Tag: education

Still time to book: Heritage & the community – top tips from the CILIP Local Studies Toolkit – Free online session, 20 November, 2pm

tonypilmerLeave a comment

Heritage resources can make a difference to individuals: the 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 schoolteacher who said that her students’ A level results had improved as a result of class visits to the local studies library; the family who were helped to find essential evidence about a local company and were able to obtain compensation for the loss of a loved one.

Heritage projects have the power to engage people from widely different backgrounds and generations. Interesting and creative projects have the power to motivate individuals to overcome barriers to learning, to experience digital technologies, to build new social networks (combatting isolation, depression and related health issues) and to rekindle an in interest in life through informal learning opportunities.

Heritage people 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.

But how do you do this? Some of the finest and most experienced local studies librarians have come together to form a free online resource, The Local Studies Toolkit, that can help guide heritage people to the right answer for them.

In this session, we will explore the toolkit and hear some top tips from those who wrote some of its sections.

Speakers include:

  • Terry Bracher, Heritage Services Manager, Wiltshire & Swindon History Centre
  • Tracey Williams, Heritage & Local Studies Librarian, Solihull (Recorded)
  • Tony Pilmer, Librarian & Archivist, Royal Aeronautical Society & formerly Local Studies Librarian, Slough (Chair)
  • José Luiz Pederzoli Jr., Unit Manager – Strategic Planning, ICCROM (Recorded)

This event is organised by the CILIP Local Studies Group & The Historic Society of Lancashire & Cheshire

Book Here

Heritage & the community – top tips from the CILIP Local Studies Toolkit – Free online session, 20 November, 2pm

tonypilmerLeave a comment

Heritage resources can make a difference to individuals: the 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 schoolteacher who said that her students’ A level results had improved as a result of class visits to the local studies library; the family who were helped to find essential evidence about a local company and were able to obtain compensation for the loss of a loved one.

Heritage projects have the power to engage people from widely different backgrounds and generations. Interesting and creative projects have the power to motivate individuals to overcome barriers to learning, to experience digital technologies, to build new social networks (combatting isolation, depression and related health issues) and to rekindle an in interest in life through informal learning opportunities.

Heritage people 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.

But how do you do this? Some of the finest and most experienced local studies librarians have come together to form a free online resource, The Local Studies Toolkit, that can help guide heritage people to the right answer for them.

In this session, we will explore the toolkit and hear some top tips from those who wrote some of its sections.

Speakers include:

  • Terry Bracher, Heritage Services Manager, Wiltshire & Swindon History Centre
  • Tracey Williams, Heritage & Local Studies Librarian, Solihull (Recorded)
  • Tony Pilmer, Librarian & Archivist, Royal Aeronautical Society & formerly Local Studies Librarian, Slough (Chair)
  • José Luiz Pederzoli Jr., Unit Manager – Strategic Planning, ICCROM (Recorded)

This event is organised by the CILIP Local Studies Group & The Historic Society of Lancashire & Cheshire

Book Here

Local Studies is democratic education

williamLeave a comment

by Alice Lock, LSG Secretary

Now that I’ve become a library user (viruses permitting), rather than a staff member, I can’t help noticing how many events and initiatives are arts based. I suppose that this is partly because the Arts Council has national responsibility for libraries and grants for activities come from them. This must bring in new audiences who can make use of local studies collections in different ways, but I worry that it an emphasis on arts rather than learning might have its drawbacks.

I’ve always believed that local history and family history are important because they are the most democratic form of education available to anyone. Anybody can walk through the door and decide for themselves what they want to study and how. They can interact with other people through chatting to others in the library or through societies – or they can work completely on their own if they wish. They don’t have to pay fees to an educational organisation, they can pick whatever aspect of history that interests them – and, if they adopt proper research techniques, their work has equal value to professionals in the field. Very few subjects allow complete amateurs opportunities like this. In my working life I came across many people who had not done well at school and had come to regret their perceived “lack of education” – local history gave them a second chance to learn, on their own terms. I can’t count the number of people who complained that the history of “kings and queens” which they encountered in their young days at school was of no interest to them. Local and family history is not only of interest because it concerns our immediate environment but it also focusses on the past lives of people like us.

Many years ago family history was regarded as a rather pointless exercise of collecting names and dates. Nowadays its value as a way of learning about our past and how society works is as evident as in the study of local history. But students learn so much more – research techniques (both online and with documents), how to evaluate evidence, how to analyse evidence, how to present findings etc etc.

To me this is what makes local studies collections important.