Many local communities and voluntary organisations look to run their own heritage projects. Often these are in response to national or local anniversaries and celebrations; targeted to a specific need such as restoration, conservation and promotion of a local heritage asset; uncovering hidden histories or communities that have been marginalised or forgotten; or activities for well-being such as reminiscence. In many cases grant funding is available and can be the stimulus, as was the case with the National Lottery Heritage Fund’s schemes for funding World War I commemoration activities.
As well as giving such groups access to their collection, there are many other ways that a Local Studies Library can help. Giving such assistance will often dovetail with your organisation’s business plans, especially providing examples of how the service is helping to enhance community identity. These might include:
- Providing a venue for meetings and exhibitions
- Providing in-kind contributions such as discounting fees for reproduction, room hire, staff time etc.
- Marketing – using your networks, social media and website
- Delivering project activities – it might be possible to ask for costs to be included within a grant bid
- Providing grant writing advice and expertise – even though local communities include many people with lots of skills, applying for heritage grants can be daunting and sometimes prevents groups from applying. If you have experience of drafting bids you can help organisations in writing activity plans, setting a budget, thinking about a range of activities etc. You can also ensure that they use the correct language.
- Project development – with the aim of helping communities develop skills to manage their own projects
- Evaluation – providing expert evaluation of a project.
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CILIP Local Studies Group 