one good opportunity of working with other departments presented itself in the form of the annual Schools' Day. This is an event organised by the Diocesan Schools Fieldwork Officer, and consists of parties of school children aged between 11-12 years who visit the cathedral - in their hundreds - to experience a wide range of workshops. These cover such areas as: Cutting Letters in Stone, Making a Stained Glass Panel, Dressing a Medieval Archbishop, and many others. It seemed an opportunity that the library should not miss. There is a limit to the interest which can be sustained in children by just displaying pretty pictures in old books, so a more "hands on" theme was thought advisable, and the idea of a printing workshop was born.

During Schools' Day groups of children each undertake three activities. The printing workshop therefore has to cater for three groups of about 25 children, spread throughout a (hectic) day. On arrival at the library, the children are given a short introductory talk about the development of printing and the implications of its invention in disseminating knowledge. Here a display of manuscript Books of Hours, early printed books with simple woodcuts, and a manuscript and newly computer-printed Bible side-by-side allows for some discussion of the amount of time taken to produce each. The children are then divided into three groups (using a simple colour-coding system) and each group undertakes an activity.

On one table the children are allowed to experiment with wood-block printing. A volunteer has provided some woodcuts of letters of the alphabet carved the right way round, and this usually provokes useful discussion about why a letter needs to be back-to-front in order to print correctly. Here the children get a feel for the principle of applying ink or paint and then the right amount of pressure for a good result. This idea is taken a stage further at another table where each child is able to print a certificate using a case of fixed type and an "ink-ball" (actually made from J-cloths and old tights). Again the principles of pressure and care are demonstrated as the children gently apply a rolling pin to their certificates. The third table holds a hand-press, brought and operated by a retired teacher who now runs a small printing business. He shows the children a case of moveable type and explains the methods of printing by machine, before allowing each child to print a keepsake to take home.

Needless to say, the children get very messy during the workshop, but it was decided in advance that this was inevitable, and that it would be possible to prevent damage being caused. A considerable amount of time, therefore, is taken in preparation - involving huge amounts of polythene sheeting and masking tape. The provision of old aprons and a bucket of soapy water means that the children may be sent on their way in a reasonably clean state.

Other cathedral libraries also get involved in workshop days - Salisbury, for example, provide an original manuscript for exhibition in conjunction with a calligraphy workshop in the Chapter House. For even more hands-on learning, the new library building soon to be completed at Hereford is to contain a reconstructed chained library for children to play with.

LOCAL INITIATIVES: YOUNG HISTORIANS' DAY
Many cathedral libraries have links with local groups. In Durham, for instance, the Young Archaeologists of Newcastle upon Tyne and of Durham are regular visitors, and the cathedral plays host to a group of Durham School pupils each year as part of a series of social outreach projects. As the Deputy Chapter Librarian says, "The reception of children into parts of the cathedral and its conventual buildings and the opportunity for them to see the real thing - such as early manuscripts in their historic context - is part of the process of sowing seed which is invaluable."

In Canterbury new ways of sowing such seed are constantly being explored by the library. A recent experiment which proved to be a success was "Young Historians' Day". This was an idea promoted by the Historical Association and organised by the Cathedral Education Officer, and involved a group of 14 year-olds from a local church school spending a day at the cathedral doing some simple research. The children were given a list of six archbishops, and spent the morning exploring the cathedral and looking for the tombs of "their" archbishops. During the afternoon they came to the reading room of the library and archives and were given a blank curriculum vitae form which they had to complete on behalf of each archbishop, using sources provided by the library. They were encouraged to use as many different sources as possible, and during the afternoon they learned several new skills: the use of simple reference texts such as DNB, more complicated texts such as Hook's Lives of the Archbishops, which is arranged chronologically, and even the art of scanning a contents page to decide whether or not a book contains what is needed. Staff were on hand to help, but tried to intervene as little as possible. Having filled in the CV forms to the best of their ability (accepting that some information is just not available proved hard for some), they went on to plot the tombs of their archbishops on a plan of the cathedral. As there was a little spare time, they were able to find the appropriate coats of arms in Blazon Episcopi, and many asked for photocopies of these to take away.

The level of enjoyment during this day was certainly high _ both on the part of children and staff. Lessons were learned about possible improvements in future _ a more carefully chosen list of archbishops, for instance, allowing for an even spread of information. One or two children got very frustrated by the lack of available information in some of the earlier cases ("but you must know what year Becket was born" ...), but this did not detract from the overall satisfaction at the end of the day.

