Travelling Librarian 2013

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Travelling Librarian 2013

9th October – 30th October 2013

Kirsten McCormick

Librarian, General Services

The Mitchell Library, Glasgow

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Contents

1. Acknowledgements 4

2. Personal profile and context 4

3. Preparation and planning 5

4. Objectives 6

5. Itinerary 7

6. Library profiles

i. State Library of Queensland, Brisbane 8

ii. Fryer Library, University of Queensland, Brisbane 9

iii. State Library of New South Wales and the Mitchell Library, Sydney 9

iv. University of Technology Sydney Library, Kuring-gai campus 10

v. National Library of Australia, Canberra 11

vi. National Sports Information Centre at the Australian Sports Commission 12

vii. State Library of Victoria , Melbourne 12

7. Commonwealth and Olympic Games collections

i. Official documents 13

ii. Anti games and protest materials 14

iii. Ephemera 15

iv. Oral history collections 15

v. Electronic collections and crowd sourced content 16

8. Outcomes and reflection

i. Building collections 16

ii. Digitization 17

iii. Promoting access to collections 17

iv. Public programming and education 17

v. Social Media 18

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9. Appendices

i. Meeting with Cameron Morley, Manager of Funding and Advisory

Services for public library services, New South Wales 19

ii. Visit to Sydney Mechanics’ School of Arts Library 20

iii. Visit to Hume Global Learning Centres 21

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Acknowledgements

Special thanks are due to my generous sponsors at CILIP and the ESU without whom I would possibly

never have had such an exciting and far-reaching development opportunity, especially Mary Greer,

Guy Daines and John Lake.

I am very grateful to my colleagues at Glasgow Life and Glasgow Libraries for all of their support in

enabling me to undertake this trip, particularly Jill Miller, Mark O’Neill, Karen Cunningham, Pamela

Tulloch, Josephine Aitken, Patricia Grant and Myra Paterson.

Many thanks are due to all of the libraries and museums staff that welcomed me during my trip, and

provided very generously of their time and insight: Penny Lau, Sharon Nolan, Maxine Fisher, Katie

Woods, Katina Davidson, Laurie McNeice, Amanda Winters, Jerelynn Brown, Sally Scholfield, Jackie

Edwards, Sue Halbwirth, Richard Neville, Andy Carr, Wendy Holtz, Janice Howie, Kay Hynes, Jo

Hennock, Cameron Morley, Peter Cox, Margy Burn, Erica Ryan, Catherine Aldersey, Kevin Bradley,

Russell Latham, Liam Wyatt, Wan Wong, Nat Williams, Christine May, Greg Blood, Dr Ralph Richards,

Margaret Griffith, Deb Tout-Smith, Rose Bollen, Janice Van de Velde, Justine Hyde, Robert Heather,

Sue Roberts, Andrew Battaglia, Chris Butler, Leneve Jamieson, Jo Ritale, Des Cowley, Madeleine Say,

Kevin Molloy, Tim Hogan, Andrew Hiskins, Anna Burkey, Justine Hyde, Joanna Naidoo, Marea

Ekladious, Amanada Forde, Mieke Mellars.

I am also grateful to all members of ESU branches who extended their very generous hospitality,

including Ann Garm, Deborah Arthur, Richards Macedo, Marilyn Jenner, Robert Furlan.

Personal Profile and Context

In 2014, Glasgow will host its first ever Commonwealth Games with Glasgow Life delivering key

elements of the Games on behalf of the Organising Committee (the company set up to deliver the

Commonwealth Games). This will include ceremonies, culture and the Queen’s Baton Relay. Glasgow

Libraries are a sub-brand of Glasgow Life who deliver cultural and leisure services for the city’s

residents and visitors on behalf of Glasgow City Council.

The Mitchell Library in Glasgow is one of Europe’s largest public libraries and the headquarters of a

citywide network of 33 community library and information services. As a General Services Librarian

at the Mitchell, I contribute to the development and promotion of our collections. Aside from

libraries acting as collectors, we will be working with museums and archives to deliver local and

international events and activities that focus on sports, the games and shared commonwealth

experiences. Our libraries will play an important role, not only in delivering events and encouraging

engagement, but in managing and archiving associated collections.

As a relatively new member of staff at the Mitchell and currently working towards chartered

membership of CILIP, I have development needs in the areas of acquisitions and collection

management. The Travelling Librarian Award has afforded me the unexpected opportunity to visit a

Commonwealth partner in the process of addressing these needs and also to gather knowledge that

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will inform what we do operationally at the Mitchell Library to acquire, build and manage collections

around the Commonwealth Games and major events of the future.

