Cleaning the Mill Lane Library
We have been delving into the old Library filing cabinet in order to summon up the spirit of the ‘Mill Lane Days’, the period from 1933 to 1982 when the Classics Library was located on the top floor of the Mill Lane Lecture Block.
We now go back to 30th October 1952, when the Library Annual Report (beautifully written with a fountain pen by the Library Clerk Mr C.W. Jackson) vividly portrays Classics as the Cinderella of Cambridge libraries:
The cleaning of the Library has for some years been a source of considerable worry to me. Enquiries at the other Departmental Libraries show that the Classical Faculty Library is the only library where there is no provision made for regular and adequate cleaning. At present, the Library is scrubbed and polished once a year by the Lecture Rooms’ Staff, but very little further attention is given it. During Full Term only, a woman comes in three times a week and spends about 5 minutes emptying the ashtrays. On Thursdays the main Library, but not the Palaeographic room or lavatory, is hurriedly and indifferently swept and the tables dusted. Apart from this small concession the Library is neglected, and dust and dirt is allowed to accumulate. In my opinion, considering the great number of students using the Library and the great call on the resources of the Library, this is most unsatisfactory and humiliating. I therefore ask that the question of cleaning may not fall below the standard of cleanliness and neatness of the other Faculty libraries.
Extract from the 1952 Classics Library Report.
There is a further visit to the Augean stables, contained in the Library Annual Report, 1952-53:
During the Lent Term, all books and shelves in the Library were dusted and cleaned by two members from the Maintenance Staff of the University Library. The two men completed the work in 106 hours after the Library closed for the night. Owing to its position, surrounded by numerous smoking chimneys, the library and books unavoidably become very dusty and dirty in a very short time.
But there is a more hopeful sequel…
Memorandum dated 12.10.55 [J.S. Morrison, Tutor, Trinity College Cambridge]:
…Cleaning: a new arrangement has now been made which should ensure that the library is much cleaner than it has been in past years. A woman will spend an hour each lunch-time (12.15-1.15) in dusting and cleaning. In this connexion the Board might consider whether it wishes to continue to allow smoking in the Library.
Advanced views indeed, in 1955! In fact, smoking would remain a fact of life in the Classics Library for another 27 years, until it was extinguished by order of the Library Committee on the occasion of the move to new premises in Sidgwick Avenue, in 1982.
But the goddess Nicotina was not, alas, the only Health and Safety ‘issue’ at this period…
Annual Library Report 1954-55:
Owing to a considerable amount of rubble falling into the Library while workmen were repairing the roof, it was necessary to have all the books dusted and the shelves washed again within six months of their being done.
And J.S. Morrison commented:
The repairs to the roof of the library carried out by the Estate Management Department at the end of November last year were put in hand without any warning, and owing to insufficient precautions and general carelessness, resulted in a great deal of inconvenience to library users, as well as dust and dirt on the books and damage to the furniture and floor.
One might have assumed that Bernard Cribbins’s 1962 novelty song Right Said Fred was a piece of musical whimsy. This document suggests that it could be dramatized social history instead!
From the Report of the Faculty Librarian 30/10/59:
I am not happy about the normal cleaning equipment however. There appears to be an almost total lack of modern equipment (scrubbers, polishers, etc.), the only piece being one Hoover “dustette”; surely in 1959 one woman scrubbing is not the best way?
From the Report of the Faculty Librarian [W.K. Lacey], 1960:
Cleaning. The situation about this continues to be extremely unsatisfactory…there are no modern cleaning implements such as are standard equipment in the laboratories and in the University Library. All dusting has to be done manually, and the scrubbing has to be done by two women. Mr Sartain [the Secretary-General of the Faculties] gave permission for us to spend up to £15 from our imprest account on a team of private enterprise cleaners to clean up after the decorators. I ask the Board to reason with the Financial Board about this matter of cleaning, and to include in the Estimates the sum of £15 for spring-cleaning during the next Long Vacation.
And the sequel…
From a letter dated 28-9-60, headed St. Catharine’s College, addressed to ‘John’ from ‘Pat’ [i.e. W.K. Lacey]:
About the cleaning – our démarche in getting in some outside help has improved the attitude of the staff of the Lecture Rooms – it has also given grave offence to the old woman who scrubs!
But, all’s well that ends well…from the Report of the Faculty Librarian, 1961:
The cleaning this year went very well. It was done during Jackson’s holidayat the end of June and early July. The Mill Lane staff did it; enquiries reveal that it is they who won’t be modernized, not the Financial Board who will not modernize them. So we continue with scrubbing-brushes and mops, which take a fortnight to complete the task annually.
Part of the Mill Lane Classics Library Card Catalogue