Local studies working group meeting

Ashfield

Minutes for 30 October 2014

Attended Mandy Keevil, Ashfield, Donna Braye, Mosman,Marisa O'Connor, Wollongong,David Sansome, Canada Bay,Mirjana Djukic, Ku-ring-gai,Sharelle Ravenscroft, Mona Vale,Kirsten Broderick, Rockdale,Shirley Ramrakha, Willoughby,Michael Adams, Willoughby,Michelle Goldsmith, Tuggerah,Bel Jaeger, Gosford,Andy Carr, State Library NSW,Lisa Perugini, Strathfield,Lyn de Sylva,Lake Macquarie,Megan Pitt Tamworth,Jacquie West, Blacktown,Kirstin Cox, Canterbury,Catherine Hardie, Canterbury,Amie Zar, Leichhardt,Garry Cousins, Leichhardt,Ben Carter, Leichhardt,Roxanne Seaward, Bowral,Ellen Hottelmann, Bankstown,Thomas MacRae, Auburn City Council,Angela Phippen, Ryde,Paula Grunseit, Botany,Carmelina Nunnari, Wollondilly,Helen Hudson, Sutherland,David Clarke, Hurstville,Aleem, Marrickville,Michael Sullivan, Campbelltown,Howard Boyle, Campbelltown,Michelle Nichols, Hawkesbury,Neera Sahni, Parramatta,Sophia Smiley, Waverly, Ellen Forsyth, SLNSW

Apologies Jeff Stonehouse, Port Macquarie-Hastings Library,Geoffrey Potter, Gosford,Kay Shirt, Lithgow Minutes local studies meeting 30 October 2014 Ashfield.

Creativity in local studies, to bring in new audiences, new people and new collections.

Andrew Allan and Howard Boyle from Campbelltown Library Drones and local studies

• drone as a flying robot
• uses include military, search and rescue, archaeology, crop monitoring. Investigating scaffolding, coverage of sporting events
• drones as a new technology
• local studies uses – at Campbelltown are photographing new buildings (like new Campbelltown hospital) and land releases (like UWS extension), still early stages in use. Will be doing comparative aerial photographs too. Parades and marches also good for recording this way
• Drones can be used in a public place
• Allows views from the top of historical constructions (example of Barrow Bridge chimney drone use https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OgrJ5b8TNUQ ), like really large, old chimney
• Drones also good for archaeology, as can identify remote sites because of high viewpoint, is non-invasive, also for looking for crop, frost and other marks. The costs are coming down
• Batteries last 15 – 20 minutes
• Providing examples of drone use in Peru. Provide images which can be transferred to 3D maps.
• RPA – remotely piloted aircraft – preferred CASA terms
• Campbelltown has Phantom, 10 metres per second, 10 – 15 minutes flight time. Carries a GoPro style camera
• Privacy concerns with drones

presentation on Unmanned Aerial Vehicles here

presentation on Drones in local studies here

Olev Muska – North Strathfield Neighbourhood stories creative producer and digital artist, talks about the innovative North Strathfield Neighbourhood Stories project and website. Part of a community project to revitalise the North Strathfield shopping precinct. Olev presented his ideas and approach to capturing oral histories and the creative element of engaging with the community and sharing online. http://www.olev.com.au/

• Opportunities for creativity with technology
• Imagining a dialogue with the past
• Case Study – North Strathfield neighbourhood stories – about revitalising shopping precinct – involved community consultation, created a symbol/logo/brand, art deco was a strong theme, also oral history elements, choice in terms of the recording devices for oral history, use sense with recording, develop an awareness of the practicalities of recording the stories, also involved banners, and awning as part of the elements were onside renewal. Involved murals as public art.
• Use of the art deco building facades on banners (stylised), and boards showing the stories, highlighting different people within the community http://www.neighbourhoodstories.net/
• Look for creative opportunities – to connect with people in the communit
• Case study 2 – Estoni
• Giving personal story of connecting with his Estonian ancestry, and connection through family and cultur
• Using music as a connection, exploring music as stories, and also the connections of languag
• Sound of the voice in music connects to the sound of the voice in oral histor
• Think about funding opportunities

