National Maritime Museum Caird Library
http://www.rmg.co.uk/researchers/library

Date of trip: October 2013

Source: Takahiro Yamamoto (t.yamamoto1@lse.ac.uk) 

Location

Romney Rd, Greenwich SE10 9NF UK

Getting started

The library is located within the National Maritime Museum. Entrance is free. The first thing you do is to create an account at www.rmg.co.uk/aeon. The rest of the steps are explained in http://www.rmg.co.uk/sites/default/files/media/pdf//First_visit_to_Library_Jan2012.pdf. The bottom line is, pre-register online and bring two forms of ID. No letter of introduction needed for students.

Getting there

Take a DLR from central London to Cutty Sark station. Follow the signs on the street to the museum, which is about five-minute walk and is hard to miss. The library is on the first floor.

Opening hours

Monday–Wednesday, Friday 10.00–16.45

Thursday 10.00–19.45

Saturday 10.00–13.00; 14.00–16.45

Consultation

You can pre-order up to six items online, but you can consult only one item at a time. For the orders made on that day, they go and fetch the documents every hour.

The archivists are very helpful and knowledgeable. Do ask what sources might be useful for your topic other than you have identified on the catalogue.

Also in the quiet study zone they have Lloyd's Shipping Lists from the late 19th century onwards. I found them useful in identifying the ships with names, location, and the captain's names and so on.

General working conditions

They have three PC-based microfilm readers from which you can save images to a thumb drive as PDF files.

You are also allowed to take photos. Individual desks in the quiet study zone are provided with desk lamps, though the general reading area is well lit enough.

Wifi is available for guests. No log-in was required if I remember correctly.

Etc

The Greenwich market, a few minutes' walk away, offers a variety of quick lunch takeaway. The cafeteria inside the library looked slightly overpriced. There is a cafe (Paul) on the first floor if you prefer staying in the building.