Hear hear! We are fortunate to still have, 'de facto' a local studies
librarian, though I don't know what his official title is now, who is a
fount of knowledge and enthusiasm for the locality and its history. His
colleagues must get fed up with people asking 'Is X here?'
The other problem is space - to fit in the computers there is much less
shelf space so things like directories which used to be available for
browsing are no longer there without asking for their retrieval from store.
And why are people using computers so noisy? Chatter plus mobile phones ...
Sorry, I'll get off my hobby horse.
Jane
-----Original Message-----
From: From: Local-History list [mailto:[log in to unmask]]On
Behalf Of jacqueline.cooper
Sent: 26 May 2005 11:19
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: local studies librarians
Someone in a recent answer mentioned the lovely phrase 'local studies
librarians'. Do such persons still exist? We seem to have largely lost this
splendid breed (indeed the word librarian is being replaced by the word
manager) and are now expected to use computers instead of having someone who
thoroughly knows the material guide us to elusive sources. Is this happening
everywhere, and if so why are we just letting it happen? I think the local
history community should begin a campaign to celebrate and retain the role
of the local studies librarian.
Jacqueline Cooper
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