Aims and objectives
As the oldest of the Library Association's special interest groups, founded in 1962, the Library History Group continues to regard itself as the 'historical conscience' of the Library Association. Through lectures, publications, advisory activities, and other awareness-raising operations, it seeks to preserve a record of the professional heritage not only of librarians but also increasingly of information managers as well. In this respect, it is has a growing reputation for setting the tone and standards for researching and publishing 'new' library history, which encompasses the history of information collecting and dissemination. It also remains dedicated to promoting awareness of our established role in traditional, scholarly investigations into the history of libraries, both in the UK and world-wide. The LHG has had a great deal of success in promoting library history as a thorough-going, academic discipline - well-respected in its own right and firmly grounded within the broader field of literary and cultural history. The Group is also keen to encourage new approaches to library history, widening its scope and promoting the subject as a legitimate part of the history discipline.
Membership
At the end of January 1999, membership of the LHG stood at over 850. The successful relaunching of our journal, Library History, as a commercial venture at the end of 1997, resulted in its no longer being distributed to members as part of their subscription to the Group. Given this fact, the fall from around 900 members to its present tally of 859 is remarkably small. A higher profile and larger issues for our free Library History Newsletter, improved electronic communications, and some very successful and well-attended conferences and events have no doubt helped to ensure that membership remained almost constant. Smaller than many other LA Groups, the LHG remains however by far the largest special interest group in its field and has been able to involve non-members in many of its activities.
Regular publications
Library History, established in 1967 as the journal of the LHG, is published under the aegis of the Group, and is the only British periodical devoted exclusively to the study of the history of libraries and librarianship. Since issue 14 (1998), it has been a commercial publishing venture, relaunched in a larger page format than formerly, and representing a substantial increase in size and speedier publication of contributions. It is now produced by Maney Publishing (Leeds) and is distributed by Turpin Distribution Services (Letchworth, Hertfordshire). It is a refereed journal, publishing articles of a high academic standard, covering all subjects and all periods relating to the history of libraries world-wide, and it frequently receives contributions from scholars world-wide. Its readership is similarly international in scope. Issues include substantial articles as well as book reviews and occasional surveys of recent publications and guides to relevant sources. Dr K.A. Manley has remained its editor; Jonathan Bengtson has become reviews editor: both are committee members of the LHG. Issue 12 (1996) formed a special Festschrift of 276 pp., Careering Along With Books: Studies in the History of British Public Libraries and Librarianship in Honour of the 85th Birthday of Dr William A. Munford, and amounted to a major contribution to this field of study.
Our twice-yearly Library History Newsletter, edited by another committee member, Julia Taylor, is distributed freely to members of the Group. Its most recent issue (Summer 1998) was, at 40 pp., about double the length of typical issues: a deliberate policy partly to compensate for the non-inclusion of the Library History journal within the membership subscription that year. Some additional funds released from our no longer bearing the production costs of Library History have allowed us to invest more into the production of the Newsletter; the forthcoming issue in print (Winter 1998/99) will be of a superior quality. The Newsletter carries news of the Group's activities as well as short reports and longer articles relating to the world of historic libraries and their collections.
Conferences and visits
Under one UmbrelLA remains a major, ongoing focus of the LHG's programme of events. 'Libraries and Identity' will be our conference as part of the UmbrelLA programme in Manchester in July 1999, with seven papers presented, one as a joint session with the Local Studies Group. 'Libraries and Modernity' was the theme for our conference programme of twelve papers as part of the UmbrelLA conference sessions at Manchester in June 1997, and it proved one of our most successful and well-attended conferences of recent years. Selected papers have already appeared in Library History. A separate issue though of Library History, volume 14 no. 2 (1998), was devoted to papers from our Second Anglo-German Seminar on Library History, 'The Universal Library: From Alexandria to the Internet', which we organised in conjunction with the Wolfenbütteler Arbeitskreis für Bibliotheksgeschichte in London in September 1996: the editor has received praise from various quarters for the range of the papers published.
Papers presented at the First Anglo-German Seminar of September 1994, jointly organised in Germany by the LHG and Wolfenbüttel, are due to be published in Germany this year as a volume of conference proceedings: Bibliotheken in der literarischen Darstellung / Libraries in Literature. Out of recent discussions with Ross Shimmon and the LA, for April 2000, we have planned 'From People's University to People's Library: A Celebration of 150 Years of the Public Library in Britain', which will be an international conference on public library history, held in Croydon. Visits organised by the LHG for its members over the past two years have also included trips to: the Marx Memorial Library, London; the Newcastle Literary and Philosophical Society Library; the new British Library building at St. Pancras, London; and Queen's College Library, Oxford.