I chose to visit Australia because it has won the bid to host the Commonwealth Games more times

than any other country and its key libraries also have significant Olympic Games collections. Social

media and digital content strategies feature heavily in the planning documents of Australian libraries

and I was keen to find out about the use of web archiving software to capture online content,

building electronic collections and the use of social media to share information and to target

unofficial materials that are created in the context of major international events.

Preparation and Planning

I decided to visit libraries in the Commonwealth host cities of Brisbane (1982) and Melbourne (2006)

as well as the Olympic host city of Sydney (2000) and the capital city of Canberra which is home to

the National Library of Australia and the National Sports Information Centre within the Australian

Sports Commission. It would also have been of interest to visit Gold Coast city to find out whether

and what they have started planning for libraries involvement in 2018 but the additional travel

would have meant scaling back plans in the other three cities which I decided against.

A number of institutions were identified in each of the cities including the State Libraries which have

legal deposit status, university libraries and information centres. Since Glasgow Libraries and

Museums work closely as partners under the same umbrella organization I decided to include

museums in my visit itinerary as well.

Initial contacts at Australian libraries were identified through the library’s own websites and the

professional networking site LinkedIn. Initial contact was made via e-mail outlining the focus of my

study proposal, intended outcomes and requesting assistance in programming a visit. Janice Van de

Velde, Policy and Research Manager at the State Library of Victoria, was one of the first to respond

to my e-mails and made many introductions on my behalf at institutions across the three states.

In preparation for the trip I arranged a series of internal meetings with Glasgow Life Managers

including the Cultural Director and Director of Policy and Research to gain an overview of the

structure of games delivery and the strategic framework within which our organization will deliver

Culture 2014 (a year long Scotland-wide cultural programme starting with ‘One Year to Go’) and

Festival 2014 (the Glasgow-based Games time celebration).

I met with colleagues in Glasgow Libraries including our Head of Libraries, Senior Archivist and

Principal Librarian of Special Collections to discuss our planning around education and engagement;

events and activities, and acquisitions and collections. A number of legacy and engagement groups

have been set up around the city between partners in education, sport, and area services which

work together to ensure that local people are involved with the Commonwealth Games and the

opportunities that are created and I have attended a number of their meetings to keep abreast of

what is happening at the community level.

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I also met briefly at the British Library with Simone Bacchini, curator for sport, sociology, media and

culture within the social sciences department to talk about published legacy and the British Library’s

Sport and Society website which was launched in 2010 in advance of London 2012.

Objectives

This is the first time during my employment at the Mitchell Library that I have been involved in

developing a collection around a transitory but major event in the city of Glasgow. As a major source

of social history information within the city, it is to be expected that our Commonwealth Games

collection will be reasonably comprehensive and certainly that we will be able to map to all other

collections relating to Glasgow 2014 for the researchers of the future. My primary aims were

therefore: to improve my understanding of how collecting strategies can be devised collaboratively

between institutions; to learn much more about using social media and crowd sourcing content to

develop collections and encourage engagement, and of course, to see examples of the materials

collected. Other objectives included:

Building relationships with colleagues in the Commonwealth of Australia and opening up

channels for future collaboration

Learning about the process of building and maintaining collections around an international

sporting event

Learning about managing digitization projects and using web archiving software to capture

online content

Finding out how libraries can contribute to the ongoing social legacy of the games

Sharing ideas on how libraries can optimize opportunities for advocacy through the wider

cultural programme and outreach projects associated with the event.

In pursuing these aims and objectives I hope to make a valuable contribution in preserving the

collective memory of Glasgow 2014.

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Itinerary

Most visits were scheduled over a whole day or half day although some required additional time on

a second visit and I also had a few one off meetings with individuals that were conducted over one

or two hours.

Brisbane

State Library of Queensland

Fryer Library, University of Queensland.

Meeting Peter Kearns (Director PASCAL International Exchanges) and Dr. Denise Reghenzani Kearns

(Regional President, Australian College of Educators).

Sydney

University of Technology, Sydney Library

Mitchell Library

State Library of New South Wales in Sydney

Powerhouse Museum

Sydney Mechanics’ School of Arts Library

Meeting with Cameron Morley (Manager Funding & Advisory Services, Public Library Services, State

Library of NSW)

Canberra

National Library of Australia.

National Sport Information Centre within the Australian Sports Commission

Melbourne

State Library of Victoria in Melbourne

Melbourne Museum

Hume Global Learning Centres

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Library Profiles State Library of Queensland, Brisbane Website: www.slq.qld.gov.au

Kuril Dhagun – State Library of Queensland’s indigenous space

where the State of Emergency Exhibition was held in 2012

Founded originally as the Brisbane Public Library in 1896, the State Library of Queensland is located

in the cultural precinct of Brisbane where it co-locates with the Gallery of Modern Art, Queensland

Art Gallery, Queensland Museum and Queensland Performing Arts Centre. Receiving as legal deposit

all items published in Queensland, it is the central resource for Queensland’s documentary heritage

and reference collections. There are currently over 3.5 million items in the collections which are

comprised of the State Reference Library, Heritage Collections (the Australian Library of Art and the

John Oxley Library), and the Public Library Services.1

State Library of Queensland plays a lead role in serving all Queenslanders, through state-wide library

services and partnerships with over 340 public libraries, including 22 Indigenous Knowledge Centres.

