During the Library’s closure, our usual work and operations are inevitably curtailed to a degree. However, our staff are working hard to try to provide as normal a service as possible, wherever that can be done.
Our Senior ITS Researcher Elise Bath, for example, works on the International Tracing Service archive, which is a digital archive that she is still able to access from home. Elise is still working through requests for research, although her office space has changed significantly!
Of course, working from home has its challenges and Elise particularly misses being able to consult the Library’s vast collection of reference books to contextualise her research. Her most missed collections include:
- The encyclopedia of Jewish life: before and during the Holocaust [1-3]
- The Encyclopedia of Camps and Ghettos 1933-1945
- The Auschwitz Chronicle
- The whole range of various Gedenkbucher the Library holds.
For more information about ITS, why not look at this video explaining what the ITS archive holds and how the Library uses it. It also explains how to submit a research enquiry to ITS. View the full video below.
The Library is also very concerned that our staff are staying as safe and healthy as they can during this difficult time. Elise is lucky enough to be in an area where she has lots of access to outdoor space for running and exercising, which is she is making the most of. She is currently reading Buchenwald concentration camp 1937 – 1945: a guide to the permanent historical exhibition and The Secret Commonwealth, the latest in Philip Pullman’s series The Book of Dust.
