Hidden treasures revealed to the nation

Winners announced for British Library competition for public libraries

A high profile awards ceremony was held at the British Library's flagship St Pancras building last night to reveal the winners and highly commended entries in a national competition to make spectacular treasures from public libraries available via the web.

Between last May and the closing date at the end of June, librarians across the UK sent in some 82 entries that have dazzled the judges with their uniqueness and variety.

The winning items range from a 12th century legal work containing the earliest record of the English language to a fascinating first-hand account of life in rural Caernarfonshire in the middle of the 19 th century, as experienced by an unusually observant 14-year-old; from a spectacular illuminated missal to a beautifully illustrated war record book containing stories of evacuees, enemy airmen, the coming of the American army and even jam making!

The Library, in collaboration with the Society of Chief Librarians, Scottish library chiefs and Microsoft, launched the competition to help public libraries in England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland uncover the items in their collections that most deserve to be transformed into Turning the Pages 2.0 'virtual texts'.

The five winning libraries will each have 30 pages of their nominated item digitised, converted into Turning the Pages 2.0 format and shared with the world via the British Library website for three years, giving these treasures a far wider audience than would have ever been possible through traditional exhibition. Each Turning the Pages 2.0 package is sponsored by Microsoft. Highly commended libraries will be eligible to purchase a hugely discounted Turning the Pages 2.0 'toolkit' allowing them to build and manage their own online libraries.

The winning entries:

• Dorset Federation of Women's Institutes War Record Book 1939-1945 (Dorset Library Service in partnership with Dorset History Centre and Dorset School Library Service) ( England ) - a unique volume which provides a compelling snapshot of life on the Home Front;
• The Textus Roffensis (Medway Libraries, Kent) (England) - an iconic work, compiled 1123-24, containing the first recorded English laws and the coronation oath of Henry I, which influenced the barons who drafted Magna Carta;
• The Arbuthnott Manuscripts (Renfrewshire Council) (Scotland) - a spectacular illuminated missal, containing a blood-curdling rite of excommunication, which was one of the few Scottish items of its kind to survive the Reformation;
• Sir George Leonard Staunton's Account of an Embassy from the King of Great Britain to the Emperor of China, 1797 (Belfast Central Library) (Northern Ireland) - volumes containing finely detailed mezzotint plates, which describe and illustrate the visit of the first British envoy to China;
• The Diaries of William Searell of Beddgelert, Caernarfonshire, 1844-46 (Conwy County Borough Council: Libraries, Information and Culture Service) (Wales) - begun when the author was 14 and providing vivid and unique insights into mid-nineteenth century Welsh rural life.

The highly commended entries:

• David Patton's 'A Dilaogue betuext the Old and New Burgar Kirk of dunfermlne.' (sic), 1811, (Fife Council Libraries) - a self-penned title illustrated by the author's own woodcuts;
• Photographs of Edinburgh's Old Town 1866-1871 (Edinburgh City Libraries and Information Services) - photographs and commentary on the vanished face of the Scottish capital;
• Richard de Jersey's Book of Navigation, 1737 (The Priaulx Library, Guernsey) - lavishly illustrated manuscript volume;
• Foundling Hospital Billet Book, circa 1760 (City of London Librarie) - admissions book recording the details of abandoned babies;
• An Hibernian Atlas., 1798 (Irish and Local Studies Library, South Eastern Education and Library Board) - a visual interpretation of pre-Famine Ireland and a beautiful example of Peter Bernard Scale's cartography, completed whilst working with his master John Rocque.

[See Notes for Editors, below, for the complete shortlist.]

The range of prize-winning entries gives an idea of just how many treasures of regional, national and international importance are held in public library collections across the UK. 82 entries were received in total: 56 from England, 14 from Scotland, 5 from Wales and 7 from Northern Ireland.

Tony Durcan, President of the Society of Chief Librarians says, "Turning the Pages is a wonderful development technically, but its real value is in the way it makes often hidden treasures widely accessible. I am delighted with the results and I hope that this is the start of many Turning the Pages 2.0 facilities across the United Kingdom".

The competition signifies the direction for library services in the digital age according to Elaine Fulton, Director of the Scottish Library and Information Council: "The ability to provide digital access to unique material held in our public libraries is a critical part of supporting cultural heritage, history and diversity".