The Library "respectfully acknowledges the traditional owners of the land (the Turrbal and Jagera

peoples) on which State Library of Queensland is located".2

In 2012 to mark the 30th anniversary of the 1982 Commonwealth Games, SLQ hosted a State of

Emergency exhibition reflecting on the events that took place in Brisbane, the political climate of the

time and the history of land rights for Indigenous Australians. The exhibition was displayed in SLQ's

indigenous knowledge centre, Kuril Dhagun, which collaborates with Aboriginal peoples and Torres

Strait Islander peoples to deliver programs for, with and by Indigenous communities.

1 http://trove.nla.gov.au/people/460664?c=people

2 http://www.slq.qld.gov.au/visit-us

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Fryer Library, University of Queensland, Brisbane Website: https://www.library.uq.edu.au/fryer-library The Fryer Library is the special collections branch of the University of Queensland and is a major

resource for rare, archival, and primary materials. The collections are a rich source of unique

materials that are valuable for researchers. Australian history and politics (particularly Queensland)

are well represented as is Australian literature.

As a seat of left-wing academia, many political and law students who attended UQ at the time of the

1982 Brisbane Games were opposed to the government stance on civil rights for indigenous

Australians. The University of Queensland Aboriginal Land Rights Support Group promoted the

activities of the protestors in connection with the Land Act Amendment Act (1982) and the

Commonwealth Games Act and encouraged sections of the white community to join in the struggle

for land rights. Left wing academics from out with the university would also send their papers here

rather than the State Library due to its sponsorship by government.

Fryer Library Reading Room

Image courtesy of The Fryer Library, University of Queensland Library

State Library of New South Wales and the Mitchell Library, Sydney Website: http://www.sl.nsw.gov.au/ The State Library of New South Wales is comprised of three wings – the Mitchell Library; the Dixson

Library and the Macquarie Street wing which houses the State Reference Library. The State

Reference Library offers specialist services such as the Legal Information Access Centre, the Health

Information Service and the Family History Service. It is home to collections of printed and electronic

information that support the information needs of the community. Collection strengths include

social sciences and humanities, history and geography, business and management, biography,

consumer health, Australian law, government, world wars, British colonial history, and library and

information science3.

3 http://www.sl.nsw.gov.au/about/collections/general/index.html

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The Mitchell Library is a special

section of the State Library. It was

founded on the bequest of wealthy

bibliophile, David Scott Mitchell and

holds early Australian books,

manuscripts and ephemera.

Together with the personal

collection of Sir William Dixson, it

provides Australia’s greatest

documentary record of cultural

heritage. Items are held in a variety

of formats including books, magazines and journals, government reports, pamphlets, posters,

performance programs, sheet music, newspaper cuttings, bookjackets, playbills and ephemera such

as menus and invitations4. Major treasures include the original journals of James Cook.

Sporting collections held in the Mitchell Library include the extensive E.S Marks collection (titles held

include chairman of the Australian Olympic Federation; vice chairman of the NSW Olympic Council

and chairman of the British Empire Games Australian Division) and the papers of Olympic athletes

including Basil Dickinson and Shane Gould.

The State Library appointed Olympic liaison librarians to answer FAQ’s and help guide researchers of

Sydney 2000. One of the Access and Information Librarians also volunteered at the first ever Olympic

research and information service centre for journalists at the Main Press Centre providing journalists

with round the clock reference and research services.

University of Technology, Sydney Library, Kuring-gai campus Website: http://www.uts.edu.au/research-and-teaching/our-research/australian-centre-olympic-studies

The Kuring-gai campus of UTS is located in Lindfield, an up-market suburb on Sydney's north shore. It

is recognized as a notable example of European ‘brutalist’ architecture and survived intact in a

bushfire in 1994 due to its design, which incorporates native bush plants in the courtyards and on

the roof.

The Library is home to the Australian Centre for

Olympic Studies (ACOS) which is endorsed by the IOC

(International Olympic Committee) and AOC

(Australian Olympic Committee). It has a dedicated

room within the library where all official post-games

reports; official results books; bid books, videos and

SOCOG (Sydney Organising Committee for the

4 http://www.sl.nsw.gov.au/about/collections/mitchell.html

Mitchell Library Reading Room

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Olympic Games) slides are housed. The collection supports the university’s teaching in the areas of

Olympic Games and Mega Events as well as other related subjects including Sport Management,

Sport Marketing and Event Management.