Tim Wicks Minecraft and local studies

• As part of the Minecraft camps – has the children use local buildings as what they build in Minecraft. Use peer assessment of how accurate the buildings are. They present to the group, with the photograph they start with and the things they build in minecraft. The aim is skills, but it also about learning skills. It is projects to build things in the community. Examples of libraries helping with this. The local buildings idea has a lot of potential
• Potential to reconstruct the buildings of particular times, so that could show snapshots of the community at different times
• Sharing the information via screenshots and screencasts and annotating the screen shots. Limit the time for videos – up to 60 seconds is good, longer can lose focus
• Annotating the videos from Minecraft is importan
• How these are shared is important, how is this information, how is what is created in Minecraft going to be shared outside of Minecraft so that other people can see it. Often use Google sites. Key is putting the work online so that others can comment and see. The wider audience is critical, but different privacy levels helpful
• Can work collaborately or individually in minecraft
• Some libraries using Minecraftedu – it is locked down. Restricted server access, safe serve
• Minecraft edu – Woodcraft’s model has a Minecraft club, they have themes for each meet
• Focused build projects also importan
• Background on Minecraft – sandbox game where you have a lot of choice, as you move through the world it continues to generate the world Can play in survival or creative mode. Survival is starting with nothing, creative starts with more options, you can build, adventure, play games
• If building local need to use creative mod
• Idea of local studies excursion into Minecraft – if local studies librarians interested contact Ellen
• Can play in demo mode or pay a once off fee (check) creating services is another issue, and depends on each server manager requirement, check the policies of each server. Tim’s server has a claim space so you can claim a space and no-one can hurt it.
• Minecraftedu has a graphic user interface for the person using it
• Tim’s focus is on empowering the childre
• Libraries as good space for running training for Minecraft – as have space to move around

Other ways to think about Minecraft http://blockbyblock.org/and the British Museum are working with Minecraft players to recreate the museum and its contents.

Subdivisions plan

The State Library of NSW is digitising all the subdivision plans. This will take the next three years. They are being done alphabetically. Search using suburb/town name and ‘subdivision plans. Example of record for Ashfield with links to a list of all the Ashfield subdivision plans and another link to the digitised images – see http://library.sl.nsw.gov.au/search~S2?/Xashfield%20subdivision%20plans&searchscope=2&SORT=D/Xashfield%20subdivision%20plans&searchscope=2&SORT=D&SUBKEY=ashfield+subdivision+plans/1%2C18%2C18%2CE/frameset&FF=Xashfield%20subdivision%20plans&searchscope=2&SORT=D&1%2C1%2C

David Sansome and Tara Klein, Canada Bay

• Asking students to create short videos about the WW! Soldiers of Canada Bay
• Creating local content is important, and educating students in local studies and tools, and connecting the community to the history. The videos are going on Youtube https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCW_MPVhur1e3fxCIYL5tkFg and will be showing them in the libraries, and in school
• Will be giving copies via dvd to libraries of record (state and national libraries
• Established a multimedia lab via a 2011/12 library development grant. The portable lab can travel for training, hence the purpose.
• Working with the schools is important
• Did a lot of background work, before this project starte
• Two sets of records because of amalgamated council, brought the information together as one document, also visited local churches and other organisations with memorial rolls
• Also took a broad approach of people who lived/worked in are
• Just over 1600 name
• Checking with the Australian War Memorial about where there were photographs of the men, bought 27 images from the AW
• Have put together guidelines - for working on the projec
• Contacted the four local high schools in late 2013, then decided to open the project to primary schools (after community forum)
• 6 week program with one hour lessons based at the schools, two parts – research and video development
• really interesting information about how young children deal with original documents, handwriting, terminology, meaning, learning to do researc
• received an ANZAC community grant for working with the children for the final three session
• teaching the children about copyrigh
• fact checking important, and checking the image
• are promoting the story via social media, council website, newsletters,
• still to come – will have a total of 68 soldiers stories by the end of the yea
• first 28 videos available via the touch top table in Five Dock Library to watch
• the project has opened up partnerships and other opportunities

