What the library will contain
Books
Reading for pleasure is, according to an OECD Program for International Assessment study of 2000, more influential on a child’s future financial security than any other factor. Books are essential and will be a key part of the new Library of Birmingham. However, enquiries about the availability of books, and book-borrowing transactions, will be automated and self-service processed, to free up resource for other aspects of the library’s services.
The Archive
The Library of Birmingham will, for the first time, allow the secure display of valuable material, along with first class interpretation, in world class exhibition galleries. We will also be able to bring the collections to life much more vividly, by using them as a basis for exciting learning programmes. People will also be able to have much closer contact with the collections in a digital or virtual environment, and there will be better access for a far greater audience online.
In addition, there will be better conditions for academic access to original material and, in a greater variety of ways, to surrogates.
Birmingham’s holdings are, by world standards, outstanding. They cover the history of literature, of printing, of photography, of politics, industry, invention and technology – with many of these subjects themselves encapsulated in the history of Birmingham and its people.
In 2005, the Museums, Libraries and Archives Council (MLA) awarded six of Birmingham’s collections ‘designated’ status, recognised as of national and international significance as library and archive collections. It is rare for collections belonging to public libraries to receive ‘designated’ status. The panel stated that ‘The quality, range and depth of Birmingham’s collections reflect its status as Britain’s second city’ and that the designation application ‘clearly demonstrates [the collections'] broader significance in terms of the social, industrial, commercial and cultural history of the city, the region, and the nation.’
Archive storage conditions
The present library’s storage for the archive facilities were built at a time before there was any national standard or proper understanding of environmental care and condition of archives. We will be building to and above the standards that are now in place, and factoring in expansion space for up to 20 years’ growth in the archives.
Technology
In technology, the current trend is moving towards its use as a collaborative tool. This new technology can be applied both to the massive content in the library’s archive and to the content and knowledge held within Birmingham’s communities. For example, engaging the public with the city’s major photographic archive can lead to individuals in the photographs being identified by their relatives.
The new Library of Birmingham will be designed for the dialogue and discourse that is essential to collaborative work. New technology will deliver tools such as Surface walls and Surface tables, where people work together on projects using content from Birmingham’s archive collections.
