by Richard James, UOSH Volunteer<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Before starting my university work placement cataloguing sound recordings for the National Library of Scotland as part of their \u2018Unlocking Our Sound Heritage\u2019 initiative, I wasn\u2019t sure what to expect to hear on my first week\u2019s recordings. As I approach the end of the placement, I\u2019m still just as unsure what I\u2019ll hear on my final weeks\u2019 recordings \u2013 and therein lies both the fun and the challenge of what I\u2019ve been doing for the last two months.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A given week\u2019s recordings may feature readings given at the Scottish Poetry Library by poets both well-known and amateur alike, or they may chronicle the shop stewards\u2019 meetings of Clydeside ship builders as they discuss the events leading to their famous industrial action, or they may simply recount the warm and humorous tales of former steam-engine drivers reminiscing about their days working on the railways in Fife. (Or, now and then, they may play random snippets of pop music with no explanation.) The exciting thing about this placement is, you never know until you hit play.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
During the two months of the placement, I\u2019ve learned a lot of useful and practical information regarding how to catalogue audio recordings: I\u2019ve learned what sub-fields are and how to use them, I\u2019ve learned how to find and choose subject headings, I\u2019ve gained experience chasing elusive snippets of information down rabbit holes and various tips and tricks to ensure you don\u2019t return from these warrens empty-handed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
More than anything else, however, I\u2019ve learned how rich and interesting our sound heritage can be. I\u2019ve heard stories of mobs of impoverished miners descending on the more affluent town of Thornton to raid the local shops, I\u2019ve become invested in the surprisingly cloak-and-dagger politics surrounding the building of a leisure centre in St Andrews and I\u2019ve found myself, to my own surprise as much as anyone\u2019s, becoming entranced by Finnish poetry being read in the centre of Edinburgh.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I still have two weeks\u2019 worth of recordings to get through before finishing and, although we know this last batch features oral histories gathered from residents of Leith in Edinburgh, who knows what stories will be revealed when I actually get the headphones on and listen to them. I know one thing, though: I can\u2019t wait to hit play and find out.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
by Richard James, UOSH Volunteer Before starting my university work placement cataloguing sound recordings for the National Library of Scotland as part of their \u2018Unlocking Our Sound Heritage\u2019 initiative, I wasn\u2019t sure what to expect to hear on my first week\u2019s recordings. As I approach the end of the placement, I\u2019m still just as unsure … Continue reading Volunteer Reflections<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"episode_type":"","audio_file":"","podmotor_file_id":"","podmotor_episode_id":"","cover_image":"","cover_image_id":"","duration":"","filesize":"","filesize_raw":"","date_recorded":"","explicit":"","block":"","itunes_episode_number":"","itunes_title":"","itunes_season_number":"","itunes_episode_type":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1063","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/scotlands-sounds.nls.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1063","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/scotlands-sounds.nls.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/scotlands-sounds.nls.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/scotlands-sounds.nls.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/scotlands-sounds.nls.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1063"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/scotlands-sounds.nls.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1063\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/scotlands-sounds.nls.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1063"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/scotlands-sounds.nls.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1063"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/scotlands-sounds.nls.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1063"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}