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The CILIP Local Studies Group is calling for submissions to the Alan Ball Award for Local History publishing for material, printed or digital, published in 2013 and 2014.

Background

The Alan Ball Local History Awards were established by the Library Services Trust in 1985 to encourage local history publishing by public libraries and local authorities. The awards were named after Alan W. Ball, a former Chief Librarian of the London Borough of Harrow, and author of many local history publications.

Following discussions with the Library Services Trust CILIP LSG will take on the administration, judging and promotion of the award. This has always been a prestigious award within the library and information community, especially for Local Studies services, and the LSG is honored to be involved with it. Traditionally, the award has been for printed materials, although more recently electronic information such as websites have been considered. The LSG committee has consulted with a number of stakeholders and it is clear that the award is still very popular; but as a result of the consultation we have decided to update and expand the criteria, so we are hoping for a bumper crop of submissions this year.

Criteria

There will be two awards this year. One for printed material and another for digital. Printed material might include books, pamphlets and guides etc.; while digital submission might include websites, apps, video, animation and some aspects of social media, such as blogs. We are interested in both the quality and usefulness of the content, and also how it engages the reader or user, especially new users.

The award will now be open to all heritage and community organisations involved with some aspect of Local History and who receive or have received public funding. This also includes lottery funding, e.g. Heritage Lottery Fund and Awards for All. In addition to local authority libraries, archives, museum and archaeology services; it includes small local museums, heritage centres and community history projects.

Submitting your publications

We will need submissions to be with us by 1st October 2015, for materials published in 2013 or 2014. Ideally we would like a hard copy of any printed item you submit. For digital items, please send any CDs or DVDs, or let us know how we can access websites, apps, blogs etc.

Contact Terry Bracher (Chair of CILIP LSG) c/o Wiltshire and Swindon History Centre, Cocklebury Road, Chippenham. SN15 3QN.

email: terry.bracher@wiltshire.gov.uk , telephone: 01249 705515 for further information.

You will find the submission details and entry form on our CILIP (LSG) webpage:

http://www.cilip.org.uk/local-studies-group/awards/alan-ball-local-history-awards

The Judges

This year the judges will be:

Tracey Williams, Local Studies Librarian, Solihull Library

Dr Craig Horner, Manchester Metropolitan University and the Peoples History Museum.

Dr John Chandler, Local History Publisher (Hobb Nobb Press), Editor Victoria County History of Gloucestershire and former Local Studies librarian and LSG McCulla prize winner.

Dr Diana Dixon, Hon Reviews Editor, CILIP Update and LSG Committee Member

Alice Lock, former Librarian, Tameside Local Studies and Archives, and Hon. Secretary LSG

Convener: Terry Bracher, Archives & Local Studies Manager, Wiltshire and Swindon History Centre and Hon. Chair LSG.

The Prize

Winners will be given a certificate and accorded the title of Alan Ball Award winner, which can be used on promotional material. Sadly, there is no trophy or cash prize, but as previous award winners will confirm, it is a prestigious award that is very meaningful within Local History community

Monday 12th October 2015
9.30am – 4pm
Lancashire Archives
Bow Lane
Preston

Join LSG NW for this FREE wide ranging event. The day will examine the possibilities of using Wikipedia and hear about the first hand experiences of an HLF project, a local historical society and a national heritage organisation working in this field.

Speakers: Doug Taylor – Wikimedia Foundation volunteer; Jacqueline Arundel and Richard Marshall – the Tagging the Treasures HLF project; Paul Weatherall – Manx National Heritage; Paul Swarbrick – Preston Historical Society.

Tea, coffee etc provided but lunch isn’t. You will be able to eat your own packed lunch/takeaway or visit a local cafe.

LSG NW AGM will take place during the lunch break.

To reserve your place, please contact Jane Parr on 0161 234 1934 or email j.parr@manchester.gov.uk.

local history and social media6

On 30 June 2015, the National Maritime Museum announced the release of an online searchable database of the 1915 Merchant Navy Crew Lists. This has been a collaborative project with the National Archives, London. Over 39,000 crew lists transcribed by over 300 volunteers ensures that the information will be accurate and provide a very good reflection of the men and ships that served during the First World War. See the FAQs for answers to your questions. http://1915crewlists.rmg.co.uk/

Tour of the National Aerospace Library & Farnborough Air Sciences Trust Museum
Tuesday 30 June 2015 from 10:30 to 13:00
Book via http://nalfasttour.eventbrite.co.uk.

