Tag: digital

The Value of Local Studies for Digital Engagement

williamLeave a comment

We know the value and positive impact that local studies collections can have on people’s lives. Sharing and exploring together; understanding how the past has shaped a community, and the history of the places that matter to every one of us is proving, now more than ever, to be a comforting constant in an ever-changing world.

These amazing collections are being brought to the fore, and CILIP’s Local Studies Group have been looking at how local studies material is being used online https://lslibrarians.wordpress.com/2020/05/18/share-your-innovative-ideas-for-local-studies/

Here are the results!

If you know of any great online work that hasn’t been mentioned here, please let us know https://lslibrarians.wordpress.com/contact-us/

Film

  • Tower Hamlets has been digitising film collections and sharing via social media channels such as You Tube.
  • Hosting online screenings of films from Local Studies collections: Tower Hamlets is doing this via Facebook Live.
  • Creating film-shows using photographs from Local Studies collections alongside narration; such as the VE Day film show created by the Wiltshire & Swindon History Centre.
  • Local Studies for reminiscence: the Wiltshire & Swindon History Centre has been trialling the use of photographs from its collection to create film shows specifically to help those with memory loss.

Covid-19 specific projects

There are many libraries and archives garnering the support of their current volunteers, engaging with the public and growing their volunteer base to help document life under lockdown. Examples include Suffolk Archives, Hull History Centre and Cheshire Archives & Local Studies.

Online Outreach

Tower Hamlets have established a number of socially-distanced local history walks, accessible via social media. They have also produced a set of online local history podcasts and continue to work on collections-led study material to support parents with the history curriculum. 

  • West Sussex Local Studies have posted interviews from their WWI project online.
  • Leicester, Leicestershire and Derbyshire have moved their Local History Café group online with a Facebook group https://www.facebook.com/groups/662528980959073/
  • Members of the South West Local Studies Librarians Group took part in a joint social media outreach project for Local and Community History Month 2020 using an A to Z theme, plus hashtags such as #LocalFood, #LocalStories, #LocalBuildings, #LocalCelebrations. Somerset Archives, Poole History Centre, Wiltshire & Swindon History Centre, Devon Archives, Bristol Archives, Bath Record Office and Swindon Local Studies Library all took part.

Here at CILIP LSG we are producing a toolkit to help those working with Local Studies Collections; more information is available here: https://lslibrarians.wordpress.com/toolkit/toolkit-intro/

Feel free to join us on Twitter too @CILIP_LSG

There is a local history JISCmail list which is free to subscribe to at https://t.co/SxpP3By8u3 if you are interested in, or are working in the local history field, and would like to discuss and share information. The CILIP LSG blog is also a great platform to make the most of, and we would love to hear from anyone interested in Local Studies.

There is some amazing work happening all over the country, and certainly in my case it’s been a sharp learning curve, and a continued work in progress as my own skills improve…

We hope these examples help inspire everyone to discover more about the history of the places that matter to them in a greater variety of formats than ever before.

Julie Davis

County Local Studies Librarian, Wiltshire & Swindon History Centre & Member of CILIP LSG