Trinity House       London           13 May 2004

This year's Dawson Day, held on a beautifully sunny Thursday in May, continued our tradition of hosting the London Dawson Day in a novel and unusual location. Trinity House – the home of the Corporation of Trinity House which maintains the lighthouses and light ships of the British Isles - is located in the heart of the City, opposite the regal splendour of the Tower of London . This year it excelled as the location for one of the most successful and enjoyable Dawson Days ever.

With the famous hospitality of the Dawson Day, the 200 guests who travelled from as far as Scotland and Eire enjoyed morning coffee in the sumptuous setting of the Court Room. Surrounded by images of places and people from Henry VIII to Winston Churchill who are connected with Trinity House, guests were able to view fine models of light houses and ships, famous maritime historical artefacts that included the ship's bell from the Royal Yacht Britannia, paintings of Kings and Queens, statesmen and presidents, consorts and past honoured members of the Corporation.

One of the great attractions of the Dawson Day is the abundance of Exhibitors that attend. This year 17 exhibitors from many parts of the library world attended– all with something new and interesting to show, to demonstrate and talk about:

Cambridge University Press               Elsevier Science & Technology

Jane's Information Group                   John Wiley & Sons Ltd

Kluwer Academic Publishers               Lippincott Williams & Wilkins

McGraw-Hill Higher Education             Motilal ( UK ) - Books of India

Oxford University Press                     Palgrave Macmillan /

                                                       Nature Publishing Group

Pearson Education                            Sage Publications

Springer Verlag                                Sue Hill Recruitment

Taylor & Francis/Routledge/Europa     Troika   

Thomson Gale/Thomson Learning.

For many, the quality and variety of the exhibitors is essential to their Dawson Day and this year guests were not disappointed. Moreover, the Dawson Day would not be possible without the generous support of the Exhibitors.

After morning coffee George Hammond and Mark Howard – Sales and Content Managers of Dawson Books - took guests through the finer points of the Dawson Total Book Management system, how this can and does benefit libraries that are in partnership with Dawson . Mark then went onto outline the immediate future of eBooks at Dawson and how this exciting service is shortly to be developed at Dawson .

In a new departure for the Dawson Days, several of the exhibitors gave special presentations in our new Exhibitor Forum. Outlining new developments and service enhancements, Gale, Sue Hill Recruitment and Troika gave different yet stylish introductions into their services. Meanwhile throughout the day, Oxford University Press gave demonstrations in the Reading Room of the fantastic Oxford Dictionary of National Biography – their literary triumph, 15 years in the making and shortly available in a 60 volume set or as an online publication. By coincidence Trinity House has the original edition of the ODNB from 1901 on the shelves of the Reading Room.

One of the fascinating and absorbing attractions at the Dawson Day is the Servicing Demonstration. The team at Dawson take great pride in the quality of work and the expertise shown by those who service books to the standards set by our customers. The demonstrations are always fascinating to watch and our guests were shown how covering, labelling and stamping skills are deployed by the team to produce a first class, finished shelf ready book.

The four photographs above were taken by Tony Wills of the Dawson Standing Orders department.

Lunch gave guests the time to visit the exhibitors and catch up with old friends and acquaintances. Canapés and sweets served continued the fine food tradition of the Dawson Day and were much appreciated by everyone.

Always popular at the Dawson Day is the Prize Draw which this year had a wide variety of exhibitor donated prizes included books, dictionaries, wine, incense and digital cameras. Upon arrival at Trinity House, each guest was presented with a prize draw ticket and at 2pm the Dawson Prize Draw took place. Everyone waited to see if Mark drew their number and, whilst there can only be as many winners as prizes, everyone enjoyed the “lottery” like tension!

The highlight of the day was our invited Guest Speaker. Mrs Liz Chapman of University College gave an amusing and knowledgeable insight into both the luminaries featured in the paintings that adorn the walls of Trinity House and librarians who can all be found in the pages of the ODNB. Our guest speaker is always well received and this year Liz was no exception. The Dawson Team presented her with flowers on behalf of all our guests to thank her for such an enthralling talk, at the end of a wonderful day that concluded with afternoon tea and farewell.

It is always a pleasure to see so many of our colleagues and partners enjoying the Dawson Day and we look forward to 2005.

Institut du Monde Arabe   Paris     6 May 2004

This year's Dawson Day took place in the beautiful surroundings of the Institut du Monde Arabe, located within the shade of the glorious Notre Dame cathedral in the heart of Paris.

Exhibitors presented their latest collections whilst the Dawson France team was on hand to discuss the Dawson service.

The subject of eBooks dominated the day with Dawson France manager Josée Willoquet announcing the strategic partnership between Dawson Books and eBooks Corporation to distribute a new eBook service. Publishers Wiley and Springer also contributed to the discussion with presentations on their eBook services and their plans for this exciting area of development in the library world. Josée also spoke about the latest developments in lending law in France.

Everyone enjoyed a lunch with a distinctly Arabic flavour and Ghani Alani, master in calligraphy, gave an introduction into the art of calligraphy with several personally drawn calligraphies for some of our customers.

The famous Dawson France prize draw took place with a member of the Orsay University winning a beautiful art book about calligraphy, “Les ouvriers du signe”.

The day was a great success and Dawson France look forward to hosting the 2005 Dawson Day and welcoming all our friends and customers.

Please use this form to register your interest in attending a Dawson Day in 2005.