Connecting communities with Trove
Recently, Albury City LibraryMuseum, in collaboration with the Albury & District Historical Society, hosted a free community workshop on using Trove to explore local history.
The session gave community members the chance to discover how Trove opens doors to the stories, people, and events that have shaped the region.
The historical society has been running two Trove workshops each year since 2018, one during Heritage Month in March and another around History Week in September. Each time, the audience is a mix of first-time Trove users and those with experience who are keen to share tips and learn more.
Workshop facilitator Greg Ryan begins with an overview of Albury newspapers on Trove and the ongoing work to expand coverage. Participants then learn about the wide range of resources available through Trove, with a focus on newspaper searching techniques. The workshop also covers saving and printing from Trove.

The highlight is a live demonstration. Attendees suggest research topics, and Greg demonstrates searching in real time, showing how to refine results, make corrections, and save findings. This hands-on approach sparks plenty of interest, questions, and shared insights.
‘I have always used the simple search, thanks for demonstrating advanced search which I will now use.’ – Workshop attendee
‘Directions were invaluable for finding detail not readily accessible pre-Trove. Very easy to follow, thank you.’ – Workshop attendee
Each 90-minute session ends with lively conversations, with many people staying back to ask more questions and share their discoveries.
Greg also shared with us how else he has used Trove to connect with the community. One such way was ‘Then & Now’ articles that the Albury & District Historical Society and the Wodonga Historical Society wrote to be included in the local Border Mail. Almost 500 articles were created starting in 2016 and finishing in early 2025 when the Border Mail discontinued the series.
‘Almost every one of those articles benefitted from research using Trove – the project would not have been possible without Trove. Many of those articles were written by me and I received countless positive comments from Border Mail readers.’ Greg said.
At their most recent workshop in September, an attendee approached Greg to ask about the ‘Then & Now’ articles, sharing that the only reason he bought the newspaper regularly was to read those articles.
‘It was a great way that both us and Wodonga Historical Society were able to connect with our community while making locals more aware of our rich history and heritage.’
By making their collection accessible online and offering workshops like these, Albury City Albury City LibraryMuseum helps more people connect with local history, build research skills, and celebrate the value of community collections.
Building your collections on Trove and sharing them with your community is a great way to connect with them. It also benefits the wider Trove Community.
Learn more about contributing your collection to Trove.
Do you host Trove workshops? Or have you run one recently? Share your experiences or questions with us - we’d love to hear from you. Reach out through Trove Partner Support.