Dear all Harrington Gardens had so many magical nooks and corners , one could never be sure that you had explored the full extent of the library. I thought it a nice touch to have various rooms named after the founding members of the society. The furniture was very comfortable, if a little shabby in presentation. The only bit of high tec on site was the microfitch readers for the 1978 issue of the IGI I can still recall how frustrating it was if a fitch was misfiled More use was made of the special collections each seemed to be contained in its own lovely wooden set of drawers. The MSS collection was on open access and what an amazing lucky dip it was. When I first joined there was an attic flat that was occupied, but soon the rental income was dispensed with the make room for ever expanding Library. Mr Lawson Edwards often used to be seen at the front counter which was at the foot of the rather grand staircases. He used to popout from his little cubby hole if he heard anything of interest going on. In the common room there was a 4pm tea ceremony heralded by a hand bell being rung. I think the bell was rung at closing time too to wake the readers up!! The great sales point of the society in those days was cross county research being done under the same roof rather than having to buzz of to different county record offices. The jewel in the crown of the library was the parish registers so laboriously transcribed by our members long past. Sections of the Great Card Index was housed in an old kitchen range and to make the best use of the space the shelves where rather on the high side with wonky step ladders all around to help you rise and retreave your book. On the whole Charterhouse Buildings are far better suited to the needs of an important collection like our I guess I'll have to start regarding our library not as the New one anymore but the settled home. Julian Duffus Sog member 1978 to present Sent from my BlackBerry 10 smartphone.