We are pleased to announce the winners of the McCulla Award aka Local Studies Librarian of the Year. Two McCulla Awards for Local Studies Librarian of the year have been made this year, as the pandemic interrupted the usual arrangements. The Award is in memory of Dorothy McCulla, who was Head of the Local Studies Department at Birmingham Central Library from 1969 until her untimely death in 1981. The judges, from CILIP Local Studies Group, had a difficult job choosing winners from a strong field, which reflects the excellent work being done under difficult circumstances in the past few years.
Norma Crowe, Local Studies Librarian at Medway Archives Centre, won the Award for 2020. She has worked in local studies in Medway since 1995 and has a fine record of community engagement. Her work on the history of Short Brothers of Rochester led to the founding of the Short Brothers Commemoration Society (which she chaired) and the erection of a memorial in the town. A similar project led to the setting up of Strood Heritage Society. Her outreach work often uses exhibitions to involve local volunteers and encourage visitors to the Archives Centre, in recent years she has featured women’s history and World War I. New audiences have also been attracted by her wide range of publications and web pages.
The 2021 winner is Louise Birch who has been Senior Librarian Manager, Local Studies, in Leeds since 2015. She has strategic responsibility for the department and is particularly concerned with building digital platforms and leading an externally funded oral history project in partnership with other library authorities. During the pandemic, she was able to oversee the development of a new website for the Leeds online photograph archive of over 66,000 images, which has massively increased public engagement with the collection. She also runs a regular programme of events for Heritage Open Days, is developing the local studies offer to schools and has created heritage tours of the Central Library building.
Alice Lock, Secretary of CILIP Local Studies Group
CILIP Local Studies Group 