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Minutes for 15 October 2015

Local Studies Librarians' Meeting

Minutes of meeting held at Wollongong Library, Thursday 15 October 2015 9.30am-3.30pm

Attendance: Marilyn Gallo (Cabramatta), Donna Braye (Mosman), Ellen Forsyth (SLNSW), Ronald Briggs (SLNSW), Geoffrey Potter (Gosford) Thomas MacRae (Auburn), Roxanne Seaward (Wingecarribee), Helen McDonald (Sutherland) , Amie Zar (Leichhardt), Anniee Hyde (Ashfield), Megan Pitt (Tamworth), Aleem Aleemullah (Marrickville), Michael Adams (Willoughby), Ken Donnellan (Kiama), Tanya Leonardi (Wollongong), Lisa Matuzelis Wollongong, Catherine Ryan (Wollongong), Hilary Powell (Wollongong) Steph Daly (Wollongong), Jo Oliver (Camden), Peter Douglass (Central West), Lisa Perugini (Strathfield), Kirstin Cox (Campsie), Karen Richardson (Hornsby, Stephanie Bailey (Sutherland), Mirjana Djukic (Ku-ring-gai), Michelle Nichols (Hawkesbury), Andrew Allen (Campbelltown), Samantha Stephenson (Campbelltown), Jennifer Madden (Bankstown), Bruce Carter (SLNSW), Ben Carter (Lake Macquarie), Catherine Hardie (Canterbury).

Apologies: Billie Arnull (Wingecarribee), Amanda Cline (Queanbeyan), Brigid Whitbread (Queanbeyan), Janelle Cundy (Lakes Entrance VIC.), Kasia Malicka (Burwood), Neera Sahni (Parramatta), Michelle Goldsmith (Wyong), Gillian Drew (Mulwaree).

1. Wollongong City Library manager Mark Norman welcomed those gathered and briefly described the efforts of Wollongong's successful Friends of the Library program and how his Library started a $5,000 history prize for original local history research. See details at: http://www.wollongong.nsw.gov.au/library/activities/whatshappening/Pages/Local-History-Competition.aspx

2. Illawarra Mercury photograph Collection: Wollongong City Library.

In March 2014 the Illawarra Mercury photograph and negative archives were gifted to Wollongong City Library.
An agreement was struck with Fairfax Media to make the Collection publically available, and to Fairfax journalists specifically.
28 Filing cabinets of hardcopy images were received. Challenge to extract and digitise local images. Most images date from the 1980s and 1990s. The images will be added to Illawarra Images. The negative collection spans the years 1962-1995. 3.5 runs of compactus space are needed to store negative. Photographers' Day Books and indexes provide some access to the negative Collection.
A trial project has been run in order to establish how to approach such an enormous project, and to set guidelines for future (hopefully funded) projects using the Collection. The process involved selecting a month between 1962-1999 and select all article records from Newspapers index. Of these, refine down to those that mention a photograph. Determine which articles would be suitable to add to Illawarra Images. To use the negative Collection it is necessary to retrieve all corresponding boxes or folders that related to selected month. Librarian sorts through negatives to identify suitable frames to digitise for Illawarra images and those that match the previously selected Illawarra Index articles i.e. those with photographs attached.
Scanning is at 800dpi TIFF 250mm standard. Store Tiff to Local History Archive. JPeg to K Drive 65-85KB, 90-150dpi, 1000px. Create Thumbnail in same folder. Catalogue using custom template. Use summaries from indexed article where possible. Record that the public sees on OPAC will point to existence of linked article. Selection is time intensive but scanning more time intensive. Large blocks of uninterrupted time and access to equipment needed. The Negative Collection is the initial focus, hardcopy prints to follow later. More funding is needed for further equipment, dedicated staff time and software. More time is needed owing to the time intensive nature of the IM projects. Consecutive hours are essential for good progress. Process is approached Chronologically. Software can assist efficiency. The whole process value adds to the Collection.