Electronic services
The LHG maintains an informative suite of pages on the LA's World Wide Web server, most recently updated and expanded in December 1998. It now also includes a page devoted to our journal, Library History. Our email discussion list maintained via Mailbase, lis-libhist, currently numbers 238 members and has attracted an average of ten messages per month since it was established in March 1996. In fact, increasingly it is serving as one of the major discussion lists in the library and book history field, enabling extended scholarly discussions and debate to take place. The average belies a marked upward trend in usage of late, after it had gathered pace throughout the past year especially: September 1998 saw 22 messages, and November saw 26. Our electronic services aim to encourage members unable to attend conferences and visits to participate in the Group and its activities, and also to promote awareness of our role.
Projects
Work on volumes one and three of A History of Libraries in Britain and Ireland, which is to be published by Cambridge University Press under the aegis of the LHG and the Institute of Historical Research, London, has in large measure been completed; volume two is also underway. Its General Editor, Associate Editor, and two of its volume editors are all committee members of the LHG. The result will be a standard work of reference, providing a comprehensive history of libraries in the British Isles, to complement the forthcoming History of the Book in Britain. A major scholarly endeavour, it has led to a number of research papers and seminars being delivered as work-in-progress and publicity-raising ventures, and it is set to bring considerably more prestige both to the Group and to the Library Association itself when the work is published around 2000 or 2001.
The Library History Award is an annual award for the best essay on library history published in the British Isles. Organised by the LHG, and awarded for the first time in 1996, it aims to improve the quality and increase the quantity of writing on library history in the British Isles. Contributions for essays published in 1998 will be considered if submitted by 30 July 1999 to the Vice Chair. Work continued during 1998 on a range of other Group activities and projects including a survey of library history teaching currently taking place in the library schools and work towards a register of research degrees on library history topics.
Outreach and liaison
Representations on behalf of the Group, the interests it supports, and for membership drives have been made at a wide range of conferences and via liaison with IFLA and other professional bodies. We continue to forge closer links with library historians abroad, especially in Germany, Scandinavia, and the United States. Members participate regularly in such international events as the pre-IFLA Library History Round Table seminars and the SHARP conferences. Close contact is maintained with the Historic Libraries Forum, which the Group helped to establish, the Association of Independent Libraries, the Cathedral Libraries Association, Rare Books Group, and the Wolfenbütteler Arbeitskreis für Bibliotheksgeschichte.
Committee
The Group's committee comprises members representing a broad range of library experience and of research areas covering UK and international aspects alike. They work as professional librarians in national, academic, public, special, and proprietary libraries; others are retired practitioners or academics in University departments of library and information studies. Dr Alistair Black (Leeds Metropolitan University) is our Chair; Dr John Crawford (Glasgow Caledonian University), Vice-Chair; and Dr William Munford is Chair Emeritus. Geoffrey Forster (Leeds Library) is the Hon. Treasurer; and Dr Christopher Skelton-Foord (British Library), the Hon. Secretary. Group Councillor is Jonathan Bengtson (Queen's College, Oxford); and the Hon. Editor of Library History is Dr Keith Manley (Institute of Historical Research); the Hon. Editor of the Library History Newsletter is Julia Taylor. Other members include: Robert Duckett (Bradford Central Library); Peter Hoare; Graham Jefcoate (British Library); Yvonne Lewis (National Trust); Dorothea Miehe (British Library); Catherine Penn (Guildhall Library); and Dr Chris Baggs (University of Wales, Aberystwyth) is an observing member. Sue Broughton is the LHG's liaison officer at the Library Association.
Finances, issues, and challenges
Shortage of personnel with time remains a hindrance to any major income-generating to support the work of the LHG. The main challenges facing the Group are lack of resources to develop the range of activities we should wish, particular since our committee, like those of other LA groups no doubt, is composed of members who are, for the most part, busy professionals already. This said, however, 1998 has seen an upturn in the Group's financial situation, now that the LHG need no longer bear the brunt of the expenses for producing our journal, Library History. Negotiating its successful relaunch with Maneys was a considerable achievement for the Group as a whole. The Newsletter, however, takes up an increasing proportion of our revenue, and, for the size of the Group, the LHG plays a considerable role in staging conferences, which require expenses for speakers.
Conclusion
The Library History Group is looking forward to the challenges ahead: our conferences are invariably successful and often involve close co-operation with high-profile bodies, in the UK and especially abroad, which reflect well on the Library Association as a whole. Two are planned for the immediate future. Through our journal and our input into conference proceedings and other publications, and our advisory and liaison activities, the LHG also maintains a high reputation for scholarship, professionalism, and a commitment to promoting library history world-wide.
Dr Christopher Skelton-Foord
Honorary Secretary, The Library History Group
The British Library, London
January 1999