Public Libraries working with partners

Summer Reading Challenge Arts Nation Pilot

The Summer Reading Challenge is a national library programme co-ordinated by The Reading Agency with library partners to support reading for pleasure activity for 4-12 year olds.

The Derbyshire Arts Nation pilot used the 2011 Circus Stars theme as a springboard for a family programme of participatory carnival arts. Families coming into the library with children taking part in the challenge were invited to engage in circus themed creative activity including stories, songs and crafts, cartooning and circus skills.

The pilot was co-ordinated by Derbyshire Library Service as part of the Arts Nation Library programme managed by The Reading Agency and funded by Arts Council England.

See: Arts Nation - report from pilot project in Derbyshire

Picture the Past

Another excellent example of co-operation and partnership working between authorities is the Picture the Past Website www.picturethepast.org.uk

Derby, Derbyshire, Nottingham and Nottinghamshire Libraries are working together to digitise three hundred thousand images from the public library and museum collections.

The collections include photographs, slides, negatives, glass plates, postcards and engravings recalling the history of local communities for over 100 years. A grant of £370,000 from the Heritage Lottery Fund supported with funding from the four authorities isenabling the indexing, scanning and digitisation of the images to create one of the largest collections of historic images on the Internet.

Picture the Past currently has over 90,000 images on its website and attracts over 8,000 visitors viewing more than one million pages every month. The website was awarded the Alan Ball Local History Award 2004 in recognition of its commitment to local history publishing.

For more information about Picture the Past contact:

Peakland Heritage

Peakland Heritage www.peaklandheritage.org.uk highlights effectively the benefits of a library service working in partnership with other organisations. Peakland Heritage is a web-based learning resource focusing on the early history of the Peak District, before the creation of the National Park. It has been created by Derbyshire County Council's Libraries and Heritage Department in partnership with the Peak District National Park Authority and funded by the British Libray Co-operation and Partnership programme, with additional funding from Resource.

The main purpose is to open up access to original material held in the partners' collections. It includes illustrations, maps and text from the British Library's Department of maps, newspapers and early printed books, Derbyshire County Council's Libraries, Museums, and Record Office, and the Peak Park National Authority. Independant museums, local historical societies and private individuals have also contributed material to the site.

For more information about Peakland Heritage contact Derbyshire Local Studies library: