McCulla Award Winner 2007

The Dorothy McCulla Memorial Prize for 2007 has been awarded to Elizabeth Melrose, County Project Officer (Local Studies and Information), North Yorkshire County Libraries, Archives and Arts.

Elizabeth, who retired in May 2007, has had a distinguished career in librarianship, in particular in local studies and reference libraries. Latterly, she has worked for North Yorkshire County Libraries, initially with oversight of the extensive collections of local studies material in York Central Library. She has initiated a number of projects to promote local studies in the Yorkshire and Humberside, notably the New Opportunities funded project, the Unnetie searchable database and website. This project produced individual websites and also a joint CD showcasing historic local images. The Unnetie Archive is now being used in several funded projects such as Reaching the Teacher (a CD-Rom of Library and Archive resources launched 2006) and Changing the Picture.

Complementary to her professional career, Elizabeth has been an activist in the local studies field, including on CILIP’s Local Studies Group, IFLA’s Genealogy and Local History Committee, and the British Library’s Consultative Group on newspapers. She was Chair of the Yorkshire and Humberside Newsplan Implementation Committee. As such she co-ordinated the work of preserving the newspapers of the various authorities within the region. She was invited to contribute to two seminars, in Belfast and in Dublin, explaining how the Yorkshire and Humberside region had organised and published an index to the region’s historic newspapers. She also represented Yorkshire and Humberside at the national NEWSPLAN meetings at the British Library. She was elected Chairman of UK and Ireland NEWSPLAN in 2001 and, in this role, was heavily involved with the NEWSPLAN 2000 project in the ten regions of the UK.

Elizabeth’s enthusiasm for and activity in Local Studies show no sign of diminishing. She represented the Local Studies Group on CILIP Council and continues to contribute her knowledge and experience to the group’s activities.



Dorothy McCulla Memorial Prize - Local Studies Librarian of the Year

This award was inaugurated in 1981 in memory of Dorothy McCulla, the founder of the Local Studies Group.  Nominations are sought each year for a member of the Group who has made an outstanding contribution to local studies work.  The panel look in particular for good overall service provision, innovation and promotional work and the winner receives a cash award and hand-written certificate.  For more information contact: 

Honorary Secretary
Helen Pye-Smith
Head of Library
The National Archives
Kew
Richmond
Surrey
TW9 4DU
Tel: 020 8392 5278
helen.pye-smith@nationalarchives.gov.uk 


Nominations for Local Studies Librarian of the Year 2008