For further information and images please contact: Chloe Tait at the British Library Press Office (telephone +44 (0)20 7412 7113, email: chloe.tait@bl.uk) or Lawrence Christensen (telephone +44 (0)20 7412 7114, email: lawrence.christensen@bl.uk)

Notes for Editors

1. The British Library is the national library of the United Kingdom. It provides world class information services to the academic, business, research and scientific communities and offers unparalleled access to the world's largest and most comprehensive research collection. The British Library's collections include 150 million items from every era of written human history beginning with Chinese oracle bones dating from 300 BC, right up to the latest e-journals. Further information is available on the Library's website at www.bl.uk

2. Winners contact details:

The Textus Roffensis - Medway Libraries, Kent - April Lambourne, Archives and Local Studies Officer, +44 (0)1634 332714

Dorset Federation of Women's Institutes War Record Book 1939-1945 - Dorset Library Service - Sharon Kirkpatrick, Senior Manager: Reading and Learning, +44 (0)1305 228529

Arbuthnott Manuscripts - Renfrewshire Council - Jenifer A. McFarlane, Acting Libraries Manager - +44 (0)141 840 3001

Diaries of William Searell - Conwy County Borough Council: Libraries, Information & Culture Service - Susan Ellis, Senior Archivist - +44 (0)1492-860882

Staunton's Embassy to China - Belfast Public Libraries - Linda Greenwood, Principal Librarian - +44 (0)28 90509104

Scotland

The Arbuthnott Manuscripts, 1491 (Renfrewshire Council)
David Patton's 'Dilaogue betuext the Old and New Burgar Kirk of dunfermlne' (sic) (Fife Council Libraries / Dunfermline Carnegie Library)
The First (Kilmarnock) Edition of the poems of Robert Burns, 1786 (East Ayrshire Libraries)
Photographs of Edinburgh's Old Town 1866-1871 (Edinburgh City Libraries and Information Services)
Maps drawn by children attending the Parish School of Abercorn 1848-49 (West Lothian Libraries)

Wales

Bacon Sisters pencil drawings of the Aberdare Valley 1827-1828 (Rhondda cynon Taf Library Services)
Fischbuch, Konrad Gesner (1516-1565); a German translation of the author's Historia Animalium, Book 4; The Founders' Library of the University of Wales Lampeter (Ceredigion County Library Service on behalf of local partner Saint David's University College, Lampeter)
Rolls Family Archive (Monmouthshire Library and Information Service).
The Diaries of William Searell of Beddgelert, Caernarfonshire, aged 14, 1844-1846 (Conwy County Borough Council: Libraries, Information & Culture Service)

England

[Owing to the large number of high quality entries received from England, the panel felt that the judges should consider a shortlist of 10]:
Richard de Jersey's Book of Navigation 1737 (The Priaulx Library, Guernsey)
The Textus Roffensis (Medway libraries, Kent)
Dorset Federation of Women's Institutes War Record Book 1939-1945 (Dorset Library Service in partnership with Dorset History Centre and Dorset School Library Service)
Foundling Hospital Billet Book, circa 1760 (City of London Libraries)
Liber Horn, 1311 (City of London Libraries)
The Exeter Book or The Exeter anthology of old English poetry, circa 965-975
(Exeter Cathedral Library - submitted by Devon Library and Information Services, Devon County Council).
The Edith Southey album, 1820-1830 (Bristol Central Library)
Hereford Cathedral Manuscript P.1X.2 (Herefordshire Libraries)
Ars Moriendi (art of dying, circa 1491) ( Blackburn with Darwen Borough Council)
The 'Blackburn' Psalter, 1250-60 (Blackburn with Darwen Borough Council)

Northern Ireland

An Hibernian Atlas., 1798 (Irish and Local Studies Library, Armagh)
Le Grand Atlas, Joan Blaeu, 1667 (Belfast Central Library)
Maps of the Roads of Ireland, 1777 (South Eastern Education and Library Board)
Sir George Leonard Staunton's Account of an Embassy from the King of Great Britain to the Emperor of China, 1797 (Belfast Central Library)
The Marcus Ward collection (Belfast Central Library)