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The news about East Sussex is very disheartening, especially as it’s being replicated elsewhere – the Community History staff in Lancashire Libraries have also all gone. The threat to the collections, and the loss of the staff to maintain and give access to them, seems very short sighted just as the Libraries Taskforce consultation document is encouraging libraries to concentrate on learning, digital skills, community cohesion, sense of place, health etc – all areas where local studies can play a very important role (though local studies don’t seem to be mentioned at all in the consultation document). After decades working in local studies I decided to list some of the more unexpected uses of the collections which I remember –

Local studies libraries can provide important supporting material for HLF bids in other parts of the authority, for example refurbishment of Victorian urban parks.The extensive descriptions in the newspapers when the parks were opened often allowed the original planting to be reinstated and the huge number of Edwardian postcards and other illustrations meant almost entire parks are recorded. Staff can also point out biographical material on the benefactors to the parks.

Queries from Legal departments. The minutes of old council meetings were often found to be very basic records of decisions, and if the accompanying reports have not survived, newspaper accounts of the meetings were often required to fill in the background.

Maps are often used for boundary disputes and disputes over rights of way. I remember a young couple in their first house who visited because they had chopped down some trees which were inside their fence only to find that their neighbour claimed the land and the trees. The old OS maps confirmed their boundary line and by talking to other neighbours and comparing information with the old voters lists they were able to track down previous residents who had photographs which helped them.

We regularly used maps for the local homing pigeon society. Each new member’s house had to be pinpointed on the map and the exact grid reference noted.

Missing people. The old voters lists and Kellys Directories have often helped track down missing people, from family members to old school friends. They are important in providing proof of residence for legal reasons too, especially for people whose right to be in this country is being queried.

Local businesses sometimes want historical material for promotional purposes. I remember a graphic designer who had set up in a very unusual building on a corner. Staff were able to point him to a printed history of the local co-operative society which included a history of the building, which had been one of their shops, and several photographs. He incorporated this information into his prospectuses.

Many people (men!) who spent their working life in one trade want to keep themselves active by restoring some piece of old equipment connected with their work. Our large collection of cotton textbooks (used by workers who were trying to get on by studying their trade at night school) often helped later generations in their restoration projects. Sometimes we had the makers’ trade catalogues for the relevant machines too.

I’m sure many local studies libraries are contacted by people now living in the USA wanting proof that they finished their schooling. As we don’t have the “high school diploma” they need proof of their O levels and A levels. Often the list found in old newspapers is adequate, but the paper will also give a clue as to which exam board was used by each school so the enquirer can approach them too.

Most of these are very practical uses of our collections, but we all have stories of the emotional value of local materials. Since Who Do You Think You Are many people get very emotional as they find out about their family’s past and this helps link them to the area and build local identity. But I also remember doing a talk for a group who met at one of the lending libraries. I played extracts about housework from our oral history collections and was a bit worried that one woman seemed to take the event over, she kept adding her memories of helping her mother. I was afraid the rest of the group felt excluded until one of the others told me later that this lady had never even spoken at any previous meetings of the group. I also remember a girl whose father had committed suicide when she was very young. She was seeing a counsellor who had suggested that she find out more about how he died so she came to read the newspaper account of the inquest. She was very upset, but glad that she knew what had happened.

I feel very concerned that these important collections are under threat and that we are losing the staff who can preserve them for the future and help people get the most out of them today.

Do you have any other examples of how local studies work has made a difference to the local community or individuals within it? Please leave a comment to this blog

Guest blogger Anne talks about her time in local studies….

I was very fortunate to work in several Local Studies Libraries fulfilling a range of roles as a Librarian. One of the roles that ran through all posts was that of “user engagement” and “user education” – dull words for essentially ensuring that customers, readers, researchers could use and access the resources they needed. Levels of interest and need varied from schoolchildren, parents, students, historians, artists and novelists, planners, architects, farmers …… I can remember one schoolteacher saying that she felt that as a result of class visits to the local studies library, her students’ A level results had improved.

