Author: william

Nominations open for Alan Ball Awards

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We are pleased to announce that nominations are now open for the Alan Ball Awards for local history publication of the year. The criteria and categories have slightly changed this year in order to be as inclusive as possible. We have also increased the date range under consideration due to the impact of lockdown.

The award, which is organised by the Local Studies Group of CILIP on behalf of the Library Services Trust, is open to all heritage and community organisations, and individuals that have self-published. Our criteria for assessing the award is not just about the quality and content of a publication, but its whole journey i.e. how it was conceived, who is involved and how it was funded. Therefore we especially welcome submissions from: libraries, archives, museum and archaeology services; small local museums and heritage centres; Local History societies; community history projects; local authors. 

We have three categories:

  • Print publication – for best hardcopy publication 
  • E-publication – for best digital publication (e-books, journals, websites or virtual exhibitions, blogs and apps. Please note: we are unable to include digital installations within heritage or museum sites)
  • Community Award – for best community publication in either category.

The publication needs to have appeared between July 2019 and December 2021.

Nominations, including a copy of the publication or link to e-content, should be submitted by January 2022. 

Further details and application forms are at the bottom of this page.

Last year’s winners were:

Best print publication

The National Stone Centre for Delving along the Derwent. Press coverage can be found here.

Best e-publication

East Midlands Oral History Archive for THE POST WAR HISTORY OF LEICESTER 1945-1962. Press release here.

Morris Garratt

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Many older members of the Local Studies Group will be sad to hear that Morris Garratt died on 5th September at the age of 84. He was a founder member of the North West Branch of LSG and served on the committee until it was wound up a few years ago. His unfailing good nature and extensive knowledge of the history of the area was a great support to the group. He was Local Studies Librarian in Middleton, a district of Rochdale MBC, until retirement.

He was born in Warrington and arrived in Middleton with limited knowledge of its history – so every weekend he took home a bound volume of the local newspaper to read through and get a sense of the area. A sign of his conscientiousness and commitment – and of the more relaxed attitudes of a previous era! After retirement he was active in many local history societies in the north west and, until recent years, seemed to have endless energy to study and promote local history. Many people involved in these societies remember his welcoming attitude and his books and articles in many journals will benefit local historians of the future.

Alice Lock, LSG Secretary

Case Study: Mapping the Wilkinson Postcards with volunteers

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Wiltshire & Swindon History Centre have kindly shared a new case study with us. It will be of interest to anyone working with volunteers remotely and/or with online resources, particularly maps.

In 2020-21 a group of 4 volunteers worked from home during the lockdowns to pinpoint a collection of historic postcards to the Know Your Place historic maps website. By the end of the project, 324 historic postcards were geotagged to their relevant locations and added to the online maps. The work is a double first for Wiltshire Council’s History Centre – the first of its photographic collections to be added to the Wiltshire section of the Know Your Place (KYP) website and its first volunteer project to be completed remotely and online.

You can read the full report below. Thank you to Max Parkin (Archivist) and Julie Davis (County Local Studies Librarian) for sharing their work with CILIP LSG.

wiltshire-postcard-project-evaluation-reportDownload

Nominations open for the McCulla Award 2021

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Librarian sitting on books painting a townscape. Large text below: Local Studies Group McCulla Award 2021

The Local Studies Group of CILIP are looking to recognise an outstanding local studies librarian.

The McCulla award is usually given for a recent major project, or as a lifetime award for someone near the end of their career. It comes with a prize of £200. Re-submissions from previous years are very welcome. 

The prize is in memory of Dorothy McCulla who was the Head of the Local Studies Department at Birmingham Central Library, a post she held from 1969 until her untimely death in 1981.

We welcome nominations from colleagues, local historians, family historians and anyone who knows a local studies professional who has made a difference.

To nominate, please complete the form at the bottom of this page.

Any questions? Please contact Alice Lock via alicelocalstudies@outlook.com

This year nominations close on 31 October 2021. Nominations received after that would be considered for the next award.

One million pages made free on British Newspaper Archive

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The British Library have announced that around a million pages have been made free on British Newspaper Archive. This is thanks to a new agreement between the British Library and Findmypast, who manage the British Newspaper Archive. 