Wollongong City Library's Illawarra Mercury presentation

3. Indigenous Services at SLNSW: Ronald Briggs SLNSW Indigenous Librarian

Ronald discussed the role of the Indigenous Services Team. They are interested in what Local Libraries may have in indigenous resources
Collections and Collecting. SLNSW would like to start examining indigenous holdings in local libraries. SLNSW wants as far as possible for local resources to remain locally held in public libraries. An informal survey of highlights of your Local Studies Collection would help SLNSW get a picture of holdings around the State.
SLNSW Indigenous Collection Strategy has been developed, encouraging local collection of indigenous community documents, ephemera, etc. If Libraries are sent or collect modern material please try to send an extra copy to Indigenous Services at SLNSW.
SLNSW has an online guide to Indigenous family history http://guides.sl.nsw.gov.au/aboriginal-australians
NTSCorp can assist indigenous people in NSW with access to family history material contained in Native Title related documentation. http://www.ntscorp.com.au/ Similar agencies operate in other Australian States and Territories.
SLNSW Indigenous Services can advise on Protocols and how to approach and deal with indigenous communities respectfully. If your Council has an indigenous Liaison Officer then approaches to communities can be made through them.
A major project in recent times has been the Rediscovering Indigenous Languages Project, where indigenous language material is located and extracted from SLNSW Collections http://indigenous.sl.nsw.gov.au/ Digitised pages of original documents containing language material is provided to enhance access to remote communities and contextual information on how and why the material was first collected.
The website for Indigenous Services at SLNSW is http://www.sl.nsw.gov.au/services/indigenous/

4. Austinmer Project: Sue Boaden, Cultural Planner

Austinmer lies between Thirroul and Coledale on the coast north of Wollongong. This project aims to record Austinmer's stories. Generation of unique cultural content is important and the future.
Sue had participated in various digital oral history projects including Memory Bank, Sydney Harbour Federation Trust. What to do next? A digital storytelling course
Project partnership approach adopted to research Austinmer's social and cultural history using digital oral history. Partnership developed with Wollongong Public Library. The pilot project was Pro Bono. Solid partnership agreement important.
Project purpose, scope etc was negotiated. Based on OHAA and NLA advice Audacity open source software was used for editing http://audacityteam.org/ . Sound recording was done using a TASCAM DR40 recorder http://tascam.com/product/dr-40/
Who pays what? Australia St Company/SBCP equipment/travel/software/postage/time. Wollongong Library liaison/uploading/Library Management/time/postage/marketing.
Pre-interview form/Formal invitation to participate/ Clearance form etc. Complicated process but very necessary.
Transcripts are expensive but indexing can provide economical access. Progress with project to 2015…8 interviews completed plus 1 pending. Evaluate for quality of access/viability/quality/Governance and Management/participation. Next steps …Promotion and marketing/explore similar project for another suburb.
2012 First interviews received. Recorded and stored as manuscript. 2014 Library purchase Blis - digital archive. 2015 start experimenting with BLIS, storing audio recordings and maps. Process for storing/archiving new project interviews is revised. Improved access via Wollongong Public Library catalogue. Electronic content via Blis. Originally WAV file converted to MP3. Works on smart phone, Apple and Android. Dapto may be next project in line.

Sue Boaden's presentation

5.Regional Virtual Museum project: Rebecca Jones, Museum Consultant and Project Coordinator at Old Shops in Australia

