Traces the development of public library local studies collections in the United Kingdom. The use of these collections has increased considerably in recent years and has coincided with a time of financial stringency, placing heavy demands on staffing and materials. The use of the 'old' modern technology for local studies provision is examined, covering microforms and photocopying; recording oral history; photography and films; and video history. Projects which are examples of the use of the new technology are: the national local studies database project at York University; the Eighteenth Century Short Title Catalogue; an experiment with the use of Prestel in public libraries; computerized cataloguing; indexing with a microcomputer; local newspaper indexes in North America; and the Domesday Project. The adoption of the new technology is slow due to financial restraints on the acquisition of equipment such as interactive video. However, with increasingly cheaper microcomputers and software, local studies librarians will be able to develop the full potential of their collections.
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References
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This article is a revised version of a paper given at a one-day Colloquium on Local Studies Librarianship and the New Technology, held at the Deutsches Bibliotheksinstitut, Berlin, on 8 October 1986.
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