A few thoughts on The outback court reporter - it is a local studies book for some communities.

The Outback Court Reporter by Jamelle Wells
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This audiobook read by the author takes a detailed look at the activities of courts in outback parts of Australia. It is a very interesting look at the range of court matters as well as providing local anecdotes and information. This is a book which locations mentioned in it should consider for their local studies collections. It includes family experiences with health services in more remote areas too.

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We collect ‘everything’: A case study of a local studies collection in an Australian public library

We collect ‘everything’: A case study of a local studies collection in an Australian public library about research which I undertook, was recently published in Journal of the Australian Library and Information Association

The abstract is here:

This paper describes research exploring a local studies collection in an Australian public library. It includes the current collecting practices and paradigms and their impact on what is added to this collection. This research was to discover how contemporary content, including items from rapid response collecting are incorporated in a local studies collection. It uses a social justice approach to investigate how current collecting practices represent the whole of the community in a public library local studies collection to provide multiple stories and perspectives. Ethnography was the research method used to enable in-depth understanding of the collecting practices of one public library. The results of the research show a tendency for library staff to rarely say no to unsolicited donations, as well as a focus on emotional and decision making based on relationships. This led to donations based on relationships and the risk of collecting from cliques and resulted in an increased cataloguing backlog for the local studies collection. The conclusion is that for more of the community to be represented in a public library local studies collection, changes in collecting practices need to be undertaken to include a social justice focus.

You should be able to access the paper to read it at this link https://doi.org/10.1080/24750158.2024.2386642

A few thoughts on the book The Australian history industry

 

The Australian History Industry by Paul Ashton
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

This is an amazing book which would be great to re-read (even though I have just finished reading it). It is a pacy and entertaining exploration of researching history in Australia. It is a remarkable contemporary book with issues of the pandemic and other recent events part of the discussion of the work of history. The varied perspectives help to describe the complexity of historical research. This would be a helpful book for local studies library staff to read.

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A few thoughts on the book A modest living: memoirs of a Cockney Sikh

A Modest Living: Memoirs of a Cockney Sikh by Suresh Singh
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This is a really interesting local studies publication which I found out about from Spitalfields Life. It is written about growing up in London, and spending time in India with very specific locations being described. The author provides a very strong picture of his father. It is also a very interesting account of being punk, and being the first in the family to obtain a university degree. It shows the importance of having information about culturally and linguistically diverse people included in local studies collections. This really is a charming book, and includes some family recipes as well.

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