Many of the academics on UTS staff have sporting links through teaching research and community

involvement and “UTS has developed a research data base to assist in the organisation of similar

future events”.5

Sydney Mechanics' School of Arts – see Appendix National Library of Australia, Canberra Website: http://www.nla.gov.au/

Located in Canberra, Australia's capital city and

seat of the federal government, the National

Library of Australia is within short walking

distance of other socially and culturally significant

institutions including Parliament House, the High

Court, The National Portrait Gallery and the

National Gallery. The building's design was

inspired by the architect Walter Bunning's visit to

the Pantheon in Greece and specially

commissioned works of art both inside and

outside of the building including stained glass,

sculpture and tapestry reflect the classical style of the architecture.

As is to be expected of a National Library, the building houses the world's largest collection of

material relating to Australia and the Australian people. Captain James Cook is well represented, as

he is at the State Libraries, and his journal of the Endeavour is just one of the library's many unique

treasures.

The NLA maintains PANDORA, Australia’s Web Archive, collaboratively with nine other agencies

(including the State Libraries). All of the participating agencies fund their contribution to the archive

from their operational budgets and allocate staff to perform tasks of selecting, archiving and

cataloguing titles while the NLA administers, stores and maintains the technical infrastructure.

PANDORA contains excellent collections of sites (official and unofficial) related to Sydney 2000 and

Melbourne 2006.

5 http://www.uts.edu.au/research-and-teaching/our-research/australian-centre-olympic-studies/about-

centre/mission-and

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National Sports Information Centre, Canberra Website: http://www.ausport.gov.au/information/nsic The National Sports Information Centre located in the grounds of the Australian Institute of Sports in

Canberra is Australia's premier sports research library and information service, providing the

Australian Sports community with access to a comprehensive range of research resources. Primary

clients include ASC staff; AIS athletes; coaches and scientists; national sports organisations and peak

sport bodies; commonwealth, state and territory government agencies. The centre is also open to

the public.

The collections of the NSIC as a whole are scientifically and technically orientated in line with the

needs of the user base and contain a large number of audiovisual materials including the Australian

Paralympic Committee's collection of technical and sport footage and Paralympic Games broadcast

footage. There is also a small audiovisual team constantly engaged in recording and editing sports

broadcasts to build upon the collection.

The NSIC provides online access to research and information covering high performance sport,

sports development and participation through the Clearinghouse for Sport initiative which is

currently in phase two of a three phase implementation.

State Library of Victoria, Melbourne Website: http://www.slv.vic.gov.au/

The State Library of Victoria occupies an entire block in the central

business district of Melbourne. It was once known as ‘The

Institution’ because it shared the site with the museum, the

National Gallery, a natural history museum, schools of painting

and design and the 1866 Intercolonial Exhibition6. The domed La

Trobe Reading Room was designed to emulate the British

Museum in London. The emphasis of the library’s collections is on

papers, images and objects that record the social history of

Victoria. Unique items include Ned Kelly’s homemade armour.

The library collected widely around Melbourne 2006 and items

range from official documentation including the Bid Candidature

Committee presentation Melbourne: there’s no better place for

the Games; ephemera produced by government agencies including pamphlets, brochures,

factsheets, maps, merchandising, tickets, passes and invitations; and crowd sourced content such as

the Victoria at the Games Photo Archive which was originally a website hosted by the SLV and is now

archived on PANDORA.

The library also holds a wealth of material relating to the 1956 Melbourne Olympic Games including

bid documents, visitor’s guides, a complete set of Olympic programmes and the comprehensive E.A.

6 http://exhibitions.slv.vic.gov.au/dome100/dome-blogs/blog/australias-first-public-library

La Trobe Reading Room, State Library of Victoria

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Doyle collection. Edward Anthony Doyle (1892 – 1965) was a journalist and a member of The

Melbourne Invitation Committee for the 1956 Games and director of press and publicity for the XVI

Olympiad 1956. His collection includes “original documents relating to the invitation to, and

organisation of the XVI Olympic Games in Melbourne in 1956, comprising correspondence, minutes,

reports, newsletters, press releases, invitations, programmes, tickets, menus, and tape recordings of

the opening and closing ceremonies. Also press photographs, books, brochures, 2 flags, and an

Olympic torch”.7

Commonwealth and Olympic Games Collections

Official Documents At the State Library of New South Wales in Sydney, Jerelynn Brown, Manager of Collection Services

and Kay Hynes, Collection Development Librarian explained the convention of passing Olympic

Games records to the next host city so while they received the records of Atlanta 1996, Sydney 2000

records went to the 2004 hosts, Athens. Official records come directly from the Organising

Committees, or OCOG's, which are dissolved after the games. This can create difficulties in archiving

materials because there is no longer anyone from the originating organisation with whom to consult.