Join us for a joint tour of two of the UK’s best aircraft and aviation collections. The National Aerospace Library is the guardian of the Royal Aeronautical Society’s library and archive and cares for material relating to aviation, aircraft, aerospace technology, air power and ballooning in the past, present and future. As well as providing an information service to the RAeS members, it opens its doors to engineers and other aerospace professionals, historians, students and enthusiasts who want to find out more about man’s dream to conquer flight.

The FAST Museum is dedicated to Farnborough’s proud aviation heritage and significant contribution to air science and research. As well as a tour of the museum there will be a talk about the work of their documents collection which collects material relating to the UK’s former aeronautical research organisation, the Royal Aircraft Establishment.

The tour is free, however a donation to FAST would be welcome.

Alan Ball Award – submit your nominations

The CILIP Local Studies Group is calling for submissions to the Alan Ball Award for Local History publishing for material, printed or digital, published in 2013 and 2014.

Background

The Alan Ball Local History Awards were established by the Library Services Trust in 1985 to encourage local history publishing by public libraries and local authorities. The awards were named after Alan W. Ball, a former Chief Librarian of the London Borough of Harrow, and author of many local history publications.

Following discussions with the Library Services Trust we are pleased so say that CILIP LSG will take on the administration, judging and promotion of the award. This has always been a prestigious award within the library and information community, especially for Local Studies services, and the LSG is honored to be involved with it. Traditionally, the award has been for printed materials, although more recently electronic information such as websites have been considered. The LSG committee has consulted with a number of stakeholders and it is clear that the award is still very popular; but as a result of the consultation we have decided to update and expand the criteria, so we are hoping for a bumper crop of submissions this year.

Criteria 

There will be two awards this year. One for printed material and another for digital. Printed material might include books, pamphlets and guides etc.; while digital submission might include websites, apps, video, animation and some aspects of social media, such as blogs. We are interested in both the quality and usefulness of the content, and also how it engages the reader or user, especially new users.

The award will now be open to all heritage and community organisations involved with some aspect of Local History and who receive or have received public funding. This also includes lottery funding, e.g. Heritage Lottery Fund and Awards for All. In addition to local authority libraries, archives, museum and archaeology services; it includes small local museums, heritage centres and community history projects.

Submitting your publications

We will need submissions to be with us by 1st October 2015, for materials published in 2013 or 2014. Ideally we would like a hard copy of any printed item you submit. For digital items, please send any CDs or DVDs, or let us know how we can access websites, apps, blogs etc. Contact Terry Bracher (Chairman of CILIP LSG) c/o Wiltshire and Swindon History Centre, Cocklebury Road, Chippenham. SN15 3QN. email: terry.bracher@wiltshire.ogv.uk , telephone: 01249 705515 for further information.

ALAN BALL AWARD   Submission Details and Entry Form

The Judges

This year the judges will be:

Tracey Williams, Local Studies Librarian, Solihull Library
Dr Craig Horner, Manchester Metropolitan University and the Peoples History Museum.
Dr John Chandler, Local History Publisher (Hobb Nobb Press), Editor Victoria County History of Gloucestershire and former Local Studies librarian and LSG McCulla prize winner.
Dr Diana Dixon, Hon Reviews Editor, CILIP Update and LSG Committee Member
Alice Lock, former Head of Tameside Archives & Local Studies, and Hon. Secretary LSG

Convener: Terry Bracher, Archives & Local Studies Manager, Wiltshire and Swindon History Centre and Hon. Chair LSG.

The Prize

Winners will be given a certificate and accorded the title of Alan Ball Award winner, which can be used on promotional material. Sadly, there is no trophy or cash prize, but as previous award winners will confirm, it is a prestigious award that is very meaningful within Local History community.

