ABSTRACT
Local studies collections have evolved, and continue to evolve, over the years. The last decade, however, has seen radical changes in UK library structures, as well as many outside pressures on library authorities that have had an impact on the internal management of public libraries and thus also on local studies provision. As Margaret Kinnell says, ‘Perhaps the most telling impact of the political environment on managers . . . has been simply the amount of change to which they have had to respond in recent years.’1 Many of these changes influencing library provision, such as the redrawing of local authority boundaries, regionalism, the emergence of standards and Best Value, and the growing number of local studies users (including ‘electronic’ users), have been referred to in Chapter 1.
