dialogue Winter 2013-14 | Page 34

E D U C AT I O N Commonwealth Connections Build Sporting Connections This year’s Travelling Librarian works at the Mitchell Library in Glasgow, the host city for the upcoming 2014 Commonwealth Games. On her whirlwind tour of Australia, visiting libraries, archives, and ESU branches, learning about the process of building and maintaining collections around an international sporting event, she finds a moment to reflect… WORDS KIRSTEN McCORMICK Having reached the midway point in my tour of Australia, I can definitely state in all confidence that the information gathered and professional connections I have established so far will inform my practice in contributing to the work done by Glasgow Libraries in developing their Commonwealth Games collections and programmes. At the state libraries of Queensland and New South Wales, and university libraries in Brisbane and Sydney, I have had access to comprehensive collections including some unique items in a variety of formats including bid documents 32 | dialogue and official reports of the organising committees; books; videos; pamphlets and pictures as well as electronic, archival and manuscript materials. Viewing and handling some of the physical items associated with the 1982 Commonwealth Games in Brisbane and the Sydney 2000 Olympics has given me a better sense of the life and times of these two very distinct host cities, and the impact that sporting mega-events really do have on the political and social life of a city and the people who live and work there. Conversations with staff have been focused around what and how they collected, issues around deposit, identifying materials, and archiving the cultural programme. I’ve learned that developing links and opening channels of communication with all sections of the community including the official organisations, sponsors, local business, media and community groups is vital in endeavouring to capture the fullest possible documentary record, rich and diverse in content, for future researchers. Changes in the ways that libraries collect, store and provide access to information and collections has also been a recurring theme. At the University of Technology in Sydney, the librarian started a Flickr group as part of the Centre for Olympic Studies’ Sydney 2000 Olympic and Paralympic Games anniversary exhibition in 2010, encouraging members of the public to upload their own photographs of events. Contributions were a little underwhelming, probably due to the lower prevalence of mobile devices with imaging capabilities back in 2000. As the amount of community produced content available to gather in electronic formats rapidly expands, so potentially does the I’ve learned that developing links and opening channels of communication with all sections of the community including the official organisations, sponsors, local business, media and community groups is vital in endeavouring to capture the fullest possible documentary record, rich and diverse in content, for future researchers.