Who needs a Tardis when you can visit Gladstone’s Library in Hawarden? It’s a trip back in time to when libraries were full of books and there was a strict silence rule. And you really can get a lot more reading done when there are no distractions! Not only that but you can eat and sleep there! There is a very nice cafe and rooms for visitors. If you’re staying there you can use the library until 9 at night, all the books are on open access including the books which came from Gladstone’s own collection. There is an honesty bar where you can chat to the other users – or just eavesdrop on their conversations (which can be an entertainment in itself). The stock is based on Gladstone’s own library but includes current works on subjects he was interested in, including theology and church history. It’s extremely comprehensive and most local historians would find something of interest. The church like atmosphere and creaking floors make you feel you’ve slipped back into the nineteenth century. Even if you’re not using the collection it’s a good place to get some work done and have a break from the 21st century

Bring Your Own Heritage.

With Tony’s recent article I thought I’d look back at the first couple of editions after I joined the Local Studies Group back in 1996 (19 years ago???). I was at Aberystwyth University at the time, doing the postgrad librarianship course. I must admit I knew very little about Local Studies at the time, but though joining LSG and then doing the Local Studies module I realised that this was an opportunity to use my interest in history. Looking back at this edition it was interesting to see how things had changed, but many underlying questions/subjects are still here.

Vol 15 (2) Winter 1996

The main thrust of the journal was technology, with the features on digital databases, computer catalogues, internet websites and projects prominent.

The first article is on The Durham Record, a database which took advantage of the latest technology to bring together 10,000 digitised photos, historic OS maps and the Sites & Monuments Records (now Historic Environment Record). For my dissertation I looked at the use of audio-visual material in Local Studies, so it was new projects such as these that I looked at.

Although it was 20 years ago it still seems quite advanced, with touchscreen, GIS features allowing you to search via a map, and multiple ways of searching. Limits of the time meant that it had to be viewed on one of 4 standalone machines located through the county, but it was an early groundbreaking attempt at harnessing computers to allow better access to Local Studies resources. The article stresses the benefits of bringing these sources together, which we now take for granted, and all customers were interviewed said it was easy to use, an achievement considering many would be unfamiliar with computers.

Looking online today it seems that The Durham Record is still available in different formats on the web. The Durham Record itself http://www.durham.gov.uk/durhamrecord contains the images, whilst the SMR information is now on the Keys to the Past website, along with Northumberland’s HER http://www.keystothepast.info/Pages/Home.aspx. It is good to know that all that work never disappeared, which occasionally has happened.

Heritage Lottery Fund

At this stage HLF was still just a couple of years old. Nowadays most of us will have been involved, but as many wouldn’t have done in 1996 The Local Studies Librarian gave examples of relevant projects which had received funding. These included the new Surrey History Centre & The Society of Genealogists’ cataloguing project.

These were also the early days of the internet. Five key family history sites were mentioned in an article, including GENUKI & Roots Surname List, now ancestry, Find My past or even FamilySearch at this stage. It was interesting too to read that Devon were publishing a journal which would only be available digitally, a development that it very common now with groups such as the LSG looking to reduce printing and postage costs, but hadn’t realised it started so early. A further article told of a CD-ROM containing Open University dissertations, some which would be of interest to local and family historians. With developments in computerises catalogues it was also reported that some libraries who didn’t have computerised catalogues of their Local Studies collections were looking at creating these, although in some cases different collections within the same county had been catalogued in completely different ways, making the creation of a uniform catalogue a headache.

News In Brief Section

• With the Norfolk Library fire only just having taken place it was reported that 17,000 items had been donated to help replace lost Local Studies items. The main problem was acquiring rare items lost, and recataloguing since the card catalogue has been burnt. A couple of my friends subsequently had their first professional posts on this cataloguing project.
• Yeovil had a Local Historian in Residence scheme. The local history society helped the library by running a weekly helpdesk, precursor of volunteer help which many libraries rely on today.
• It was reported that the first meeting of the Public Services Quality Group (PSQG) had met to discuss issues in archives and local studies. I’m quite familiar with it today carrying out surveys of archives at 18 month intervals, but hadn’t realised that it included Local Studies in the beginning. Anyone know why Local Studies didn’t continue being included within PSQG?
• And entries were encouraged for the Alan Ball Award for local history publications, and the Dorothy McCulla Award, both of which still run today. For the latter people were asked to contact Philip Thomas, LSG Treasurer, who sadly passed away last year.