MAKING USE OF IT: MONKS ON CD
Visits to the cathedral by younger children can also be frustrating - partly because of insufficient time to do all they would wish. On arrival at Canterbury, many school parties choose to watch one or two tape/slide presentations which set the scene for their visit. While this is obviously desirable, and the children get more out of the visit if they know a little about what they are seeing, the time taken is reducing that spent in and around the cathedral itself. For this reason it was decided to look at possible ways of using modern technology to provide a package which would prepare the children, but which might be used in advance at school or at home. After much preliminary investigation, a lucky introduction was made and Mike Blamires, Senior Lecturer in Special Educational Needs at Canterbury Christ Church College, was invited to become involved. Mike's special knowledge of computer programming, combined with the artistic skills and experience of the cathedral's Education Department, and the resources of the library, resulted in a preliminary version of a learning package being produced fairly quickly.

The Monks program on CD-ROM is designed for 7-9 year olds, and links in with Key Stage 2 of the National Curriculum in History and RE. It consists of a picture-plan of Canterbury Cathedral Priory in 1200, showing the buildings clearly labelled, together with the surrounding area (below). By clicking the cursor on any particular part of the plan - labelled or not - a child can bring up on screen a picture of that building and the person who works there, together with some simple explanatory text. Clicking on the monk in question will produce some information about his job. Any words which might cause problems are highlighted and a "hotword" facility enables the child to click on these for further explanation. Deciding on which words need explanation is not always as easy as it sounds, and nor is the explanatory text easy to compose. When talking about the Infirmarian, for example, it was found quite hard to explain "blood-letting" in a few words.

As well as providing information about life in the priory, this program allows for fun activities, such as dressing the prior, or ringing the bell to see what the monks are doing at a given time of day. There are obvious problems about the provision of sufficient terminals for the package to be of immediate use in the cathedral, but it is hoped that a software publisher might be interested in producing it commercially, and then schools could buy the CD-ROM for preparatory work before a visit. This might also provide some welcome income-generation - always an issue to be borne in mind these days.

It was seen as important for the package to apply to the National Curriculum in general - not just with reference to Canterbury - and so pains were taken to ensure that while factually accurate about Canterbury, the package would also be of use to schools in general education. For example, when you click on The Cloister the text points out that while in Canterbury this is situated on the north of the building, it is more usually built on the warmer, south side of a cathedral.

Two groups of cathedral guides who specialise in children's tours were invited to view the program recently, and expressed their interest. Regretably, they all asked to see the Necessarium first, but all expressed their satisfaction with the picture of the red-faced monk caught in an embarrassing situation. It is, perhaps, the quirky humour of Sue Earlam's drawings which will most appeal to children.

The capacity for expansion of this project is obviously huge. At present it is targeted just at the younger child, though there are plans in the future to include deeper levels of information for older visitors, a French version, and so on. Some discussion has taken place on producing a similar CD-ROM to cover other RE and Famous People topics for the same key stage. These could include Alphege, Dunstan, Augustine, Becket and the Black Prince, with the plan of the cathedral used to highlight sites where these people are remembered, and including pictures of artefacts, such as the Black Prince's Achievements. All this is in the future, however, as it is felt important to produce a good final version of the Monks CD-ROM first, to assess potential interest.

CLASSROOM WORK AND VISIT PREPARATION: RESOURCES PACKS
Another way in which children can be prepared for a cathedral visit is by acquiring a Resources Pack. York Minster produce some very impressive kits called "York Minster Historical Sources", covering Key Stage 3 of the National Curriculum - Medieval Realms, and including topics such as "Men and money for a medieval cathedral" and "Archbishops and kings in a medieval realm". Durham produce similar packs, covering aspects of the library as well as other parts of the history and structure of the Benedictine Abbey and the Post-Reformation foundation.

The packs produced at Canterbury are also linked to Key Stage 3 - Medieval Realms and The Making of the United Kingdom. Here the pack was the result of a growing awareness on the part of the library, archives and education staff that there was a need to make available to schools some of the many examples of primary source material which exist in the cathedral. Because of the pressure that teachers are under to try to fit in all the topics necessary for the National Curriculum, they do not have much spare time for such luxuries as visits to cathedrals. After consultations with educational advisers and history teachers, it seemed that some sort of information pack which contained primary source material in an easily-useable form would be popular with schools. Two key points had to be borne in mind: it must be photocopiable, and able to be used in a classroom context - not just in conjunction with a visit to the cathedral. As with the Monks CD-ROM, it was made clear that it would need to be of interest to all children - not only those with access to Canterbury.

