I was recently contacted by the daughter of Renate Simpson, the author of several books in our collection. Her mother has had to move from her London flat, and her family are sorting out good homes for her extensive and very interesting book collection. I was really pleased to accept about 20 books to add to our collection and also glad to hear that the Society for Research into Higher Education (SRHE) library had also taken some, especially as Renate has been an active SRHE member for many years. I suspected that Renate would have many links with the IOE and indeed just glancing at a copy of her most recently published book from 2009 I saw that the foreword was written by Professor Harold Silver (whose archives are held here at the IOE), and that Renate mentions both <a Professor Richard Aldrich and our archivist Sarah Aitchison in her acknowledgements. I also discovered in conversation with her daughter that Renate’s son, Ludi Simpson did his doctorate here at the IOE. As always, it seems to me that the academic education world is a small one, albeit one with an almost immeasurable impact on society. It also reminds me of what an ever evolving beast the research library is – it isn’t all new developments and digital improvements – equally important are filling those gaps, and in the process building up links with a fantastic array of important and distinguished academics and practitioners in education, past, present and future.