DiadEM

DiadEM was a project supported by Libraries and Information East Midlands, MLA East Midlands and MLA nationally to identify special collections held in the region's libraries and to create a set of collection level descriptions using the RSLP schema which have now been added to the national Cornucopia database.

Jane Evans, the DiadEM Project worker compiled a comprehensive manual to support library staff in adding their data to Cornucopia. A PDF version of the manual can be found below.

What do the Dambusters, Rolls Royce, fox hunting, George Washington, football and mining all have in common?

Collections on these subjects can all be found in libraries in the East Midlands and you can see a list of libraries which participated in the DiadEM project below together with details of the special collections they hold.

The DiadEM project uncovered an exciting range of collections in the East Midlands. Some of these are already well known, such as the D.H. Lawrence Collection at the University of Nottingham and the Tennyson Research Centre in Lincoln, but DiadEM has found other special collections in all corners of the region, such as the material on hunting held at Melton Mowbray Library, colliery disasters at North Nottinghamshire College and the Osborne Robinson collection of posters at the University of Northampton.

Many other libraries and organisations across the East Midlands region also participated in the DiadEM project; these include bodies as diverse as the Chartered Management Institution and the British Horological Institute and small museum libraries such as the Canal Museum at Stoke Bruerne in Northamptonshire and the Commemorative Collectors Society in Nottinghamshire. While some of the collections are accessible by the members of the organisation only, it has been gratifying to see the willingness of librarians and curators to open their doors and to promote awareness of their information resources.

The DiadEM project has now come to an end and we are indebted to Jane Evans for her work on this initiative. If you want to know more about future plans formaking information about the region's special collections more widely known please contact at The Library, Park Campus, University of Northampton, Boughton Green Road, Northampton, NN2 7AL. Tel 01604 892474.

Special Library Collections in the East Midlands 171Kb

Cornucopia Collection Description Manual (Apr 2006) 509Kb