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**Minutes NSW Local Studies Librarians meeting**
 
**Local Studies Librarians’ Meeting 21 November 2023**

Tamworth and online. 
**  * Tamworth Community Centre
  * 3A Darling Street Tamworth, NSW 2340**

The meeting was streamed, recorded and made available online.  Participation in this meeting is your agreement to this.

{{youtube>lF3V-WHI5Is}} 

Present online: Adrienne Brown; Alison Wishart; Andrew Allen; Angela Phippen - Ryde; Belinda Vanderhel; Brigid Queanbeyan QPRC; Candisd; Courtney Simpson; Fran - Goulburn; Gialy; Gillian Allen, Ryde Library Service; Haining; Helen; Helen Thompson; Hilary Powell - Wollongong City Libraries; Jenny - Strathfield; Jessica - Ku-ring-gai; Jessica - Ku-ring-gai (Jess); joliver; Karen Richardson; Lauren Allan - MSL; Loretta Di Totto
Maribel Morales R_Cumberland_libraries (Maribel Morales Rosales -Cumberland); Marilyn Gallo; Mark Petts; Megan Crook; Michael - SLNSW; MirandaH; Pauline Kidd Camden Libraries; Ravneet Gill; Roz Thomson; Ruth Bingham - Central West Libraries; Sarah Ranclaud; Sarah-Louise - Cumberland City Council Library; SFigueroa; Sharelle Ravenscroft; simonet; Sue Miller - Hornsby Libraries (Sue Miller); Sue Ryan; Tara_Liverpool Library; Veronica Shaw @ Parkes; Victoria; Victoria Bateman - Bathurst Library (Victoria.Bateman)

Present onsite: Robin King; Tully Boundy-Collis; Donna Braye; Michelle Nichols; Shiralee Franks; Megan Pitt; Robin	King; Naomi Blakey; Miranda Heckenberg; Geoffrey Potter; Gae Sipple; Belinda Lancey; Lorrayne FISHENDEN; Makishia Felton; Fiona Sills; Robyn Draper, Ellen Forsyth

**NSW Local Studies Librarians’ Meeting at Tamworth Community Centre, 3A Darling Street, Tamworth**

21 November 2023 9.15-4pm

9. 15 - 9.30 Welcome and Acknowledgement of Country: Donna Braye, Mosman Library and organising Committee member welcomed everyone, delivered acknowledgement to Country and introduced next speaker, Naomi Blakey.

9.30 – 10.10 Naomi Blakey, Museum Operations and Visitor Engagement, First City of Light and the Country Music Festival, one city with a rich history {{ :wiki:naomi_-_first_city_of_light_country_music_capital.pdf |Presentation}} Naomi spoke about the history of Tamworth PowerStation Museum - Why Tamworth- On the 9th of November 1888 Tamworth became the first city in the South Hemisphere to have municipally funded electric street lighting. 100 years later on the site of Tamworth’s first PowerStation Australia’s only electric museum was opened.  Collection Highlights: - Tamworth Borough Council “Veness” Letter book (1888-1890) - John Fowler Steam Engine No. 7586 (1896) - Last Australian Telegram (1993) - Dowsing Radiant Four Bulb heater (c1911) - Maytag Washing Machine (1929). In 1969, Radio 2TM proclaimed Tamworth as Australia’s ‘Country Music Capital’. Only four years later 2TM launched the Tamworth Country Music Festival and staged the first Australasian Country Music Awards. Collection Highlights: - Rodney Walk One Man Band (c1980s) - Rocky Cameron’s Three-Piece Cowboy Suit (1951) - Gordon Parsons Fish Shaped Tackle Box (1980 -81) - Karen Lee’s Homemade Redback on a Toilet Seat stage costume (1980) - Country Music Awards footage by Chanel 7 (1980s -2000s).

10.15 – 10.50 Mark Petts, Director, Imaging Australia New Zealand Scanning Microform by ScanPro (online){{ :wiki:mark_-_imaging_australia_0_nz_presentation.pdf | Presentation}}  Ian delivered a brief history of the company, “Imaging Australia and New Zealand” (IANZ), Common ways for organisations to use microform, the new version of ScanPro and its innovative features.  He then went to explain the upgrade options. Cost range between $11,00 for the standard unit and $18,000 for the 3500 all in one unit. Most libraries who have ScanPro are happy with its functionality. 

As the meeting is ahead of time, it was decided to cover some of the general business issues.  Ellen reported on Wider Local Studies and RAHS conference reports from those who attended and are present at this meeting. Some of the wider Local studies' National collaboration presentations, one being a cataloguing session that was helpful and generated follow-up and questions. Other interesting presenters were Meagan Crook's on oral histories; Angela Griffin on a program English and Mandarin; Queensland oral history around surfers. Comments from the audience were positive and highlighted that all states take different approaches and have unique ways and approaches which make it very interesting.

10.55 – 11.15 Morning Tea

11.20 - 12 Roz Thomson, Community Partnership Office and Kim Manwarring, Manager Community Services, Muswellbrook Shire Council, In Our Own Words: An Aboriginal Oral History Project {{ :wiki:oral_history_project_-_presentation.pdf | Presentation}} [[http://upperhunter.workingwithindigenousaustralians.info/|In our own words - website]]  The project included 19 video interviews, an exhibition and a book. Project was from the ground up, funding from ACDF $111,000 and in-kind matched by Muswellbrook council. Participants were involved throughout the project. Oral histories were transcribed by staff to ensure their accuracy. It was a good project as it engaged the community from the beginning. 

