Unlocking our Sound Heritage: resources and events to prevent obsolescence 6 Jul 2021

It is common to find small quantities of tapes, discs and other formats in collections, without staff with the specialist knowledge to care for and make use of them. Many are endangered because of the approaching unavailability of playback equipment, giving only a few years to address the problem. The UK-wide Unlocking Our Sound Heritage project is seeking to address this, with new introductory guides for non-specialists on caring for audio collections, complemented by a series of training events running to September.

• Guides cover topics including long term storage, identifying and caring for sound formats, getting digitised and demystifying rights.
• The event programme includes ‘Cataloguing Audio’ (6th July, 10.30am) and an introductory event (7th July, 10am), with a dozen more events running to September.
• Additionally, an Unlocking Your Sound Heritage poster outlining simple, realistic steps towards successfully managing sound collections will be sent free of charge to any UK collection holder on request. Contact [email protected].

 British Library (booking), British Library (introductory guides series), British Library (regional and national support contacts)