Beyond the obvious – studying lifestyles at the British Library Ian Cooke Social Science Collections and Research Studying Lifestyles: resources past, present and future Monday 9 March 2009

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4 Archival Sound Recordings - examples From Millennium Memory bank: C900/02595 – Schoolchildren talk about earning and spending money V0.xml V0.xml From Jewish survivors of the Holocaust: C0410/061 – remembering secondary school in Glasgow, pocket money and sources of income V0.xml V0.xml

5 British Library Newspapers 19 th C digitised Newspapers19 th C digitised Newspapers:  Free to HE and FE  50 titles, 10 million articles  Focus on regional  Study how stories were reported across the country

6 19 th C Newspapers – Advertising search  “Look and feel” of newspapers preserved  Full-text searching  Search for advertisements – source for informal economy in 19thC Britain  Be aware of language change

7 Newspapers, comics, fanzines, underground press … Collecting news from across the world Types of publications include: Comics; fanzines etcComicsfanzines See our Learning pages for a discussion on the underground press in Britainunderground press in Britain

8 Intellectual property, market research, trade literature Market research – study of what people are doing; a good compliment to government surveys; demographic information. Eg Walls Pocket Money Monitor, our shelfmark (XP) AL 90 – E(12) Intellectual Property and Trade Literature – worldwide collection, from mid 19 th C. Use this to study:  Development of brands  Changing consumer behaviour and aspirations  History of businesses

9 Official Publications Subjects:  Social conditions  Education  Health  Finance  Trade and industry  Media and culture  Transport Types:  British state papers  Official publications from around the world  Reports from departments and agencies  Parliamentary papers  Legislation  Inter-governmental organisations

10 British Parliamentary Papers Read statements given by witnesses, and other evidence collected for presentation to Parliament Statistics and commentary on all aspects of people’s lives House of Commons Papers online: free to all Higher Education institutions Ask for help when starting to use Parliamentary Papers

11 Inter-Governmental Organisations  The organisations’ internal affairs (minutes of committees, conferences, resolutions etc )  Diplomatic affairs (peacekeeping, mandates, mediation etc)  Social issues (health, women and children, drug trafficking, refugees, human rights)  Economic issues (unemployment, labour conditions, transport, trade)  Statistics  Evidence from expert groups and witnesses

12 Web Archive Informal publishing – websites can be “lost” very quickly Personal interest and non-commercial sites can be most at risk (and of great interest to study of people’s lives) Eg compare Choice and Voice, saved in the Web Archive: 743/ / With the URL today

13 Guides and support  Reference services: reading room, telephone, Reference services  Help for Researchers web pagesHelp for Researchers  Collection guides, eg for government publications:  Topical bibliographies, eg Globalisation and employment, Gang culture and knife crime …Topical bibliographies  Welfare Reform on the WebWelfare Reform on the Web How do you use these collections?