A million new pages will added every year for the next four years. The focus will be on titles well out copyright in the years 1720 to 1880. Users will still need to create an account with BNA to view the titles, but will not be charged. Titles of interest to local studies professionals include:

  • British Miner and General Newsman
  • Cobbett’s Weekly Political Register
  • The Poor Man’s Guardian
  • The Atherstone, Nuneaton, and Warwickshire Times
  • The Barrow Herald and Furness Advertiser
  • The Dorset County Express and Agricultural Gazette
  • The Potteries Examiner 
  • Shropshire Examiner and all round the Wrekin Advertiser
  • Stockton Herald, South Durham and Cleveland Advertiser 

The full list can be found here: https://blogs.bl.uk/files/free-to-view-british-library-newspapers-list-9-august-2021.pdf

Event: Lessons learned from family history digitisation

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Archives South West Webinar

Lessons learned from family history digitisation

Wednesday 21 April 2021 10.00-12.00

Archives South West is an English regional collaboration of local authority funded services whose vision is to promote collections care and knowledge and to encourage public engagement with the South West’s rich and varied archival heritage.

In recent years, many local authority archive services have worked with family history publishers such as Ancestry and Findmypast to digitise, index and publish popular collections such as parish registers. The costs of the digitisation are met by the publisher whilst the archive service also receives a royalty.

As part of a project looking at the potential of newspaper digitisation, Archives South West have collated lessons learned from previous digitisation projects that used a licensing approach. This project was funded by The National Archives.

This webinar is aimed at local authority archives and library staff in the United Kingdom who are thinking about working with a family history publisher to digitise collections or are renegotiating current contracts.

The webinar will be facilitated by Janet Tall,  Head of Archives, South West Heritage Trust, and Heather Forbes, Head of Archives Service, Gloucestershire Connty Council. Current speakers include:

– Kevin Bolton, independent consultant: lessons learned from the South West.

– Kim Collis, County Archivist, West Glamorgan Archives: the Welsh parish registers digitisation project.

– Larysa Bolton, Heritage Collections Manager, Manchester Central Library: the Greater Manchester Archives and Local Studies Partnership approach to family history digitisation.

There will also be an opportunity for questions and a general discussion.

The webinar is free, but priority will be given to Archives South West members and local authority archives and library staff in the United Kingdom.

The webinar will take place on Zoom, login details will be sent nearer to the event. To register, please visit https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/archives-south-west-lessons-learned-from-family-history-digitisation-tickets-141261185007

For more information, contact Kevin Bolton at kevin@kevinjbolton.com

Job: Heritage Development Librarian, Bristol

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Bristol City Council are advertising for a Heritage Development Librarian. This is a permanent/full time position. Applications close: 21/03/2021.

“We are looking for an enthusiastic and self-motivated individual to apply for the post of Heritage Development Librarian. You must be a qualified librarian or archivist with a passion to develop and promote the local studies collection, and the ability to inspire all ages to discover family and local history. In short, we need a person who will bring our collections to life to enable our customers and citizens to celebrate Bristol’s rich cultural heritage and diversity.”

Further details here



New events with People’s Collection Wales

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In March and April, our friends CILIP Cymru Wales  are running three events of interest to local studies librarians. This follows on from last year’s successful event on sharing collections with People’s Collection Wales. Sessions are free and open to all.

Contributing to the Memory Archive with People’s Collection Wales

11/03/2021

This session will look at using special collections and archive material for reminiscence with people living with dementia. Further details: https://www.cilip.org.uk/events/EventDetails.aspx?id=1480408&group=201306

Creu, rhannu a mesur effaith cynnwys digidol Llyfrgelloedd Cyhoeddus

25/03/2021

Dilynir y sesiwn hon gyda hyfforddiant rhithwir a chefnogaeth bwrpasol i helpu llyfrgelloedd yng Nghymru i roi eu heitemau a’u casgliadau ar-lein. Further details: https://www.cilip.org.uk/events/EventDetails.aspx?id=1480519&group=201306

Curated content: using digital materials to tell stories with impact

08/04/2021

This session looks at creating stories with impact by bringing together digital and digitised materials in People’s Collection Wales. Further details: https://www.cilip.org.uk/events/EventDetails.aspx?id=1480502&group=201306

Watch the recording: Sharing Content with Peoples’ Collection Wales

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Last month CILIP Wales, CILIP LSG and CILIP MDG organised a successful webinar exploring how public library, archives and community group collections can be shared online with Peoples’ Collection Wales. We heard how this growing platform supports Welsh Government education and health initiatives, as well as recording the rich cultural heritage of Wales. 

The recording is now available for viewing via the MDG YouTube channel:

Although targeted at public librarians working in Wales, the principles of digitising, describing and sharing metadata covered in the webinar are relevant to all working with local studies collections.