Oral history archive department in modern libraries, Essay

The main aim of the research is to discuss the uses and the value of an oral history archive department in modern libraries, especially British libraries and American ones which are pioneers in this domain. It has been realized or discovered that the oral history archive can be used to explain the concept or idea of windowing time in physical and digital libraries. Of late digital and oral history archive libraries carry a variety of useful information and documents that include the past and present ones. This paper therefore tries to view the use and the value of this kind of sound archive in which it is divided into main categories and subsections. The first section is the introductory part that tries to give a brief explanation about the oral history archive. There is a problem in question or objective, which touches on what is to be investigated that is the use of this archive. The hypotheses are also constructed to provide answers to the objectives of the research. The other areas include research context/literature review; methodology; work plan; recourses; ethics and conclusion. 1. Working Title The use and the value of an oral history archive department in Modern Libraries and Information Centres. 2. Introduction. Many scholars realized that Oral history archive libraries can be used to obtain information as fast as possible. According to Portelli (1998), the archive holds several hours of gramophone, films, audio, video and Compact Disks. The oral history archive has been of great help in various departments because instant information has been obtained through what is called oral debriefing. This is a situation whereby a comprehensive and condensed verbal testimony is obtained from individuals (Medical Tribune 2007). Other areas where the oral history archive has been applied include areas such as psychology, witness interrogation in criminal investigations, which occur in both oral and visual formats (Sangster 1998).The archive tentatively is currently being used to help in knowledge management especially when it comes to labor market. This is an area in commerce and industry where the changing labor market requires employees to shift from one position to another or from one job to another. As this happens there is loss of organizational memory, the so called the body of data and knowledge which is relevant to an individual organization’s existence (Perk and Thomson 1998 and Gregory 1991). These therefore are of the uses of oral history archive that make it become recognized as a powerful device or tool especially in Britain to capture the already existing institutional knowledge and information. Learning has been enhanced by the use of Oral history archive. The new curriculum requires students to have sound and good communication skills that prepare them to answers questions either during interviews as they look for jobs after schooling or in classroom (Rolph 1998). Criminal investigation department also employ the use of an Oral history archive when they are interrogating criminals. 3. Aims and objectives In this section, the paper discusses the problem in question or the objectives of carrying out the research. Oral history archive has been viewed as a unique and powerful tool by people. In order to clear this perception and make things more clear, this research paper tries to answer the question. The problem to be researched on is therefore the value and the use of an oral history archive in modern libraries and information centres and why people view it as a useful tool in modern libraries. The paper shall also look at the role, if any, of the information specialist of the future in an oral history department and the skills the information specialist must have to operate in such a department. Besides, the paper shall also look at and address the question of how interviewing targets are chosen by the oral history department, how expensive it is to put up an oral history department from scratch at the various libraries, why people view it as a useful tool in the modern libraries and the skills that are required by an information specialist in order for him/her to be able to operate in the department. Today, many educationists are being encouraged to introduce oral history as a powerful tool for serious scholarships in all universities in order to encourage learning. However, there are a number of universities that have introduced and developed extensive collections of oral history while others have not realized the usefulness of the library. For example; Harvard, Princeton and University of California have taken the lead in the development and introduction of oral history archive (Gowers 2006). In addition, the university libraries mentioned above in this domain have operated smoothly from 1955, the British Library has been the pioneer for a lot of researchers of this topic. The reason is simple. The Sound Archive Department of British Library at the present time holds over a million discs, One hundred and eighty five thousand audio tapes, and a lot of video and sound records. These collections which include written literature, dramatized stuff, and music recordings plus sounds of wildlife are collected from across the world. They entail cylindrical equipment created in the nineteenth century to the most recent Compact Disks, Digital Versatile Disk and mini discs. 4. Scope and Definition In order to discover the use and the value of an oral history archive department and to create a sensible project in range and time, the scope of the project will focus mainly on the opinions of curators, librarians and others who are working in this sector. It is important though to be aware that this will emphasize basically on personal viewpoints and changing theories and therefore might not provide a perfect answer. It will also be necessary for the research to stay neutral and determined on the questioners and not go beyond the objectives set as those working in these departments will be more involved with the issues concerning their departments than be drawn to the personal issues. 5. Literature Review The literature review section tries to look at what other scholars have discussed about the same topic to be researched on. This is very important since it avoids or solves cases of duplication of other people’s work. Since other people or scholars at one time had realized the importance of Oral history archive in the modern libraries, it is therefore in order to access their ideas on the topic. The oral history archive has been viewed as a useful tool in a number of areas such as psychotherapy, witness interrogation in crime investigation and learning institutions that are provided in both oral and visual formats (Rolph 1998, Gregory 1991, Parker 1999 and Sarah 2004). According to Ritchie (2003), oral history has useful information or materials that are often ignored by librarians. This is also sometimes overlooked in relation to cost value calculation (Swain 2003). The archive has played a key role in helping in audio collection, attitude and value clarification as well as necessitating multi-media approach to learning (Christel 2006 and Thomson 2000). The most obvious area where oral history archive has been used according to Perks and Thompson (1998) is in learning institutions. This is a case where a tape recorder is used in classrooms to help students understand the concept being taught in class room. However, it has been noticed that a tape recorder has not been effectively and efficiently used as compared to the use of movie, slide or overhead projectors (Lukenbill 2002). One advantage when one uses a tape recorder is that it can be stopped anytime especially when the instructor wants to emphasize important points or to allow urgent questions arising (Thompson 2000). Tapes can also be replayed to enhance re-examining or revisiting and requesting of any order that is desirable. Proper understanding of the lesson is therefore emphasized. Since the new curriculum requires students to have skills in understanding comprehension, analysis and evaluation. Oral history has been of great use to check and examine all these concepts. It is also noted that oral communication skills are very important when it comes to times of interviews where questions are phrased (Swain 2003). The interviewer and the interviewee have to be clear and precise especially in calling for specific information. The questions asked especially during the interviews need also to be answered in the most accurate manner as possible (Ritchie 2003). According to Perks and Thompson (1998), accuracy actually plays a major role in interviews and this can be facilitated by the use of oral history archive. The concept is also emphasized by Seale (2004). As a way of facilitating learning, oral history archive through the use of tapes has facilitated immediate feedback during teaching in schools. This has been done in connection with other secondary sources like books more so in secondary schools. Students’ needs are addressed as soon as possible. This rules out cases of negative delays which is commonly experienced in the traditional scholarly research where numerous collections are required (Thompson 2000). A good teacher who knows how to use tapes only needs to locate appropriate tapes in which he is expected to prepare summarized notes according to students’ understanding. This should be done after testing the entry behavior of the students before opting to use the tapes for instruction (Parker 1999). Oral history archive has also been helpful in clinical libraries (Schacher 2001). Clinicians when giving psychotherapy to patients who are mentally disturbed have used the information contained in the Oral history archive. Such patients may be suffering from Schizophrenia or psychosis (Schacher 2001 and Thompson 2000). As patients talk about their illness the clinician is able to come up with appropriate measures to provide assistance.