Comments on: Local Studies Centres in Australia & New Zealand: Unknown and Under-appreciated?

By: Edith Fry

Edith Fry — Wed, 11 May 2011 04:44:29 +0000

Thanks for the blog posting Shauna, I also was at the conference and enjoyed it – I was impressed with the military precision too, on time every day! It is interesting to see what others are doing and to be reassured we at Ballarat are ‘on the right track’. I came away re-enthused and re-motivated, being reminded that local studies really contributes to the civic pride and social fabric of “our place” wherever that is – fantastic job all librarians! If only there was more recognition both from above and below – so go and meet your local librarians, and find out what they are doing for you.

By: Geniaus

Geniaus — Tue, 10 May 2011 01:13:20 +0000

What a coincidence – I blogged about the Parramatta Heritage Centre last week!
I always visit the local library when on a genealogy trip – have found some great local resources.

By: Liz Pidgeon

Liz Pidgeon — Mon, 09 May 2011 23:48:00 +0000

Thanks for the blog posting and links Shauna. I attended the conference which I found very worthwhile. It is always interesting to see what other libraries are doing out there. We were encouraged to partner and get to know our local history groups and the resources that they have which supplement our own local history collections. The Library can be a gateway to the local knowledge in the community. I am sure that there were many more stories in the audience of successful programs libraries are running to promote our communities local history. Local history is family history’s big brother they say – I encourage all family and local history researchers to find out what their local library has to offer. Yarra Plenty Regional Library in partnership with Darebin and Moreland councils in Melbourne facilitate the wiki website Wikinorthia: documenting life in Melbourne’s north at http://www.wikinorthia.net.au

By: Judy Webster

Judy Webster — Mon, 09 May 2011 07:50:56 +0000

Thanks for sharing all that information. When I did the Grad. Dip. Local and Applied History (University of New England) in the early 1990s, a lot of my fellow students were Local Studies librarians, mainly from NSW but a couple from Qld.

By: Helen Smith

Helen Smith — Mon, 09 May 2011 07:17:47 +0000

Excellent topic and it sounds a great conference. Local studies are a defintely a fantastic resource that are very under-utilised by family historians. This was the key point in an article I wrote for History and Genealogy 2011 and is something I feel strongly about.