In addition to their value to researchers and heritage, Local Studies collections (and projects) have the powerful potential to engage people from widely different backgrounds and generations. Interesting and creative projects have the power to motivate individuals to overcome barriers to learning digital technologies, to build new social networks (combatting isolation, depression and related health issues), to rekindle an in interest in life and learning through informal learning opportunities. Librarians and archivists working creatively and in partnership with a wide range of educational providers, facilitators and artists, and others, can ensure that opportunities exist to engage different levels of ability and ranges of interest (rather than engaging the same school or group of participants each time because its easier to do so).

There used to be a concern that libraries attracted more female readers than male. Local Studies and Heritage related projects attract both, and appeal to different age ranges. I met a student yesterday who is thrilled to know that the new library opening this summer will have a local studies section. This is heartening – except that the existing library already has a local studies section and a collection which dates back to the 1890s.

Unfortunately use of print based materials (including maps, ephemera, etc) in a local studies library rarely count when library usage is measured, as the items are not “issued” on computer. In addition, once materials are digitised readers are often denied access to print based originals, or facsimiles, which effectively alienates a large part of the population, existing and potential users, who have yet to be engaged with digital technology. Access to resources in various formats supports research, and can help the learning process and appeal to different learning styles. This is something that experienced librarians will be aware of – but whose voices may be lost in the need to cut floor space and costs, with an eye also on income generation.

As everybody knows, as the cuts have been hitting public libraries the number of qualified librarians employed by local authorities has dive-bombed. Though I once heard the refrain, they would never get rid of those local studies librarians, that is sadly not the case. Just as West Sussex’s Local Studies guys engaged over one hundred volunteers to record and widen understanding on how World War I affected their county, the local studies guys in East Sussex were given the heave ho.

So what does happen when local studies professionals are given the boot? Well, sometimes nothing much. I know of one authority who had a first class assistant who took over the reins – to be frank they are a first class professional, just they never got a CILIP accredited MA or applied for an ACLIP. Sadly, this is the only case I know.

Other times a volunteer helps out….. but how long do they stick around? Who is there to replace them?

Okay, the cut is made, what happens? Here is some of what I have heard through the grapevine:

• Regular users come in and ask to see the thing they have used for years and they are told the library does not have it. Even though, when they return a few weeks later, they see it locked away.
• New people come and, when they turn up, there is nobody who can help and faced with this wall of mysterious stuff and locked cabinets they quickly give up and go away. Good libraries and good librarians gain a good reputation and more readers, but a bad library loses many more and they do so very quickly.*
• Volunteers slowly drop away as they get less motivated and projects finish. I have seen volunteers who start working at a library who have very little confidence and within a year or two they are flourishing members of the society.
• There are not so many events. A few class visits will not happen (they will probably be doing a visit to Tesco or Waterstones instead), the Ancestry usage figures will go down as there is no one to do intro sessions, etc. Again, I have seen people who attend such start off with very little confidence and within a year or two they are flourishing members of the society.
• Things do not make their way into the collection. Those little local publications that are priceless are real pains in the neck to buy as big organisations like invoices and do not like petty cash….. can you see these being purchased! Those who receive a good service will not donate a copy of their work and more amazing collections will be placed into the bin rather than being donated to a local studies collection.

Ah, I hear you cry, can we afford it? Yes! I have just had a letter from my Councillor saying that my Council Tax is being frozen again, when I walk into my local library I get free reservations and free audio books and…… okay, I am still one of the very lucky ones, I still have a local studies librarian in my Borough.

Do you have any tales of what happens when your local studies librarian is given the heave ho? Leave a comment below.

* There are a few things you need to master to be able to make use of a local studies collection. What can you tell from a Kelly’s Directory, how do they fit together with OS maps, how on earth do you find out the number of the OS map to the south of the one I have in front of me, how does the microfilm reader work etc. Okay, an experienced user will know this – but, that is only a small percentage of the user groups. Even then, when the experienced reader is using a collection there are often gems hidden in a plain binding or a pamphlet box that they would not know about unless they have someone who has worked with that collection. These librarians love their collections and this love rubs off onto their readers.