The Union Makes Us Strong:

creating an online resource for adult learners

Christine Coates, Librarian TUC Collections

Learning Centre, London Metropolitan University,236 Holloway Road, London N7 6PP

Tel: 020 7133 3726 Email: tuclib@londonmet.ac.uk

History websites at www.unionhistory.info

TUC Library CollectionsFounded by the Trades Union Congress in 1922 and moved to London Metropolitan University 1996

Digitisation programme

• to disclose the collection

• to create surrogate copies to aid conservation by reducing the need for handling

• to democratise access to rare or unique archives for people who would previously never have entered record offices or academic libraries

• to create an easily accessible online library of resources for the study of labour movement

history.

Identifying our target audience

• TUC – Unionlearn– In 2010, 57,163 union reps +

908 full time union officers on training courses

– 1999-2010, 26,040 union learning reps on courses

• Workers’Educational Association

• Trade Union Studies at London Metropolitan University and elsewhere

Aims for the target audience

•

• attract union representatives returning to education for the first time since school, with perhaps little knowledge of computers, to this site because they see the relevance of the subject matter to their own work/life experience

• encourage them to explore other web resources and to extend their use of IT in general

• awaken an interest in social and labour history in other lifelong learners

Use of primary sources in union education • in support of course-books and materials

– using images / multi-media can be more engaging for students

• researching primary sources can provide ‘added value’ to students

– interpretation of photos, cartoons,etc

– documents show how contemporary perceptions of a situation guided subsequent actions

– personal papers, such as letters and diaries, show an individual’s motivation

– examining issues of bias

• dis-aggregation to create new resources as organisational tools

The websites include complete digitised documents such as this 1888 Match Workers’ strike register

Video history on the website

Educational packs

Britain at Work : voices from the workplace 1945-1995

• Website design –a rolling programme

• Initial funding from Barry Amiel & Norman Melburn Trust and HEFCE

• First project ran July 2011 – January 2012 and launched February 1, 2012

• Partners for the first stage – TUC / HISTORYtalk / Bishopsgate Institute

Website content

• 11 video interviews with union leaders and politicians

• 26 audio interviews with union members / activists

• 474 digitised images of posters photos and documents

• Timeline narratives for the period

• 7 background essays by industrial relations experts on key themes

Digital archiving policy

• Electronic set of all content held on separate university server

• Content held on Gold Archive Grade CDs/DVDs in University store and at TUC, Congress House

• 6 monthly checks on discs for physical condition and quality of data

• Migration to new CD after c.5 years

Key issues

• Funding is limited and intermittent

• Target audience has mixed IT skills

• Staffing and IT skills limited – sustainability issues

• Website receives 18-20,000 visits per month

• Popular with target audience

• Modular structure allows components to be added as funding becomes available

• Simple website design, easy to navigate

• Database easy to use – Ke staff always helpful!