Over the past ten years the Secret Library Leeds blog has seen a host of guest authors writing about their projects, studies or interests. Here we look back at just a few of them.

Guest authors come about in a variety of ways. Sometimes a researcher will approach Leeds Libraries with a query and in the process of correspondence we realise that their research would make a fascinating blog post. We then gently persuade them to write a little something for us that can highlight their research but also our collections. Many fruitful articles have come about this way – by us cheekily asking for content. It never hurts to ask and (fortunately) we have rarely been turned down.

A guest blog article has proved a useful way of researchers to reach a larger audience with their projects. Frequent guest blogger Joanne Harrison has used her blog articles on back-to-back houses to report back on her PHD research and advertise ways for local communities to get involved. This in turn leads to more research and published material that can then be added to our collections. It’s a win-win situation for us and researchers.

Lou Bentley also wrote a blog post about a project she was working on – collecting stories from people who lived in the Quarry Hill Flats. This project then became an online resource that we can signpost people to and use ourselves to find out more about the occupants of the flats.

Leeds Libraries have frequently worked with local author Chris Nickson and whilst hosting an exhibition looking back at his Leeds based crime fiction, we made sure to ask Chris to write us something to tie in with this.

Other times, just a chance conversation has led to an offer of a blog post. A recent example being Jeanette B, writing on Theodosia Grimshaw Wilkinson; this came about over a cup of tea at a local history event.

Another frequent guest author is Tony Scaife. Tony became a Heritage Volunteer with Leeds Libraries some years ago and although he has now finished his volunteering, he has not stopped researching stories and people in our collections. He’s authored articles on ‘robots’, Alice Mann, Captain Cook and the Leeds Mercury newspaper. He’s also written a series of articles on the history of the Mechanics’ Institute and helped research the history of Leeds Central Library. In fact his research on Leeds Libraries led to him participating in a talk for National Libraries Week. Tony has written a separate blog post on his experiences of writing for the blog so look out for that next week.

Other library volunteers have written about the history of the Zoological and Botanical Gardens in Leeds, health and wellbeing in Leeds City Council publications and about the various tasks they have been carrying out in the library.

On some occasions we have handed the blog over to guest authors for multiple weeks at a time to really examine a topic in depth. One such author was local historian and researcher, Danny Friar, who took over the blog for Black History Month in 2021 and wrote an epic four part series on the history of Black people in Leeds and Bradford.

Additionally students from York St. John University contributed to five blog posts detailing a project undertaken with Leeds Central Library called The Other Project. This looked at specific issues of the Leeds Other Paper, the alternative newspaper in Leeds which was published from 1974-1994.

We’re always especially excited to hear from people who have a real specialism in their field. Dave Bean wrote about the Public Benefit Boot Company – a subject that he has limitless knowledge and enthusiasm for. Gill Crawshaw has also written about her passion for researching the history of disability in West Yorkshire, especially in relation to textile heritage.

It’s rare we let a work experience student leave us without committing to write something for the blog – as Haaris Mahmood and Thomas Wootton can testify!

Having guest authors with such enthusiasm and knowledge, who are willing to share this freely with us has been a wonderful development for the Secret Library Leeds blog and we hope this collaborative approach can continue well into the future.