Libraries and Class Identity in Scotland, 1800-1842: The Significance of Libraries in an Industrialising Society

该研究项目将揭示图书馆在日益工业化的社会中建立和/或破坏阶级认同感的重要性。它分析了1800年至1842年间苏格兰图书馆管理和使用的社会经济条件。我是一个现有的研究团队的一部分，AHRC资助的“图书和借阅1750-1830”（图书和借阅，没有日期，borrowing.stir.ac.uk），这是从18个苏格兰图书馆转录借阅记录到内容管理系统，将于2023年4月作为开放访问数据库公开发布。通过探索图书馆档案材料和跟踪个人代表的借阅记录从苏格兰各地的八个图书馆，我将创建一个实质性的数据集，我将进行分析的图书馆和阶级身份之间的相互关系在19世纪初的苏格兰。我的研究将在以下八个图书馆进行：钱伯斯循环图书馆，爱丁堡约翰格雷图书馆，哈丁顿，东洛锡安莱顿图书馆，邓布兰内纳佩弗雷图书馆，珀斯郡奥克尼图书馆，奥克尼塞尔柯克订阅图书馆，塞尔柯克韦斯特柯克教区图书馆，邓弗里斯和加洛韦威格敦订阅图书馆，威格敦这些图书馆被选择来代表，首先，广泛的地理范围，便于比较图书馆使用之间的远北和远南苏格兰，以及城市和农村地区，其次，代表广泛的人口范围，劳动阶级、士绅和职业阶层的成员都在他们的借款记录中有代表。

This research project will uncover the significance of libraries in establishing and/or disrupting senses of class identity in an increasingly industrialised society. It analyses the socio-economic conditions that determined how libraries were managed and accessed in Scotland between 1800 and 1842. I am part of an existing research team, AHRC-funded 'Books and Borrowing 1750-1830' (Books and Borrowing, no date, borrowing.stir.ac.uk), which is transcribing borrowing records from eighteen Scottish libraries into a Content Management System, to be launched publicly as an open access database in April 2023. By exploring library archive materials and tracing the individuals represented in the borrowing records from eight libraries around Scotland, I will create a substantial dataset from which I will conduct an analysis of the interrelationship between libraries and class identity in early nineteenth-century Scotland. My research will be conducted on the following eight libraries:Chambers Circulating Library, EdinburghJohn Gray Library, Haddington, East LothianThe Leighton Library, DunblaneThe Library of Innerpeffray, PerthshireOrkney Library, OrkneySelkirk Subscription Library, SelkirkWesterkirk Parish Library, Dumfries and GallowayWigtown Subscription Library, WigtownThese libraries have been chosen to represent, firstly, a wide geographic range, facilitating a comparison of library use between the far North and far South of Scotland, as well as between urban and rural areas, and, secondly, to represent a wide demographic range, with members of the labouring classes as well as the gentry and professional classes represented in their borrowing records.