Local Studies Collection Management

Whether libraries have a designated Local Studies Librarian or not, they have to provide this service and manage their own local studies collection. This book will be a guide to key areas they need to know about, each chapter by a different expert: introduction and background; resource providers (who holds what types of record); policy, finance, staffing, accommodation; different media - sound, print, photographic - information they hold and how to access it; acquisition, cataloguing and classification; management and preservation; marketing the collection; dealing with enquiries. The guide is aimed at public, academic and specialist librarians, archivists, and will also be relevant to those working with local authority records, local history societies and private collections.

A helpful and informative guide for librarians responsible for local studies collections covering the key issues in the twenty-first century. Each chapter is written by a different specialist, covering: resource providers; management of service provision; management of the collection and its materials (from books and pamphlets to microforms, CD-ROMs and websites); information access and retrieval; marketing; dealing with enquiries. Introductory and concluding chapters consider the local collection within its library context, the wider cultural, social, political and economic setting, the international local studies perspective and the future for this specialism in the UK. The guide is aimed principally at public librarians but will be of interest to academic, school and special librarians, library school students, archivists, those working with local history and related societies, and those in charge of private collections.