The Local Studies Librarian is the person who collects, arranges and makes available resources about the local area. In essence, they curate the ‘National Collection’ for their section of the country.
Those with responsibility for a local studies collection should hold an accredited postgraduate qualification in library and information science. Many employers also look for CILIP Chartership or a willingness to work towards Chartership of CILIP.
As can be seen by the structure of this toolkit, Local Studies Librarians are all-rounders. An experienced local studies librarian will have the vast majority of the skills required by librarians across the sector, including cataloguing, classification and indexing skills, customer care skills, creating and maintaining relationships with stakeholders, managing staff and volunteers, service planning, website design, teaching and presentation skills, project design, digitisation, conservation, marketing and, after a long day, the willingness to shelve heavy bound newspapers. Most will quickly fall in love with the history of the area they care for and it will become a life-long affair.
Local Studies Librarians used to feature in every major library. In some places this responsibility is no longer a separate specialism, but one shared by several staff. But the essence of the role is the same and its importance must be upheld.
The big three
Collecting
The Local Studies Librarian has the responsibility to monitor and collect information output about their collection area
Typical library resources are collected:
- Books, journals, newspapers, maps and these resources can be catalogued in the normal way
- But information comes in many other formats, all of which should be collected if possible:
- Pamphlets, leaflets, ephemera: tickets, notices, posters, notes, cuttings, reports, directories
- Community produced materials
- Visual documentation:
- Photographs, Postcards, Prints,
- Digital data sources; Born digital files; film clips, audio recordings
Once they have been collected they then need to be catalogued, with different resources being described in different ways.
Sorting and storage
Unlike most lending stock in the library, local studies materials tend to be kept even when they are not being borrowed and their content is deemed outmoded or even inaccurate; as with clothes, fashions will change. The remit is to build up a comprehensive collection of materials from all ages and standpoints. We are not particularly swayed by the literary merit of works; we are interested in capturing resources from all decades and keeping them for their interest to future generations.
So storage is a potential problem; our collections increase with the years. This is often difficult to convey to colleagues, both within the library service and elsewhere in our parent organisations.
Sorting the material we collect is also problematic. In the past many Local Studies Librarians devised their own classification schemes to try to circumvent the fact that much of the material is likely to end up with the same class number or code when a standard classification scheme is used. But using such in-house schemes is no longer so common. They cause problems for succeeding staff, and do not sit comfortably with networked library catalogues, especially when many library services are now part of consortia with joint catalogues.
Promotion and sharing of resources
Local Studies Collections at their best are important heritage and cultural resources for the local community and for those interested in the catchment area. They can help people of all ages to find out more about and to appreciate their surroundings. They are useful for creative people, learners and educators. The Local Studies Librarian has a responsibility to share the resources held; to educate, inform, entertain, enrich and add value to the life of the local community.
Methods of promotion/ community engagement include:
- Answering enquiries and helping people use the collection.
- Exhibitions
- Publications and articles
- Special events
- Training courses
- School and learning resources
- Partnership working
- Forging relationships with local organisations and community groups
- Reminiscence and oral history
- Group visits
- Indexes
- Social media
- Media interviews
Our collections reflect the lives of the ordinary people who make up an important aspect of our nation’s history, one which has not always been recognised. But Local Studies Librarians know the value of local history and it is our job to share that knowledge with others.
The Local Studies Librarian has an endlessly interesting role, enthusing others about our collections, preserving old publications, engaging with collections about the past, collecting information as it is produced and saving it for the benefit of the current and future generations.
Typical local studies roles:
Local studies paraprofessionals
Additional local studies staff should be provided in sufficient numbers to oversee public access to the collection effectively, to answer routine enquiries and to assist local studies librarians with their other duties.
All members of the local studies team should possess a reasonable proportion of the attributes expected of a local studies librarian, with customer care skills and a willingness to develop personal knowledge of local studies of prime importance.
As with everyone who walks into a local studies library, supporting staff will bring with them their own strengths, weaknesses and experiences and these should be harnessed in order to build an effective local studies service. After all, if a Local Studies Assistant had a background in family history, the use of social media, teaching or IT, local studies units would be unwise not to make the most of their skills.
If the collection is housed within a joint local studies & archives unit, assistants may take on both local studies and archive duties.
Volunteers
Volunteers are increasingly becoming important members of the local studies team, providing help and support by performing talks that staff would never have time to do. More information on the role of volunteers will be found in the volunteers section of the toolkit.
Head of Heritage
A heritage professional normally responsible for the management of services such as the County Archive, Local Studies Services, Museums and Archaeological Services. Can be part of the Senior Leadership Team of a wider Library or cultural service. Some post holders will also be the “County Archivist”, which is a role reserved for a qualified archivist.
County Local Studies Librarian/Senior Librarian, Local Studies
The co-ordinator of local studies work across a county. Increasingly they sit within a County Record Office structure and are a member of the service management team, reporting to an officer with responsibility for archives and other heritage services.
Local Studies Librarian in a county record office
Assist the County Local Studies Librarians with their duties.
Local Studies Librarian within a unitary authority
As County Local studies Librarian, though on smaller scale. The post could be a within a small Borough archive service or within the library service.
Librarian with Local Studies as part of their role
In a county tends to be the librarian with responsibility for collections and initiatives within part of a county. In a smaller service local studies this can be one aspect of a larger role. Line management of this role tends to be within the library service structure.
Sample Job Descriptions and Person Specifications
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CILIP Local Studies Group 