g7uk » libraries

Manchester Libraries make the Guardian and Observer archives available online

GS — Fri, 11 Mar 2011 15:01:24 +0000

If you have a card for Manchester Libraries you can now access full-content archives of The Guardian and The Observer newspapers via the online 24 Hour Library service.

The newly-added archive covers The Guardian from 1821-2003 and The Observer from 1791-2003. The years from 2003 to date can be seen via the existing NewsBank service.

So, in a nutshell you can see any page from any issue and it’s free.

This is an amazing resource to have at our fingertips. Particularly as the newspaper was known as The Manchester Guardian until the late 1960′s and was based in offices on Cross Street where Boots is now. So there is a wealth of historical information about the city.

The Times is also available from 1785 to the current date and The Newsbank service provides issues of many newspapers from Britain and around the world, from the last 10-25 years. Including the Manchester Evening News, The Independent, Daily Telegraph, the Mirror…

There are many other free resources in the 24 Hour Library including reference services and the Naxos Music Library which provides 18,000 CDs to listen to.

LGBT History Month: the 20th anniversary of the Section 28 Rally, at Manchester Central Library (video)

GS — Thu, 21 Feb 2008 17:03:45 +0000

Well done to Manchester Libraries for the program of events they’re running for LGBT (Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender) History Month. My guess is they haven’t had much money to spend on this and I hope next year they will be given more. But they’ve put on some interesting events.

The Flame That Won’t Go Out

GS — Thu, 14 Feb 2008 15:36:22 +0000

There was an hour of gay and lesbian love poetry at Manchester Central Library at lunchtime today. The photo shows Steph, who also performed a couple of her poems at the Get Bent! festival last summer.

LGBT History Month

GS — Thu, 14 Feb 2008 05:27:42 +0000

I’m a bit late posting about this. February is Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender History Month. Details of events in Manchester can be found here and see the leaflet below.

Most Haunted: Coronation Street

GS — Mon, 15 Oct 2007 03:59:06 +0000

On YouTube I found an episode of Most Haunted from 2005 in which they visit the studios and outdoor set of Coronation Street.

The studio is built on a former graveyard they claim. This is not the 1960′s Granada block but a studio that was constructed next to Lower Byrom Street in the late 1980′s.

It’s a good story, but a quick look through some photographs on the Manchester City Council local image library suggests it isn’t true.

The site of St. John’s Church now. Photo date: November 2008

Photographer loses image library in fire — how safe is your audio and visual data?

GS — Wed, 16 May 2007 09:59:53 +0000

As a photographer myself, I broke out into a cold sweat reading how this poor man lost most of his image library in the Lever Street fire. Equipment can be replaced but unique transparencies, negatives and digital images can’t be.

Victorian Manchester: ‘Bank Robbery And Suicide’ in Didsbury

GS — Thu, 10 May 2007 12:11:16 +0000

We tend to think that guns, robberies and violent crime in Manchester are modern phenomena. But there was lots of it going on in Victorian times too. Even in Didsbury (heaven forbid).