presentation here

Following on from the morning session we will examine some options for the creative visualisation possibilities and interpretations of Local Studies Collections with reference to such sites as - http://www.libraryasincubatorproject.org/ http://handmadelibrarian.com/ http://www.acmi.net.au/collections-research/community-engagement-projects/digital-storytelling/ http://www.olev.com.au/public_art_placemaking.html http://digitalstorytelling.coe.uh.edu/ The following books were circulated and discussed:

Batykefer, Erinn & Damon-Moore, Laura 2014,The Artist's Library A Field Guide, Coffee House Press, New York

Greer, Betsy, (editor.) 2014,Craftivism : the art of craft and activism, Vancouver Arsenal Pulp Press

Pigza, Jessica & Miller, Johnny, (photographer.) & Faust, Shana, (contributor.) & Park, Sun Young, (illustrator.) 2014,Bibliocraft : a modern crafter's guide to using library resources to jumpstart creative projects, New York STC Craft

Prain, Leanne 2014,Strange material : Storytelling through textiles

Discussion about local studies and craft (and the possibility of printing subdivision plans on teatowels, for example), examples also from Penrith Library, embroiders guild based at Concord Library and have also done work with the library. Various accounts of how libraries have triggered creativity, sketches in the library (by waiting husband), suggestions to tap into the local community, and build skills, and connect with local studied information too. Examples too of artist sketching the area, and then talking about techniques, and of local photographers replicating earlier photographs, seek out local groups to partner with. Think about how to embed local studies through more areas, fabric design. How to get new people engaging with local studies and engaging with it, in a range of ways.

Accuracy of exhibition labelling and research with specific reference to http://chineseaustralia.org/celestial-city-misunderstanding/ Discussion highlighting the importance of having correct details in exhibition guides and labels. The 14th Australasian Congress on Genealogy and Heraldry 26-30 March 2015 and the related the library day http://www.congress2015.org.au/ before the conference there will be a local studies conference, as well as some content during the exhibitio other relevant conferences also highlighted. 21 – 24 May 2014 Museums Association Conference http://www.ma2015.org.au/index.asp?IntCatId=14 . Being encouraged to go to. Highly relevance to local studies, and very interesting speakers IPress conference recently on in Melbourne http://ipres2014.org/ . Only two local government librarians at conference. It was about preserving, saving, sharing. Broad range of formats covered, and issues explored. Papers will be on site later People being encouraged to send information about these to the mailing lists so that there can be greater awareness of what conferences which are coming up. General business 1. information from the Royal Historical Society Conference. The importance of local studies staff was coming through at their meeting, and concern about the decline of local studies librarians in some councils. 2. Digitising vertical file materials -issues and concerns -one council has started digitising vertical files. Are doing to Trove standards as pdf, and uploading to catalogue. Will have one pdf per vertical file. Are also having the files as jpg and tiff. -Question about how much sorting had to be done – are removing duplicates, filing in order by date, Are treating newspapers separately, but are digitising the newspaper sections within the vertical files (this is triggering major copyright discussion). They are keeping their vertical files, in the archives. Will soon be digitising the ratebooks, 3. Committee members for next year? Call for new committee members – Donna and Geoff happy to continue but would like a couple of more people – it would help with the work. Thomas MacRae, Auburn City Council will be joining the committee. 4. Dates for meeting next year planned. Parramatta Heritage Centre Thursday 28 May 2015 9.30 am – 4pm.Wollongong Library Thursday 29 October 2015 5. Mention of Royal Botanic Gardens register of poppy seeds sent to the family members of people who had family members died in Villers-Bretonneux, Has been indexed and will shortly be going up. 6. Discussion of ideas for the next meeting - includediscussion about cooperative purchases, like drones, grants, planning important, cooperative grants could be an option, oral histories going online – how to do, how to improve representation of cultural diversity in local studies collection,

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