The Australian Centre for Olympic Studies at the UTS Library archives all of the bid books, official

post-games reports and results books. The collection supports the university’s teaching in the areas

of Olympic Games and Mega Events as well as other related subjects including Sport Management,

Sport Marketing and Event Management. The material is available for private study in the Olympic

Studies Room and many more resources are available for open access on the library shelves.

Librarian, Jackie Edwards, testified to the high regard in which UTS courses are held and the

university has been able to repeat some of their courses for attendees in other Olympic host cities

including Athens and Beijing.

The Library has links to the organizing committee through a UTS graduate who is a member and this

link has proven useful in acquiring various reports. In addition, many UTS academics maintain links

with the Olympic Games Organising Committees such as Professor Tracy Taylor, Deputy Dean, who

travelled to London 2012 to distribute uniforms to the Australian athletes.

The ACOS archive is quite extensive and holds research items including photographs, videos and

newspapers as well as the official reports. The university academics also maintain Olympic and

Paralympic bibliographies which are hosted on the UTS website.

7

http://search.slv.vic.gov.au/primo_library/libweb/action/dlDisplay.do?vid=MAIN&reset_config=true&docId=SL

V_DIGITOOL234618

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Anti Games and Protest Materials

At the Fryer Library, University of Queensland in Brisbane, I had the opportunity to examine quite a

number of primary sources held including political ephemera produced by organisations such as the

Black Protest Committee, Coalition against Racism and Repression; The Committee of Fifty;

Combined Campuses' Land Rights Support Group and the Foundation for Aboriginal and Island

Research Action. Materials included the flyers, leaflets and newsletters that were distributed by

activists inviting supporters to participate in civil disobedience and stand up for their rights during

the protests despite the fact that hundreds were arrested every day outside sporting venues across

Brisbane.

These same sources were fundamental to the research by Katina Davidson, curator of the 2012 State

of Emergency Exhibition at the State Library of Queensland. The exhibition was displayed in SLQ's

indigenous knowledge centre, Kuril Dhagun, which collaborates with Aboriginal peoples and Torres

Strait Islander peoples to deliver programs for, with and by Indigenous communities. A program of

events including talks and educational workshops accompanied the exhibition and I was kindly gifted

some protest badges that were created during one of the workshops.

Katina told me how she initiated the research for the exhibition through family ties and community

connections. The copyright of the video clips and photographs displayed are owned by community

groups and were used for the purposes of the exhibition with their permission.

Most contending Olympic and Commonwealth cities now produce anti Games alliances and / or

watchdog groups and a sample of the materials that they produce should be represented in the

documentary record – not least because controversy often courts social engagement. PANDORA

archives the websites of People Ingeniously Subverting the Sydney Olympic Farce (PISSOF), the Anti-

Olympics Alliance and Rentwatchers amongst others. Games Monitor, set up to raise “awareness

about issues within the London Olympic development processes”8 is preserved in the UK Web

Archive as should be the equivalent site of Glasgow Games Monitor 2014.

8 http://www.gamesmonitor.org.uk/about

Image courtesy of The Fryer Library, University of Queensland

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Ephemera Ephemera collections capture the stylistic and social customs of a time and place and are often representative of popular culture.

During my visit to the NLA I viewed and handled

items in the ephemera stack including fun items,

like sunscreen and a kangaroo-shaped bottle

opener issued as part of a spectator's pack at

Sydney 2000. Also, unique items including a

ceremonial medal cushion from Melbourne 1956

adorned with official athlete's pins from a large

number of participating countries that had been

received as an anonymous donation. The NLA is

well placed to receive such donations and has

recently employed a social media coordinator to further improve targeted collecting in the area of

ephemera.

Collections staff at the State Library of New South Wales had previously emphasized the important

role played by volunteers in collecting much of the ephemera associated with Sydney 2000, including

restaurant Olympic specials menus and other marketing materials used by local businesses. These

types of ephemeral publications are of special interest to researchers as they provide a snapshot of

the social life of the city during a major Games event.

The NLA cites “information content, visual and design elements, period representation, portraiture”

as the “key elements taken into consideration when selecting items for inclusion”9 in their

collections.

Oral History Collections At the National Sports Information Centre, the original librarian, Greg Blood, who is now AIS

Emeritus Researcher spoke about the divisive potential that major events can have within local

communities. People don't always approve of the decision to host a major Games event until after it

has taken place. Greg believes that oral histories and documentary footage of past events can be

used positively to engage and educate local communities.

