Middle Temple Law Library is located within the City of London. Its primary purpose is to provide reference for all four Inns of Courts, and next year they will provide for students as well. They have over 250,000 items in their collection all of which are accessible through their online databases and catalogs. The library at Middle Temple was founded in 1641 when Robert Ashely donated 3,700 books. This founding collection now makes up the core collection of rare books in the library.
Our visit to the library began in one of their meeting rooms, where the librarian gave us some background history on the library and its services. One interesting thing I learned about was Barristers, something I was not really familiar with previously. They are similar to lawyers except they are considered specialist within a certain area of their field. Barristers can become judges but first they must pass 12 qualifying sessions to do so. Another thing I learned that was interesting is that the library keeps all old editions of law books, just in case they need to reference back to them if for instance an outdated law is still active.
After the initial introduction of the law library, we were given a tour. The tour consisted of the main library, the bench apartments and the formal dining hall. The library was two stories tall, with shelves lined up on each side. The library also had on display a pair of 17th century celestial globes which I though were really fascinating. I guess they are one of the oldest of their kind. Next we walked through the bench apartments. The one we went to was called the Queens Room, where barristers of court meet. We learned there that Prince William became an Honorary Barrister in 2010, and the apartment we were in was one he would most likely use.
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| Middle Temple Law Library |
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| Book Shelf in the library. |
Lastly, we toured the Royal Hall. The hall was originally used as a lecture hall, and for theatre performances. Nowadays, it is still used for meetings, and it is also used as a dining hall.
An interesting fact, is that the halls roof is the larges double hammer roof in the U.K. Overall, I really enjoyed my visit to the Middle Temple Law Library.
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| The Royal Hall |
Source:
https://www.middletemple.org.uk/library-and-archive
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