A committee was formed with representatives from the library and archives, guides, and visits department, as well as the Head of History from a local school. A good working relationship, was built up: the Education Officer might ring the library and say "I want something to show how Lanfranc felt when he was appointed to Canterbury", or "I need two conflicting descriptions of the same event to demonstrate biased reporting." The archives were able to supply some interesting documentary evidence to show, for example, the wages paid to the different servants of the monastery, or a list of costs involved in preparing a 12th-century banquet. The library was able to produce many different printed source materials, ranging from eye-witness accounts of the looting of the cathedral in the Civil War to descriptions of Becket's shrine.

All these different items were used in producing exercises and activities for the children to undertake to increase their knowledge and understanding of the events in question. In case the murder of Thomas Becket was something of a drag ("heard it all before"), they are asked to fill in a Scene of Crime report for Henry II. This requires details of the victim, cause of death, suspects, witness, murder weapons, and any action to be taken. All the information necessary is provided in the different passages reproduced. Should the job of a Master Mason sound less than thrilling, the children are asked to fill in an application form for William of Sens, wishing to be appointed at Canterbury, giving details of his skills and training together with ideas for any machines or appliances he might have invented to help in his job. Again, the sources quoted give plenty of information which can be used in the answers.

Each pack comes with very comprehensive teachers' notes which should provide answers to any questions which the children may ask. The packs are full of fun, and liberally provided with cartoon-style drawings - often used in the activities.

THE OLDER CHILD: THE NEED TO REACH AND TO INFORM
While a lot of attention at Canterbury is given to the younger child, older children are not ignored. As many history A-level syllabuses now require students to undertake an individual assignment of their own choice, the cathedral library is proving to be a valuable source of information which might not be found in other centres. One student is currently studying the difference in motive between Marian and Elizabethan persecutions, and the library is able to supply, for example, early illustrated editions of Foxe's Martyrs, as well as contemporary commentaries and copies of some of the forbidden books which led, in some cases, to persecution. Another student undertook an investigation of some of the many Herbals in the library. She even went so far as to recreate a medieval herb garden to try to establish how effective some of the cures might be for ailments of today!

One way in which cathedral libraries might capitalise on this area of study is by providing simple subject bibliographies - perhaps covering such areas as science, medicine, literature, travel, and other topics which might not be expected to be well represented in an ecclesiastical library. As members of other libraries will appreciate, the amount of time available for such non-essential activities is strictly limited, but it is an ambition which will certainly be pursued. Meanwhile, at Canterbury a history student is working on producing a bibliography of local history books, which it is hoped to produce in printed form.

Because of the lack of public awareness of what might be contained in a cathedral library, several exhibitions and talks have been mounted at Canterbury. A popular topic in November was Gunpowder and Fireworks - a surprising amount of material being found - including a 17th-century book written by a member of the Royal Artillery describing in detail how to make set piece displays such as "How to represent a Dragon issuing out of a Castle which shall swimme thorow the water, and be incountred by a horseman from the shoare". All in fireworks! The pictures of rockets and catherine wheels could have been taken from a display today. This sort of approach represents another area which might be expanded - possibly one day with a "roving" exhibition available for schools or public libraries to show what a cathedral library is really like - "Not Just a Load of Old Bibles" perhaps?

As well as group visits, cathedral libraries try to help individual children with their interests - Durham even confessing to giving a helping hand with school essays and other appropriate projects. One boy from a neighbouring school came to the Canterbury library with a particular problem. He had a keen interest in calligraphy and illumination, and had spent two years preparing an illustrated and annotated map of Terry Pratchett's Discworld - in the hope of publication. And someone had just beaten him to it. He was desperate to find something to take the place of this magnum opus, and with a little persuasion was encouraged to undertake a study of different beasts used in medieval manuscripts - he was soon hooked.

EDUCATION: ONE IMPORTANT ROLE FOR CATHEDRAL LIBRARIES TODAY
So, although the circumstances could scarcely be more different, a child of today may still be found poring over an illuminated initial as the novices might have done some 800 years before. Certainly cathedral libraries would like to feel that they have something unique to offer in the area of children's education. As with all aspects of life today, a cathedral library has to prove the value of its existence _ and maybe the education of children is one very important way in which it can be seen as truly valuable. Examples of other cathedral libraries' activities given here are merely indications of the sort of projects undertaken by some, and many more are certainly offered nationwide.

Sarah Gray is Assistant Librarian, Canterbury Cathedral Library