Museums and Galleries of NSW offers a Museum Advisory Service http://mgnsw.org.au/sector/about-us/ which provides advice for community museums. Councils are asked to contribute $7,000 per annum to support the program. There are 15 Museum advisors in NSW. Museum Advisory Service encourages Council engagement with volunteer run museums.
In lieu of a regional museum Wollongong City has adopted the idea of a Virtual Museum. $35,000 grant to start Virtual Museum, designed to boost profile & help communities tell stories and recognise the importance of local museums. In the Illawarra examples of local museums in the project include The Australian Motorlife Museum http://motorlifemuseum.com/, Industrial heritage groups, Lost Wollongong http://lostwollongong.com/, libraries, family history groups etc. Questions asked include: What is your favourite object? Project aims to tell stories and heighten connection to place. Representative content from indigenous/migrant/clubs/groups is included e.g. Carnamah Historical Society and Museum in Western Australia http://www.carnamah.com.au/ . Exhibitions and displays may not last forever, but much of the effort in mounting a display can be preserved online. Other good examples include: Our Rivers, Our History http://www.oroh.com.au/ and Italian immigration in the Illawarra http://www.vmiii.com.au/

6. Hackagong: Nathan Waters, founder of Wollongong's Hackagong competition

Hackagong started in 2012 in a small way. Nathan described the idea: form teams of people with design, code, business or tinkering skills, and get together over the weekend to build something awesome in 30 hours. There are money prizes, and the chance that your team will be spotted by talent scouts from major software companies.
Outcomes include website designs, amazing 3D printed items, Apps etc. See some of the projects here: http://hackagong.com/ The potential level of support for ideas created at Hackagong can be gauged through its crowd funding model using "backers". Look at the website to see what ideas were popular in different years.
Hackagong is now a huge annual event, attracting major sponsors. Similar events are held in Sydney and other centres.

7. General Business

Question raised as to whether Libraries were keeping or disposing their Microfilm SMH now that it is on TROVE until 1954. No real consensus, some libraries keep the films, others have disposed of them, some keep for pictorial content (as good images may sometimes be better obtained for microfilm than TROVE). Similar questions raised regarding obsolete Family History resources eg. NSW BDM on CD-ROM. Many of these appear to be unplayable on modern computers. A macro may be available to make these CD ROMs playable again see: http://www.peppermintfence.com/BDMRevival_help.htm
Charging businesses for photograph scans. Hi resolution custom scans are generally charged for across libraries. Some libraries don't charge but require clear attribution displayed with image. Canterbury doesn't charge, as they feel that as the image is often freely obtained, users should not be charged.
Is there an elegant solution for capturing social media for Local Studies Collections? Social media created daily in massive amounts. Question needs to be addressed in Local Studies Collections. Social media volume collecting can be done. This approach works well around major events e.g. Anzac Day 2015. Such collecting can provide a barometer of community interest around significant events, and reaction at local level. If anyone knows of an effective means of collecting/accessing social media please post on ALIA Local Studies List.
Local Studies audit. Ellen Forsyth reported that Blue Jeans used for meetings despite difficulties. Video conferencing saves time and travelling. Improvements evident as participants become accustomed to the medium. 5 Groups - Why do we have Local Studies Collections?/ Collection Development/Managing Collections/Service Delivery. Good research is identified. What gaps exist in research? Put up notes/questions/annotate. Take good practice from elsewhere and incorporate some new content. The groups are meeting and material is being found. Please look at the Wiki, even if not in a group. You can add content or suggestions http://referenceandinformationservices.wikifoundry.com/page/Local+studies+audit+work+in+progress Hopefully a solid draft will be ready by mid 2016.
Possible Oral History training program for libraries. Ellen Forsyth said that there is a possibility of SLNSW offering local history training in 2016.
Thanks to Wollongong City Library staff and speakers for a great day.

Next meeting to be held on 17 March 2016 at Hornsby Library 10.00 - 4.00pm. More details will be available closer to the time.. Meeting closed 3pm. Please notify committee members of ideas for future meeting topics. Current Committee: Donna Braye (Mosman); Thomas MacRae (Auburn); Ellen Forsyth (SLNSW); and Geoffrey Potter (Gosford)

Next meeting and agenda local studies

Minutes local studies

Wider local studies This provides information about the national local studies network.