Fostering family and local history in libraries: the Hawkesbury experience.

• Author: Nichols, Michelle
• Position: Essay

There has never been a better time to be a researcher. So much material is being digitised, indexed and made easily accessible for research. Many researchers can work from the comfort of their own home, so how do we ensure that local studies collections remain appropriate and appealing? Over the years, Hawkesbury, Library has encouraged interaction with researchers and as a result the local studies collection has gone from strength to strength. Other strategies to keep the collection relevant include promotion of collection strengths; educating the community about resources; assisting local and family historians to be better researchers and engaging the community with events and programs that have a history focus. Hawkesbury Library does not have all of the answers but has risen to the challenge facing all local studies collections. Edited paper presented at the conference A sense of place: local studies in Australia and New Zealand Sydney 5-6 May 2011.

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The experiences of most local studies librarians are fairly similar--we deal with comparable issues, working within our community and dealing with collections, accumulating materials, making collections accessible, preserving items, working with limited resources, digitising, and promoting.

The following paper focuses on fostering family and local history in libraries and is the experience of Hawkesbury Library Service based at Windsor, about 80 minutes west of Sydney on its outskirts and rural fringe.

Very many people have been, or are in the process of, exploring their family history. Not only is research undertaken on specific families but also on the localities and communities these families belonged to. The early twenty first century has never been a better time to be a researcher. So much material is being digitised, indexed and made easily accessible for research. Many researchers can now work from the comfort of their own home, so how do we ensure that local studies collections remain appropriate and appealing?

Profile

The Hawkesbury area has a very rich history. The Dharug and Darkinjung Aboriginal people were the original inhabitants. Governor Phillip first explored the Hawkesbury River in 1789 whilst looking for suitable agricultural land. It is one of oldest European settlements in Australia. By 1794 settlers were established in the area. This region played a significant role in the initial development of the colony and sustained the inhabitants with produce and livestock. Some families arrived in the 1790s to early 1800s and many stayed, while the next generations migrated to areas with more available land. As the district evolved a number of fine buildings were built and some of these survive today. A walk or drive through this district present a picture of diverse heritage. The area boasts a number of outstanding features including the Hawkesbury, Colo and Grose rivers as well as vast national parks and unique bushlands. The local government area covers about 3000 square kilometres, with a smallish population of 65,000. The two main towns are Windsor and Richmond plus a number villages and rural landscapes.

Local studies collection

Despite a 'large proportion of libraries' not having a 'specific space allocated for local studies' in the eighties, (1) Hawkesbury was fortunate to have a spacious new library built in 1980. To put the Hawkesbury Library into perspective, the local studies collection was established in the early 1980s. It originally consisted of a bay of shelves at the end of the reference collection to store a few local history books. The role of local studies librarian was one in which no staff member was interested, so with a passion for history I took on the responsibility. The collection grew and began to expand with materials, newspapers and church records on microfilm. The pamphlet collection was established with one cabinet--now there are sixteen. As history gained importance towards the Australian bicentennial in 1988, more and more material began to appear and we actively sought primary resources to add to the collection. People were interested in where they came from, and family history became a very popular pastime. Although local history had a much higher profile in the community, on the whole it was the family historians conducting research and making their research available who made a difference. The lead up to and around the bicentenary was a time when libraries experienced the pressure from the community to provide historical information about the community...