Congratulations to the British Library in London, which won a prestigious award at the “Oscars of the museum world” this week.

The library won the Innovation Award for Timelines: Sources from History at the 2010 Museums & Heritage Awards.

These awards recognise and celebrate achievements within the world of museums, galleries and heritage visitor attractions.  The Innovation Award is given for the best use of technology in a museum, gallery or attraction.

The British Library’s Timelines: Sources from History is a rich-media interactive technology that allows you to explore the British Library collection chronologically for the first time.

Timelines: Sources from History brings together material from the library’s vast collections and uses Flash technology to allow you to discover historical connections in an exciting new way. As museumpublicity.com explains:

“Users can visually travel through time, finding sources, viewing transcripts, adding items to favourites, and switching timelines – all at the click of a button. Scanning through centuries of images, audio-visual and printed material, users can explore various themed timelines, such as ‘everyday life’, ‘music and literature’ and ‘politics, power and rebellion’.”

Roger Walshe, the British Library’s Head of Learning, says:

“The British Library’s virtual history timeline saw off some impressive competition from the National Gallery’s Love Art iPhone app and the Natural History Museum’s Attenborough Studio to win this award.

“Finding innovative ways of engaging with the past is increasingly crucial… – this timeline demonstrates how we can mesh traditional historical sources with new technologies to support future teaching methods, allowing users to engagingly pursue their own research.”

Find out more at www.bl.uk/timeline