Page 70 - The Wish Stream Year of 2020 Crest

Royal Military Academy Sandhurst has worked not only to provide electronic access to its resources, but also controlled physical access to the print collection within the guidelines of COVID 19 operational compliance.
With hand sanitiser at the entrance, the require- ment has been to wear facemasks, there were COVID 19 screens at the Issue Desk and the quarantining of books as a precautionary meas- ure to stop the spread of the virus; the library has stopped external access and instituted an appointment only policy for OCdts, Sandhurst academics and permanent staff for training pur- poses. This is to comply with the requirements of social distancing and the need to maintain the integrity of platoon household bubbles to facili- tate training.
As we move into 2021, I look forward to the eventual prospect of normality. While the library has provided the means and platforms to sup- port higher and post-graduate education at Sandhurst throughout the pandemic, not every- thing is available electronically, and officer cadets still want and need access to the printed book to support their studies.
The Central Library of The Royal Military Acad- emy Sandhurst is one of the great military col- lections within Defence. It is a visual metaphor of the intellectual heart of the Academy and the continuing drive for military professionalism and excellence that is the legacy of Major General John Gaspard Le Marchant. In a spirit of post pandemic optimism, the library looks forward to welcoming back noisy OCdts and seeing them
once more use the library for private research and group study periods with their academic tutors. We look forward to once more supporting the WARDIGS and CABSDIGS in the library and playing a full part in the intellectual and training life of the Academy.
i. Letter from Winston S. Churchill to Lord Randolph Churchill, September 3rd 1893. The original letter is held in the Blenheim Palace archives and a facsimile copy is the held in The Central Library by kind permission of His Grace the Duke Marlborough and the Blenheim Palace Archives.
ii. Pearce, John “Hidden but not always intentionally secret; treasures with defence libraries and archives” Paper
to CILIP Rare Books and Special Collections Group Conference 3rd September 2015
iii. The Wish Stream: Journal of the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst. Vol.1 no. 1, July 1947, p. 5
iv. ibid
v. The Wish Stream: Journal of the Royal Military Academy
Sandhurst. Vol. XXXIII, no. 1, Spring 1979, p. 30
John Pearce
68 SANDHURST