TY - THES
AU - Nicola Smith
AB - This study argues that English public librarians in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries attempted to use local history collections as means of gaining social and processional status. Local collections were frequently formed immediately after a public library opened, and librarians and members of library committees were both concerned that the collection should represent the character and importance of their town. Four representative English libraries are discussed, - Birmingham, Croydon, Lincoln and Worthing and the experiences of their librarians are examined as they tried to establish libraries as the intellectual centre of their towns. The librarians complained to each other through the medium of the professional library press and sometimes more widely of the lack of recognition of their intellectual status and professional skills by the wider public. The study shows how librarians saw in local history an opportunity to demonstrate both their professional skills, through the formation and organisation of collections, and their intellectual skills by speaking and publishing on local historical topics. Unfortunately they had chosen a branch history that was itself seen mainly as a pursuit of the leisured middle classes and not has a serious academic pursuit. The middle class members of local archaeological and historical societies were the same type of people who served as members of library committees. They had the social status and professional standing that eluded the librarians. The librarians failed to cross the social divide of class and education in the case of the men, and of gender in the case of the women, that separated them from the middle classes. Instead they found solace through professional networks which provided them with support and friendship and the company of like-minded individuals. The study concludes by suggesting that the issues discussed have contributed to the ambiguous professional status of modern librarians.
LA - English
M3 - Ph.D. Dissertation
N2 - This study argues that English public librarians in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries attempted to use local history collections as means of gaining social and processional status. Local collections were frequently formed immediately after a public library opened, and librarians and members of library committees were both concerned that the collection should represent the character and importance of their town. Four representative English libraries are discussed, - Birmingham, Croydon, Lincoln and Worthing and the experiences of their librarians are examined as they tried to establish libraries as the intellectual centre of their towns. The librarians complained to each other through the medium of the professional library press and sometimes more widely of the lack of recognition of their intellectual status and professional skills by the wider public. The study shows how librarians saw in local history an opportunity to demonstrate both their professional skills, through the formation and organisation of collections, and their intellectual skills by speaking and publishing on local historical topics. Unfortunately they had chosen a branch history that was itself seen mainly as a pursuit of the leisured middle classes and not has a serious academic pursuit. The middle class members of local archaeological and historical societies were the same type of people who served as members of library committees. They had the social status and professional standing that eluded the librarians. The librarians failed to cross the social divide of class and education in the case of the men, and of gender in the case of the women, that separated them from the middle classes. Instead they found solace through professional networks which provided them with support and friendship and the company of like-minded individuals. The study concludes by suggesting that the issues discussed have contributed to the ambiguous professional status of modern librarians.
PB - University of Sussex
PY - 2006
TI - Finding a Place: Librarians, Local History and the Search for Professional and Social Status, 1890- 1925
ER -