ABSTRACT

In the UK, the term ‘local studies’ seems to have come into general currency in the library and information profession in the 1970s. Prior to this, the local studies collections in public libraries were known as local collections or as local history collections, the latter term reflecting a particular view as to their purpose in the provision of information about a given locality or community. The nature of the study of individual localities, however, has changed considerably in the last 50 or so years, as have the needs of the more varied group of people who now undertake it and, with the increasing range and availability of information and communications technology, the tools that they are able to utilize. These changes have to some extent been reflected in the professional terminology – ‘local studies’ rather than ‘local history’ – although this may not now be a sufficient response to the opportunities presented by the demand for sources and services to enable the study of the many aspects of a community.