Kevin Bradley (Manager of Sound Preservation and Technical Services) at NLA has worked previously

with the Australian Sports Commission and Sport Australia Hall of Fame, and more recently with

the Australian Paralympic Committee on an ongoing project to record whole of life interviews with

winning competitors from the first Paralympic Games in Rome in 1960). The interviews are typically

conducted over five hours providing the opportunity for intensive reflection over the highs and lows

of a career and the life events that impact upon it.

9 http://www.nla.gov.au/what-we-collect/ephemera

Audience Participation Kit, Sydney 2000 Opening Ceremony

Image courtesy of the Australian Centre for Olympic Studies, UTS

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Electronic collections and crowd sourced content Maxine Fisher, digital content co-ordinator in the Queensland Memory department at the State

Library of Queensland Maxine has responsibility for identifying and submitting online content to the

PANDORA Archive. Most online material is ephemeral and websites are frequently refreshed with

older versions rarely kept. There were more than 150 websites for the 2000 Sydney Olympics that

disappeared overnight at the end of the games and their only record is in PANDORA. The UK Web

Archive provided by the British Library is the UK equivalent and Maxine suggested that it might be

useful to contact them to find out more about how the online cultural records of Glasgow 2014 will

be archived.

At the University of Technology in Sydney, librarian Jackie Edwards started a Flickr group as part of

the Centre for Olympic Studies' Sydney 2000 Olympic and Paralympic Games anniversary exhibition

in 2010, encouraging members of the public to upload their own photographs of events.

Contributions were a little underwhelming, probably due to the lower prevalence of mobile devices

with imaging capabilities back in 2000, but as the amount of community produced content available

to gather in electronic formats rapidly expands so potentially does the breadth of collections that

libraries can build in relation to major events.

Most of the Libraries that I visited are involved to some degree in sharing parts of their collections

via online community channels such as HistoryPin, Pinterest, Flickr and Vimeo.

Outcomes and Reflection

During my trip I had access to the comprehensive documentary record of some of Australia’s major

Games events although items were spread out across collecting institutions. I viewed materials in a

variety of formats including bid documents and official reports of the organising committees; books;

videos; pamphlets, pictures and objects as well as electronic, archival and manuscript resources.

Viewing and handling some of the physical items afforded me a better sense of the life and times of

these very distinct host cities around Games time and the impact that sporting mega-events really

do have on the political and social life of a city and the people who live and work there.

Building Collections

Many of my conversations with staff were focused around planning collections: what and how to

collect, issues around deposit, identifying materials (especially small ephemeral publications) and

archiving the cultural programme. Mapping collections was also a recurring theme. Because of legal

issues around deposit and the practicalities of budget and resources, it is unlikely that any one

institution will ever hold the comprehensive record of the Games. Our responsibility as librarians is

to map collections and have the ability to signpost researchers appropriately.

To these ends, I have learned that developing links and opening channels of communication with all

sections of the community including other collecting institutions; the official organisations; sponsors;

local business; media and community groups is vital in endeavouring to capture the fullest possible

documentary record, rich and diverse in content, for future researchers. Since my return I have been

asked to develop an action plan that will engage representatives from across our services (libraries,

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museums and archives); ensure transparency around the roles of each and identify any gaps in our

current collection planning for Glasgow 2014.

Digitization At the NLA, Ms Wan Wong accompanied me on a visit to the digitisation and photography studio

where there is equipment to flatbed scan 2D materials and capture 3D objects. The NLA's digitisation

programme is extensive and Wan explained the some of the procedures that are gone through

before an item makes it into the studio. All of the items that are processed here are indexed and can

be found using Trove, an online search tool maintained by NLA in collaboration with other Australian

libraries, museums and galleries.

Promoting Access to Collections

Trove provides access to almost 400 million records including those of all resources that have been

digitized by Australian libraries and museums. The collaborative model of networked information

provision has many benefits and is almost certainly the best way forward in competing with

commercial providers and promoting our collections to users who have come to expect just in time

access and integrated online environments10. It is however a massive undertaking, requiring partner

institutions to overcome resourcing issues, different standards and platforms as well as cultural

difference. There is no such integrated platform in Scotland at present.

Liam Wyatt (Social Media Co-ordinator at the NLA) suggested that it might benefit the Mitchell

Library to consider having a Wikimedian in residence for a limited period of time around the

Games to help improve our Wiki presence. Wikimedians can be employed throughout part or the

entire period of a major event supporting staff to upload and update articles on Wikipedia, providing

multiple points of entry to our collections. Following up on this advice I have undertaken some

professional reading in the area of GLAM projects and research. Other social media options for

collecting and providing access via online community pages will also be investigated including

HistoryPin, Pinterest, Flickr and Vimeo.