12 – 1 General Business

1. Simone Taylor, Local Studies Officer, Dubbo, Time Management: a group discussion. Attendees are invited to discuss and share techniques used in handling the unique demands of local studies {{ :wiki:simone_-_time_management_tips_presentation_1.pdf |Presentation}}  Simone suggested tips to improve time management by understanding how you use your time, how to manage interruptions, schedule priorities in a structural way, create to do lists, avoid multitasking; delegate where possible; outsource auto tasks and learn to say "no" at times. Participants feedback was to turn off email alerts, avoid multitasking and stick with priorities.

2. NSW State Government’s new Arts, Culture and Creative Industries policy currently under development and open for submission (Simone)	
The NSW State Government is developing a new Arts and Culture Policy based on the Federal Governments National Cultural Policy The policy is currently under review and is due to be delivered in Dec 2023. 
More information at: https://www.haveyoursay.nsw.gov.au/arts-culture-creative-industries-policy
My team at the Western Plains Cultural Centre attended one of the consultation meetings some of the things we highlighted included: The onerous nature of State Governments Grants and Acquittal procedures; Lack of support for long term digital archiving; Need for ongoing funding to manage and develop collections 

3. Wider Local Studies reports from those who attended and are present at this meeting.
Good opportunity to be involved in a national collaboration focused on Local Studies with presenters from every state and territory. A highlight  was the presentation on cataloguing Aboriginal cultural materials presented by Northern Territories libraries. Other talks showcased what other institutions were collecting or not collecting. Ellen Forsyth noted a lack of collecting around linguistically diverse communities. For those who missed it the conference is available online. 
Planning for next meeting is under way possibly June 2024. 


4. Royal Australian Historical Society Conference reports from those who attended and are present at this meeting.
Fran (Goulburn) attended/presented at the conference and noted it was a diverse and interesting conference. Good overview of what’s happening in different organisations, museums, history groups. A good way to network and engage with the sector. Alison (Bayside) found the conference relevant to local studies practitioners. Good professional development opportunity. Angela (Ryde) said it was good to get back face to face, and have opportunities to network. The conference had a good mix of academic and practical papers. One interesting conference presentation she mentioned was ‘Digitisation – is it the panacea we have been told it is?’ and questioned the vulnerability of the digital records.  

Lunch 1- 2 

2 – 2.40 Miranda Heckenberg, Consultant, Endless Access – Digitising Tamworth Regional Council’s Cultural Collections

In 2020 Tamworth Regional Gallery and Museum received a grant from the NSW Governments’ Digitisation project through the Regional Cultural Fund. The Tamworth project partners included Australian Country Music Hall of Fame, Tamworth Powerhouse, Tamworth Regional Gallery and Museum Tamworth Film and Sound Archive, Moonbi Museum; all council owned collections. 
Funding allowed for upgrading hardware and software to facilitate digitisation.  A number of the Tamworth collections use the Vernon Ehive Database. The collection can be viewed online via the website at: https://collection.tamworthregionalgallery.com.au/explore

Tamworth’s digitisation project was also part of the online ‘Storeyplace’ a pilot project by Museums and Gallery NSW, accessed at: Stories About the History and Culture of NSW - Storeyplace Each object featured on Storeyplace includes standard cataloguing information plus an in- depth story about the object and high quality digital images. 

The following proved very useful - Community Heritage Grants, NLA, the booklet ‘Significance 2.0’- guidelines for assessing the significance of heritage collections. Accessed at: Significance 2.0 | Office for the Arts ‘Crystal Clear’ provided guidance and standards for digitising collections. Accessed at: Crystal Clear: standards and guidance for digitising regional collections - MGNSW
Storing Digital images is also something that needs to be managed carefully. 
Tamworth Regional Film and sound archive – able to digitise parts of the collection with the purchase of a Cintel Black Magic Scanner with the help of the Digitisation grant funding. The archive undertook a Preservation Needs Heritage Assessment (funded by a Cultural Heritage Grant. The assessment noted the need for a digital preservation strategy to ensure the survival of the audio-visual collection. 

Local Studies in a Flash

2.45 – 2.50 Jo Oliver, Specialist Local Studies, Wollongong Bonnie Vale: art, photos and oral histories in an exhibition (online) {{ :wiki:jo_-_wcl_-_bonnie_vale_exhibition_art_photos_and_oral_histories.pdf |Presentation}}

2.55 – 3 Marilyn Gallo, Heritage Services Fairfield, Bite the Bullet – Digitisation of Fairfield’s vertical file collection (online){{ :wiki:marilyn_-_bite_the_bullett.pdf |Presentation}}

3 - 3.05 Megan Pitt, Collection Team Leader Library Resources, Tamworth Library’s Local Studies Collection {{ :wiki:megan_-_lstu_meeting_v2.pdf |Presentation}}

3.05 – 3.30 Final discussions followed by a tour of the Museum.

The next meeting will be 12 March 2024 at Burwood Library. It will be onsite and online.