Oliver J Merrington, MSc
Museum Curator and information scientist - former webmaster and biologist
Biography
Oliver Merrington graduated in Botany from King's College London in 1977, and then studied for two Masters degrees, first at Wye College, University of London, and then at the City University, London.
His research in agricultural biology was on mycoplasma diseases of fruit trees. After joining the University of Cambridge in 1995 he carried out some research on people's sense of place. Since retiring he has researched lidos and outdoor swimming pools in the UK, and the history of RAF Waterbeach.
Since the mid-1980s Oliver was an unpaid archivist for the Hall-Carpenter Archives, the national lesbian and gay archives for the United Kingdom. These collections are now based in the London School of Economics Library, the National Sound Archive of the British Library, and at Bishopsgate Institute (the Lesbian and Gay Newsmedia Archive).
Oliver set up the Scott Polar Research Institute's website in 1995, and the Polar Ocean Physics Group's website when it moved from SPRI in 2000. He also set up a number of other websites, mostly in his spare time. In 2002 The Guardian newspaper (London) awarded his website www.lidos.org.uk Best of the Net.
Since 2006 Oliver has been Hon. Curator of the RAF Museum in Waterbeach Barracks.
Career:
- 2006 to date: Hon. Curator, Waterbeach Station Museum, Waterbeach Barracks, Cambridge
- 2000-2008: Webmaster, DAMTP Polar Ocean Physics Group, Centre for Mathematical Sciences, University of Cambridge
- 2002-2007: Senior Research Associate, Scott Polar Research Institute, University of Cambridge
- 1997-2003: Honorary Research Archivist, Middlesex University, Cat Hill campus.
- 1995-2004: a Librarian at the Scott Polar Research Institute, University of Cambridge, specifically:
- 1999-2004: Web Editor, World Data Centre for Glaciology
- 1995-2002: SPRI Website Manager
- 1997-1999: Manager, NERC Arctic Environmental Metadata Centre
- 1995-1998: Manager, ICSU World Data Centre "C" for Glaciology
- 1977-1994: Head of Library Services, Schering Agrochemicals Ltd, Chesterford Park, Saffron Walden, Essex
- 1975-1976: Assistant Librarian, Royal Society of Medicine, London
Qualifications:
B.Sc. Botany, King's College, University of London
M.Sc. Applied Plant Science, Wye College, University of London
M.Sc. Information Science, City University, London (course studied)
Chartered biologist (CBiol, MIBiol) 1973-2008
Chartered librarian (MIInfSc -> MCILIP) 1974-2007
Research
- The history of RAF Waterbeach, 1939-1963, and Waterbeach Barracks, 1966-date
- Lidos and outdoor swimming pools in the United Kingdom
- Radial routes from London, and the architecture of the buildings alongside them, e.g. the A.1 or Great North Road
Publications
Book
Hamlin, John F., with Oliver J. Merrington
At the 'Beach: the story of Royal Air Force Waterbeach and Waterbeach Barracks
Peterborough: GMS Enterprises, 2011
ISBN 1904514634
£9.95 + postage
Websites
www.lidos.org.uk
Award-winning directory website on
the history of every lido and open air swimming pool (still open) in the United
Kingdom.
hallcarpenter.tripod.com
Hall-Carpenter Archives,
London.
Previously Webmaster for the Sea Ice and Polar Oceanography Group, Department of Applied Mathematics and Theoretical Physics (University of Cambridge); Scott Polar Research Institute (University of Cambridge); the International Glaciological Society; and for the World Data Centre for Glaciology, Cambridge.
Bibliographies
(Author is in all cases .Merrington, Oliver J..)
Glaciology periodicals in the Library of the Scott Polar Research
Institute
Scott Polar Research Institute. WDC-Bibliography. Series A, 1997,
No. 24, 1-6.
Radio-echo sounding of ice and snow, and related papers: 1973-1996
Scott
Polar Research Institute. WDC-Bibliography. Series A, 1997, No. 23, 1-148.
Glaciology - monographs in the library of the Scott Polar Research
Institute
Scott Polar Research Institute. WDC-Bibliography. Series A, 1997,
No. 22, 1-22.
Glacial geology - monographs in the Library of the Scott Polar Research
Institute
Scott Polar Research Institute. WDC-Bibliography. Series A, 1997,
No. 21, 1-13.
Ice and engineering - monographs in the Library of the Scott Polar Research
Institute
Scott Polar Research Institute. WDC-Bibliography. Series A, 1997,
No. 20, 1-11.
Snow and hail - monographs in the Library of the Scott Polar Research
Institute
Scott Polar Research Institute. WDC-Bibliography. Series A, 1997,
No. 19, 1-17.
Geocryology - monographs in the Library of the Scott Polar Research
Institute
Scott Polar Research Institute. WDC-Bibliography. Series A, 1997,
No.18, 1-24.
Bibliography on the use of amitraz for the control of Varroa in bees
(Aphis spp.): 1979-1989
CAMCO, Hauxton, Cambridge, 1990, 1-36. (out of
print)
Selected references on TakticTM : 1972-1982
FBC Limited,
Chesterford Park Research Station, Saffron Walden, 1982, 1-20. (out of
print)
Bibliography: prochloraz, 1977-1980
FBC Limited, Chesterford Park Research
Station, Saffron Walden, 1981, 1-29. (out of print)
Published papers
William Harold Leigh-Sharpe (1881-1950), Teacher and Copepodologist
[with David M. Damkaer]
Journal of Crustacean Biology,, 2005, Vol. 25, No. 3, pp. 521–528.
Pioneer stage soil development on deglaciated terrain in front of
Storbreen.
Horizon, 1972, Vol.21, pp. 78-79 (undergraduate project in
Norway)
Member of:
- Sustrans
- Cambridge Cycling Campaign
- Cambridgeshire Wildlife Trust
- RSPB
- Former chair (and founding member), Hall-Carpenter Archives, London
- Helped set up the Cambridge AIDS Helpline, now called Cambridge DHIVerse