Of course, we must ensure that other collecting institutions are mapping to us and that local

education establishments are aware of our collections. Anniversary events and activities will also

provide opportunities in the future to promote our Commonwealth collection and engage with new

audiences.

Public Programming and Education

Margaret Griffith, Education and Community Program Manager at Melbourne Museum talked about

the public program that was delivered during the Commonwealth Games 2006 and the Spirit of the

Games exhibition that opened in the touring hall of Melbourne Museum a mere seventy two hours

after the opening ceremony. The exhibition featured props, costumes and uniforms from the

10 Waibel, Gunter and Ricky Erway. 2009. “Think Global, Act Local – Library, Archive and Museum

Collaboration.” Museum Management and Curatorship, 24, 4. Pre-print available at

http://www.oclc.org/research/publications/library/2009/waibel-erway.mmc.pdf

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ceremony as well as objects, film footage and information about the history of the Commonwealth

Games, especially the Empire Games (precursor to the Commonwealth Games) held in Sydney in

1938; the 1962 Commonwealth Games in Perth, and the 1982 Brisbane Games.

As with London 2012, the cultural institutions had correctly anticipated that their visitor figures

would fall during the period of the Games. However a program must be delivered during this time,

as with all holiday periods, and the museum tied in the normal holiday program with a

Commonwealth theme. They also offered teacher professional development - primarily aimed at

those involved in delivering courses in design & technology, media, studio arts, visual

communication and anyone else using the Commonwealth Games as a theme in their classroom.

This included a talk by the baton designer, Paul Charlwood, and a showing of the film, Wired to

Win about how the human brain deals with competitive sport, at the IMAX Theatre next door.

Margaret noted that although the CPD opportunity was well attended, it was not followed up by

many class visits to the exhibition itself.

Given the very short timescale between the opening ceremony and the Spirit of the Games

exhibition, Margaret gave me a document that provided some very interesting insights by the

assistant curator Adrian Regan. These focused on the inception of the idea for The Flying Tram

through to its not altogether smooth journey onto the stage; the Canoe which was central to the

indigenous segment of the ceremony; and the stylistic decisions and challenges involved in creating

Stellar - the character of a fantasy duck woman who morphed into a modern woman as the

ceremony progressed.

Glasgow Life’s public programming plans for next year are extensive, encompassing Culture 2014

and Festival 2014 as well as established events including the Aye Write! book festival. At the State

Library of I spoke with Anna Burkey, Reader Development Manager, about a major education project

that the Mitchell Library will be delivering with partners including the British Council, the Royal;

Commonwealth Society, The Herald and Times Group and Tinopolis (host broadcaster of the 2014

Commonwealth Games). The Commonwealth Games Newsroom project will train 16-18 year olds

from Scotland, the wider UK and the Commonwealth in sports journalism skills and provide the

technology for them to deliver live reports from the Games. Still in the planning stages, Anna has

asked to be kept informed of developments and indicated that this would be an excellent

opportunity for collaboration between the libraries of Victoria and Glasgow.

Social Media At the National Library of Australia, I met with Erica Ryan (Manager of Australian Retrospective

Collections), Rusell Latham (Web curator), Liam Wyatt (Social Media Coordinator) and Catherine

Aldersey (Ephemera Officer) to talk about targeted collection using social media and crowd sourcing

collection content. When we met, the group was very excited about their recent and ongoing work

in canvassing federal election ephemera and Liam's presence as the inaugural social media

coordinator at NLA was recognised as having had quite an impact on the way they were able to

extend their reach in this process. I will be working with our Special Collections Librarians to develop

a process for inviting, logging and preserving donations of Glasgow 2014 ephemera using our

existing social media channels.

Travelling Librarian 2013

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Appendix 1: Meeting with Cameron Morley, Manager of Funding and

Advisory Services for Public Library Services, New South Wales

This meeting took place took place at the State Library of NSW and was off the topic of my study

proposal. Cameron is the Manager of Funding and Advisory Services for the Public Library Service of

New South Wales. I wanted to discuss Bookends Scenarios – Alternative Futures for the Public

Library Network in NSW in 2030. This report was the output of a strategic planning project that

brought together staff at all levels from public libraries and the State Library with consultants from

the Neville Freeman Agency to explore trends and developments in society that could impact future

service provision and the responsiveness of libraries to “face a future where physical, virtual,

recreational and educational business worlds are increasingly merging” where the role of the library

as facilitators “of access for the public is becoming increasingly complex”11. Major influences

changing our world were identified as environment, society, politics, economics, culture and

technology. The way in which Glasgow Libraries provides services is currently under review so this

meeting seemed like a great opportunity to find out what impact all of this scenario based learning

had had on NSW’s strategic plans heading into the future.

The discussion proved to be very interesting and we exchanged information about new models of

delivery that bring together culture, leisure and lending as well as increased partnership working

between communities, councils and educational establishments.

