THE SERVICES AVAILABLE AND RANGE OF RESOURCES HELD AT THE PRAHRAN MECHANICS’ INSTITUTE LIBRARY
The Prahran Mechanics' Institute (est. 1854), is a community owned and run library, specialising in the history of Victoria, Australia. They have over 25,000 books for loan and offer professional information service to members.
The Prahran Mechanics’ Institute Library aims to collect published resources about every locality in the state of Victoria, Australia, and every aspect of the history of the state of Victoria.
It is the only lending collection of its kind in Australia that is available for loan to the general public.
The PMI provides an online catalogue located at the below website:
Prahran Mechanics' Institute Library
The collection includes histories of Victorian:
cities ; towns ; regions ; localities ; schools ; churches ; businesses ; hospitals ; clubs ; bands ; transport ; crime ; police ; politics ; military ; sport ; mining ; immigration ; aboriginal history ; community services ; biographies ; Australian art ; literature ; Victorian genealogy and Historical material in various formats relating to the history of places in other states of Australia.
Services provided are:
• Join the Library or Renew Your Membership
• Search the Catalogue
• See Library Recent Additions
• Volunteer at the PMI
• Find Family History Resources
• Find a Historical Society
• Purchase a PMI Press Publication
• Ask a Librarian
• Bring your historical group to the PMI
The objectives of the PMI are as follows:
To provide a lending and reference library specialising in works about the history of Victoria.
To organise educational activities relating to the history of Victoria.
To encourage and facilitate the study of history, particularly the history of Victoria.
Prahran Mechanics’ Institute, viewed 8 May 2011, <http://www.pmi.net.au/about.htm>.
THE SERVICES AVAILABLE AND RANGE OF RESOURCES HELD AT THE BALLARAT MECHANICS’ INSTITUTE LIBRARY
Ballarat Mechanics’ Institute Home Page Image
The Ballarat (Ballaarat) Mechanics’ Institute Library holds the latest novels, fiction and non-fiction books, as well as some selected early publications, post 1950. The fiction Database has around 12,500 books on the fiction shelves. All are available for loan to members.
The collection includes hardback, paperback, large print, videos, talking books cassettes, magazines, etc.
The collection includes hardback, paperback, large print, videos, talking books cassettes, magazines, etc.
The Ballarat mechanics' Institute (BMI) has an on-line database of all the Reference titles in the collection, including the biography and autobiography section of the lending library.
The library provides an online database search catalogue. This database holds around 16,000 books containing many historic and unusual publications in the shelves of the Ballarat Mechanics' Institute. The database can be accessed through an online research application. The resources are available to members for use in the Reading Room at the Institute.
This collection also contains all the non-fiction contemporary titles that are kept up to date, and also includes all non-fiction books that may be taken on loan by members.
This collection also contains all the non-fiction contemporary titles that are kept up to date, and also includes all non-fiction books that may be taken on loan by members.
The collection includes books from 1680 to the latest titles.
The library does not provide an inter-library loans service.
The library also supports a book club that is held every first Saturday.
FULL MEMBERSHIP CONFERS:
· Library access and borrowing rights (6 books)
· Rights to nominate for election to BMI Board of management, to vote in Board elections and at a General Meeting
· Placement on BMI information circulation list and functions invitation list.
BOOK SALES:
The collection is reviewed and some surplus, duplicate or non-current titles are made available to collectors and members for purchase.
Ballaarat Mechanics’ Institute, viewed 21 May 2011, <http://www.ballaratmi.com/>.
THE RELEVANCE OF RESOURCE FINDINGS TO THE TOPIC OF THE RESEARCH PROJECT
After researching both the Prahran and Ballarat Mechanics’ Institute Library collections and their objectives and aims to provide a lending and reference library specialising in works about the history of Victoria I found that the resources covered a vast range of community information including, community business, interests, towns, arts, Australian history (Victoria), immigration and much more, all relevant to the topic of the research project - Mechanics Institute libraries in Victoria.
Process:
· I researched the ‘Mechanics’ Institute of Victoria (MIV), Prahran and Ballarat Mechanics’ Institute websites, to search for information on the services available and the range of resources held at selected Mechanics’ institute libraries in Victoria and the relevance of resource findings to the topic of the research project.
Ballaarat Mechanics’ Institute, viewed 21 May 2011, <http://www.ballaratmi.com/>.
Mechanic’s Institute of Victoria, viewed 8 April 2011, <http://home.vicnet.net.au/~mivic/history.htm>.
Prahran Mechanics’ Institute, viewed 8 May 2011, <http://www.pmi.net.au/about.htm>.
· The process of selecting information to be included in this blog post was quite time consuming.
· Wrote the text for this post and updated blog post.
My Reflection on the Research Process:
· I found the BMI online research application process simple and the reference database easy to navigate.
Discoveries:
· After browsing through the MIV, PMI and BMI websites and the online reference database I discovered that they hold a very large and wide range of library resources and services available to members.
· That the Prahran Mechanics’ Institute website contains a sydus OPAC online catalogue, which is very user friendly.
References:
Sources
Sources
Ballaarat Mechanics’ Institute, viewed 21 May 2011, <http://www.ballaratmi.com/>.
Mechanic’s Institute of Victoria, viewed 8 May 2011, <http://home.vicnet.net.au/~mivic/history.htm>.
Mechanics’ Institute resource centre holdings, viewed 8 May 2011,
Prahran Mechanics’ Institute, viewed 8 May 2011, <http://www.pmi.net.au/about.htm>.
Prahran Mechanics’ Institute sydus, OPAC, viewed 21 May 2011, <http://pmi.spydus.com/cgi-bin/spydus.exe/MSGTRN/OPAC/HOME>
Image
Prahran Mechanics’ Institute, viewed 7 May 2011, <http://www.pmi.net.au/about.htm>.
