Information Scotland The Journal of the Chartered Institute of Library and Information Professionals in Scotland ISSN 1743-5471 Issue contents | Journal contents | About the online edition of the journal April 2006 Volume 4(2)

Endpiece

Anybody out there?

I know that the idea of us all living in a global village with the internet as the parish magazine is hardly original, but just occasionally something comes across this particular villager’s computer screen which underlines the message.

A number of years ago I was working on a book The Clyde at War (now available in paperback at only £9.99... hurry on down) and I came across a very strange photograph. It was said by its owner to show German prisoners of war at the grave of their comrades in Greenock cemetery in 1940. The dead sailors had been part of the crew of the German submarine U-33 which was sunk in the Clyde in February 1940. For a variety of reasons the photograph seemed strange and after considerable research I discovered that it was actually a photograph from March 1946, and yes indeed it showed German POWs, who were then working on a housing project in Greenock, and who had been given permission to hold a memorial service for the dead of the U-33.

I did quite a lot of work on the U-33 story, far more than was needed for the book, and was able to use much of the research for a magazine article about the U-33’s mission. Among the research was an interview I had with a man who, according to Greenock cemetery records, had been buried in Greenock cemetery, exhumed from there after the war and re-buried in the German Military Cemetery at Cannock Chase, Staffordshire. Despite this rather grisly official history he was alive and well and living in Annan – but that’s another story.

Another part of my research was to put a request for information on a U-boat website – this produced absolutely no information and I thought no more about it until out of the blue in February came an email from a woman in Poland whose great-grandfather, Paul Anders, had died on the U-33. She had found my information request on the website and wrote to ask if I had any information about the fate of the submarine and her great-grandfather.

It was the work of moments to dig out the files and send off a copy of the article, photocopies of Greenock cemetery records, a crew list I had assembled from various official documents in the Public Record Office and a copy of the photograph showing Paul Anders’ grave marker. A training in librarianship and information management has occasionally got its advantages!

I have since had an exchange of emails with my Polish correspondent and it is extremely touching to read that her grandfather; who must have been a very young child when his father, the coxswain on the U-33, sailed on his final mission; was in tears reading this bit of his re-discovered family history.

Most of my email is spam, offering me instant wealth or various forms of dubious gratification, so it makes a pleasant change to know that what I have written had actually touched someone or even been useful.

Which made me think about how rarely anyone seems to respond to things I write and how welcome such a response is. Of course, when I thought about it a little more and considered how seldom I have written to another author thanking them or expressing enthusiasm, I realised that this passivity is pretty widespread. Seldom in the previous sentence is, I have to admit, a euphemism for never.

Which ties in neatly with Ivor Lloyd’s plea in his first Presidential Column for more letters to Information Scotland. I am sure that the contributors to the magazine and the editor would welcome some reaction to the contents, even if it is only a demand to get rid of Osborne’s column! Although I must preen myself on the fact that my last column produced a letter to the editor.

I have had a private letter about one of my columns – the one in which I suggested, light-heartedly, that my diminutive stature had prevented me gaining employment with Glasgow Libraries. My correspondent claimed to be no taller than I was and to have been employed by Glasgow. This was very unsettling news as I naturally prefer the idea that my lack of inches had counted against me rather than my other shortcomings. However as my correspondent was female I cling, tenuously, to the thought that perhaps the then City Librarian had different height standards for males and females.

So, gentle reader, if you want to write to authors, do remember that we are tender plants who respond best to praise. Benjamin Disraeli said “Everyone likes flattery: and when you come to Royalty you should lay it on with a trowel.” I have to tell you that authors are like Royalty, only worse, so if you wish to write to me or to the editor about this column, please use a very large sized trowel to apply the flattery.

Brian D Osborne

Information Scotland Vol. 4(2) April 2006

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