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London Museum Librarians and Archivists Group (LMLAG)

The London Museum Librarians and Archivists Group has been set up by information professionals working within the major London museums and galleries, to debate common issues and build expertise in the field. It includes representatives from the National Maritime Museum, Imperial War Museum, British Museum, Tate, National Portrait Gallery, Science Museum, RAF Museum, Firepower, National Army Museum, Royal Botanical Gardens, Kew, London Transport Museum, Museum of London, Victoria and Albert Museum and Natural History Museum.

For further information about the group, contact Richard Golland: RGolland@iwm.org.uk

Current Events

All Change: Adapt and Thrive in a Digital Age

LMLAG one day conference, Thursday 26 April 2007 9.30-16.30
BP Theatre, British Museum, Great Russell Street, London WC1B 3DG

Then the ‘All Change’ conference is for YOU!

The ‘All Change’ conference will look at web, digital and electronic knowledge-sharing developments and the opportunities and challenges they bring for museum libraries and archives.

It will look at how to exploit these opportunities, even when resources are limited. It will also address the pros and cons of getting involved in collaborative partnerships.

Speakers will talk about the impact that new information-sharing developments are having on the physical study spaces and services that libraries and archives provide.

A unique group of speakers will introduce relevant experience and ideas from the museum and other sectors. The conference will interest librarians, curators, archivists, students, learning specialists, researchers – in fact all who use, or work in, museum libraries and archives and are concerned about their future development.

The keynote speaker is John Dolan, Head of Library Policy at MLA. Other confirmed speakers include:

Brian Kelly, UK Web Focus, UKOLN (Web 2.0 and low cost service development opportunities)

Pat Christie, University of the Arts (innovation in physical study environments)

Caroline Warhurst, London’s Transport Museum (making the best of small spaces and budgets)

Graham Higley, Biodiversity Heritage Library Project (a global network with museum participation)

Michael Popham, Oxford Digital Library (lessons of the Google Books project)

Other speakers still to be announced from: The National Archives, National Register of Archives, the Britain in Print collaborative partnership and a view of partnership from the private sector.

How to Book:

Book through the British Museum Box Office (10.00-16.45 daily) quoting ‘All Change conference’:

Telephone: +44 (0)20 7323 8181

Fax: +44 (0)20 7323 8616

Minicom: +44 (0)20 7323 8920

By mail to: Box Office, British Museum, Great Russell Street, London WC1B 3DG

Conference Fee: £35 including VAT

Concessions: (students, pensioners, jobseekers) £25 including VAT.

Cheques are payable to ‘The British Museum’, or pay by debit or credit card (but not American Express or Visa Electron card).

Please mention any special access requirements when booking.

NOTE: Tea and coffee, morning and afternoon, are included in the price but to keep the conference fee low, lunch is not included. The British Museum has a restaurant and cafés, and there is a wide choice of cafés and restaurants within a short walk of the Museum.

LMLAG would like to thank the British Museum for providing a venue for the All Change conference and undertaking booking services.

Past Events

"Working with Communities" – a successful LMLAG seminar

At the London Museum Librarians and Archivists Group’s May 10th 2006 "Working with communities" seminar at the Victoria and Albert Museum, practitioners Eithne Nightingale (V&A), Samantha Cairns (Churchill Museum) and Jan Pimblett (London Metropolitan Archives) shared their considerable experience, commenting on fundamental principles, giving practical advice and prompting a lively question-and-answer session.

Eithne Nightingale drew attention to the V&A’s long tradition of working with ethnic minority communities. Now the Museum has moved "communities" to the core of its thinking and adopting a broader view of what the term encompasses - including at-risk groups, disabled people, particular ethnic or faith groups, artists and particular social classes. The current Museum strategy framework aims to ensure adherence, in terms of access, inclusion and diversity, to both the letter and spirit of recent legislation. The V&A aims not only to attract new audiences to specially-arranged exhibitions but also to make "mainstream" programmes reflective of communities and more widely appealing. Emphasis is placed on connecting collections to groups they resonate with – often a challenge, as past curators’ classifications of objects haven’t always made those links. Communities themselves are encouraged to help decide what is presented in the galleries - and create new works too.

Sam Cairns discussed the Churchill Museum’s community learning programme. Describing both successful initiatives and some not-so-successful experiences from earlier years, she stressed the benefits of partnership with other agencies such as local councils, libraries and voluntary organisations to connect with local people. It was vital to be clear from the start about intended outcomes. Some of these may be improved skills or attitudes rather than just learning about the subject matter of the museum. She underlined the need for patience and the investment of time. A programme can take two years to build up fully and involve careful preparation, with a thorough review of existing community links and their potential, an analysis of current activity to assess its appropriateness to the kinds of audience sought, the devising of new activities when existing ones don’t match, and a commitment to develop a sustainable and long-term exchange with a community – a one-off event doesn’t build awareness in the locality and people don’t return. She gave examples of optimising resources by repurposing elements of projects developed with one target group so that they can benefit another group too. Sam also laid emphasis on learning by doing. Much can be gained by consulting representatives of target groups but, in the end, the actual trialling of projects is essential to learning whether they work.

Returning to defining communities, Jan Pimblett suggested that they are interest groups and "our" collections the outcomes of community activity, often repackaged and intellectualised - a process that can alienate the community itself. As archivists, librarians or curators, we need to see our collections as the "community memory" of which our institutions are not the controllers but a receptacle. Jan described several LMA projects including one in partnership with Groundwork, Camden and Islington councils and intergenerational groups on deprived estates. Groups were encouraged to handle collections, discuss the people and places they recorded and use them as a catalyst for further collecting and community events in the reading room. A guiding principle was "allowing the community group to take control". Staff had to have the openness, tact, diplomacy and confidence to steer and support a project without taking it over. "They know", said Jan, "if you are just ticking the boxes". A successful project shows a community the importance of exploring and expressing its stories and safeguarding them for the future.

'All Aboard: Cross Domain Working in Action' was the title of a conference at the National Maritime Museum in April 2005. The conference explored integrative ways of working to help museum staff, librarians and archivists to work together, across their professional 'boundaries' to deliver better services for our users.