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.