He told me one of the biggest challenges facing public libraries in NSW is creating the social spaces

that library users need. Visitor numbers and loans are rising year on year and the distance between

libraries across NSW can be substantial. People are willing to travel if the space is suitable but many

buildings need to be replaced, extended and or upgraded to satisfy demand.

The Public Libraries section on the State Library website provides a wealth of information about the

role of the Library Council of NSW and the Act that governs it as well as information on ways the

Public Library Services team at the State Library can provide support and specialist advice on library

provision to local councils.

11 State Library of NSW, The Bookends Scenarios – Alternative Futures for the Public Library Network

in NSW in 2030, available

at http://www.sl.nsw.gov.au/services/public_libraries/publications/docs/bookendsscenarios.pdf

Travelling Librarian 2013

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Appendix 2: Visit to Sydney Mechanics’ School of Art Library

This visit was kindly organized by Marilyn Jenner, one of my English-Speaking Union NSW branch

hosts.

The School of Arts movement originated in Scotland when natural philosopher George Birkbeck ran

a series of Saturday evening lectures at the Andersonian Institute in Glasgow for the mechanics

working in his centrifugal pumps. The School of Arts name came along later when the School of Arts

in Edinburgh was founded on the same principles. Founded in 1833 and now occupying its second

permanent home at 280 Pitt Street in Sydney, the SMSA Library is proud to be the oldest continuous

lending library in Australia.

Like many libraries, the space is used by members to read and to use the computers, attend events

and participate in book groups. Interestingly, one of the book groups does not follow the

conventional model where members all read the same book and then come together for discussion,

but instead, all different texts are read around an agreed subject and the members come together to

share the diversity of their learning.

Two very knowledgeable guides showed me around the recently opened Tom Keneally Centre. In

1982 Tom won the Booker Prize for his novel Schindler’s Ark which was later adapted into the

screenplay for Steven Spielberg’s Schindler’s List. The centre contains Tom’s personal research

collection which he has donated as a special collection and it was interesting to see a number of the

same titles amongst his fiction collection that we hold as part of the Edwin Morgan collection back at

the Mitchell Library in Glasgow.

Travelling Librarian 2013

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Appendix 3: Visit to Hume Global Learning Centres

This visit took me off at a tangent from my proposal to learn about the work of Australian libraries in

building collections and programs around international sporting events. Back in the initial stages of

meeting staff from all areas of Glasgow Life to gather ideas, our Director of Policy and Research

mentioned an existing contact between Glasgow Museums and Hume Global Learning

Village through a network called PIE (PASCAL International Exchanges). This is a project that aims to

broker and support exchange between local, city and community agencies in different parts of the

world with a focus on building innovative learning communities that promote the well-being and

quality of life of all citizens.

I met with the Director of PIE Peter Kearns and his wife Denise Reghenzani-Kearns, who is currently a

Regional President of the Australian College of Educators, for an informal lunch during my visit to

Brisbane back at the start of my tour. Their passion for the contribution made by neighbourhood

learning centres, libraries, and cultural and heritage institutions to lifelong learning absolutely

convinced me it was worth scheduling a visit to the learning centres at Broadmeadows and

Craigieburn, on the outskirts of Melbourne at Hume. I was not disappointed.

I was met initially by Marea Ekladious, Manager of the Learning Community, who passed me into the

very capable hands of the Co-ordinator of Library Operations Mieke Mellars. Mieke provided a tour

of The Age Library at Broadmeadows including the giant chess boards in the youth oriented areas

and spoke about the very full learning program that is being delivered from these innovative centres.

This not only includes the storytime, ICT and ESL opportunities that we are familiar with in UK

libraries but a very important partnership with Victoria University at Broadmeadows and Deakin

University at Craigieburn to deliver Multiversity - an education project designed to offer access to

education and flexible study options to the local community.

Mieke drove me from Broadmeadows to Craigieburn where I met the Branch Co-ordinator there,

Amanda Forde. What struck me most about both of the facilities was the generous space, the sheer

number of resources in multiple formats and languages, and their ability to respond to the ever-

changing needs of a rapidly growing and very diverse community. These visits called to mind my

previous meeting with Cameron Morley at Public Library Services in Sydney during which he

highlighted space and the ability to deliver services for a growing number of library users from all

backgrounds as a priority for future and strategic library planning. My impression was that the

community was already very much engaged with the services available and that further outreach

work to entice other sectors was ongoing.

I must also mention the extensive work being done through Hume Volunteer Gateway which is an

extensive program matching individuals to suitable volunteer opportunities based on interests, skills

and needs. Hume Global Learning Centres are central to this process, hosting Expo's that deliver

information and training and of course utilising volunteers themselves.