Manchester Central Library

The digital archive in the Local Studies Unit at Central Library now holds in excess of 77000 images and there are five terminals available for the public to view and order images. The library has been particularly successful in publicising the digital archive and as a result usage rates are high and the sale of prints provides a welcome source of income for the library. Over the past few months the Manchester Evening News has been running a 'Then and Now' feature each Saturday comparing a picture taken from the digital archive with an up to date photograph taken at the same location.

Following the award of a grant from the Wolfson British History Programme in November 2000 a new project was started with the objective of broadening the collections scope and building on its appeal to young people. For this project 3000 images have been chosen from the collection, in close consultation with the LEA, and are being transferred to CDROM using House of Images Run Time database program. The CD's have been distributed to Manchester schools for use in Local History project work.

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