National Chess Library and special collections
The National Chess Library, the third largest public chess library in the world is held within the University of Brighton's Hastings Campus. The English Chess Federation library now has a permanent home in Hastings, a town with a long association with the game of chess and home to the annual Hastings International Chess Congress.
The National Chess Library is a closed access collection. It will not normally be possible to access the collections where they are stored, but visitors may browse the library catalogue and request specific items to be brought into the library for viewing. Library staff will need 24 hours' notice to collect the items, and therefore visitors should contact the Library on 01273 644640 or by email at askhastings@brighton.ac.uk with their item requests and to make an appointment to visit.
The Collections
There are 5 original collections: Clarke, Croker, Diggle, Golombek and Jordan, plus the English Chess Federation collection.
New collections which have been added since then are the Dunleavy, Ravilious, Rumsey, Wade and Whiting collections, also the Tinsley notebooks, and Gillam magazines, plus various small donations from individuals. Not all these collections have yet been catalogued.
There are also Croker box files and scrapbooks, boxes of Golombek papers and memorabilia, and box files of ECF unbound journals.
- List of contents of Croker box files pdf (495 KB)
- Contents of Box of Golombek papers pdf (124 KB)
- Contents of Golombek Memorabilia Box 1 - Scoresheets and Notebooks
- Contents of Golombek Memorabilia Box 2 - Photographs and Passports
- Contents of Golombek Memorabilia Box 3 - Flags, Medals, Coins, etc
- The Memorabilia also includes:
- Travelling chess set "Dopisni Sahovski Album" (Jugoslavije)
- Oakham School Quatercentenary 1584-1984 china plate (Papua New Guinea expedition appeal)
- Contents of Golombek Fragile Items Box 1
- Contents of Golombek Fragile items Box 2
(NB "Description" tags have been included into some of these documents in preparation for the possible creation of a searchable database at some future point.)
Searching for books within the National Chess Library on the Library catalogue
The Library Catalogue is available online at http://capitadiscovery.co.uk/brighton-ac/
Books in these collections have been classified with the start letters of their collection (i.e. CLA for Clarke, CRO for Croker, DIG for Diggle, DUN for Dunleavy, ECF for English Chess Federation collection, GOL for Golombek, JOR for Jordan, RUM for Rumsey, WAD for Wade).
Information about the Classification of the National Chess Library
Before starting to search the library catalogue, it is recommended to select the "More search options" link and change the Location field to Hastings.
- To see a list of all the books within a collection: select the More search options link and enter CLASS:XXX e.g. CLASS:GOL for the Golombek collection.
- To search for books by a specific author and/or on a specific topic: enter Author name and/or Keywords (topics): enter the author name and/or 1, 2 or more keywords - e.g. "Staunton" and "handbook", or "chess" and "openings", or "chess" and "championship" etc.
- To see books on a particular topic within a collection: combine a keyword with a classification search (CLASS: as above).
- To search for a journal/magazine title: in More search options, change the Collection field to Periodicals and enter the journal title name. You may see results for other items as well as the journal (sometimes Yearbooks/annuals/supplements will be listed as well as the actual journal). Click "Check availability" for the record you require, and then click on "Expand all" to see details of issues and volumes held.
- Guidelines on searching the catalogue are available within the Catalogue, by clicking on "Help" in the top menu.
The English Chess Federation http://www.englishchess.org.uk/
President's Award for Services to Chess 2008
The Hastings Campus Library is very proud to have received a President's Award in 2008 for Services to Chess.
