Sssshhh!

Hi all I'm a newbie here, I stumbled across this forum looking for information on a local building. I have done a bit of urban (and rural) exploring in the past, without realising that was what I was doing. Nothing too adventurous though! Having browsed the site a bit, a number of other things came to mind, and I'll admit up front that I work in a library, so my opinion may be a teensy bit biased :

• It immediately struck me what a great resource is being built here; the photos and information being gathered on places at risk. However, I was also struck by the number of threads only a year or so old where the photos no longer display.
  
  
• I also noticed a number of threads either professing a lack of knowledge about the subject building / place, or asking for more info.

Your local library service, and particularly local studies libraries/departments will be of huge value for researching your chosen building / site, as they have collections of old photographs, old large-scale and highly detailed OS maps, local newspapers and no end of other material. Analogue access is generally needed - you have to take the trouble to visit in person, but this in itself can be highly addictive, as piecing together info can be a bit like a treasure hunt, and you often encounter original sources that the people at Google have wet dreams about.

Even small neighbourhood libraries hold local history books (yourplace then and now, yourplace in old pictures, etc) and you can see what is available using your service's online catalogue. Many library services also offer free access to subscription info services such as the 19th century British newspapers, Ancestry or FindMyPast for census records, etc etc., all available by entering your ticket number.

By return, local studies library services would also be potentially interested in obtaining copies of the information and particularly the photos gathered by members on here. Admittedly, the trespassing thing might be a bit too much of an issue for local government employees to get their heads around, but donations can be made anonymously! This would ensure long-term access by others to the unique records being gathered by urban explorers.

This would in no way encroach on the function of forums such as this; such places should be encouraged imho,and I certainly don't wish to suggest that DP falls short in any way, or cause offense to other members or admins. But the fact remains that a forum's main function is discussion, and the resources are generally not available to offer a reliable means of archiving information. So as well as posting your pics up here, why not consider sharing them with others on a more permanent basis?

<climbs down from soapbox, ever so slightly embarrassed at his impassioned outburst>

Last year I decided to try out the library to research a popular local site. I can honestly say the process was as quick as a Googling session and within five minutes I knew stuff that I'm pretty sure doesn't appear online.

Whilst I mostly agree with what you say not everyone wants to be a researcher type or even cares about the history. For the majority of locations a history is available even if it's not on every thread about that location.

As for missing images, this is the nature of the internet. It costs money to host images permanently and not everyone is willing to pay. The only way to make sure they are permanently available would be to host them myself, and that would cost £1000s per year which I doubt would be covered by donations. There's a reason there are VERY few forums on the internet which host their own images.

I went to my local library to look for some history, and was totally overwhelmed with the stuff they had.

They had all sorts of plans and documents, photos etc.

However i was accused of stealing something so im not allowed in anymore

I use my local library a lot as there are a humungous amount of local interest books and pamphlets, which is great not just for historical info, but also for leads to other explores. It never occurred to me to donate my own photos and findings though. That's a really good idea.
Cheers, Spyder.

im not bothered about a huge essay about a places history, just a sentance or 2 would be fine


i just like looking at the pictures to be honest!

Personal experience would indicate that this is a 'generation' thing, one's mode of research being definitely influenced by how a person searched for facts in their senior school/higher education days. For me the reference library/records office is far more appealing - there is something about finding your information on a dusty parchment that has probably not been viewed for centuries, that reading it off a screen does not provide. The other side of the coin is that much of this information is not available at the click of the search button, thus requiring a visit to the local library/records office. However for people brought up with the computer/internet being their primary or only source of information, I can see that searching the reference library or printed matter could prove to be hard graft.

As Mad Larkin has already intimated, for many people it is the visual that grabs the attention - either in photographs or site visits, surely some of the great images that we see on this forum are worth archiving at a local library? No one looses anything if they refuse to accept the offer.

Research

I guess it is a personal thing as to whether any history is included and that's fine as it gives the forum the depth and colour it needs to stop being whatever.

i wouldn't say that I am young (quite the opposite) but find the internet a fantastic place for research - or at least the leads needed so I know what I am looking for when I make a trip to the library. Good libraries do have both information and experience to help but are few and far between in rural areas.

I have put information together on a variety of subjects to which the libraries or institutes are always pleased to receive and would recommend it. A cd full of photographs with a note stuck on the outside as explanation is a valuable resource at a library or studies institute.

Merry Christmas all.

Glad to hear some peeps have found libraries useful! I agree it is a generational thing to some extent, and interest in the history aspect is not going to be everyone's thing, never mind spending hours doing 'serious' research, but hopefully this will inspire someone who may not have considered it before. As Krypton says, the amount, depth and scope of material available can sometimes be overwhelming.

@krela your point about forums hosting images was exactly what I'm getting at - hosting is expensive enough and forums shouldn't be expected to provide a reliable, long-term archiving service.

Again not everyone is going to be interested in archiving their work, but given the stated aim of this community "...to document these places before they disappear entirely, taking nothing but photos..." I was just hoping to encourage people to see the the value of their own contributions and the potential benefit their documentation can offer for future generations when these places are long gone - not always the first thing on people's minds! Merry Christmas everyone