The document provides information about resources available through the British Library Sounds collection, including over 50,000 recordings from around the world covering music, spoken word, nature sounds, and oral histories. The recordings are divided into 9 categories and include examples such as interviews with authors, classical music performances, wildlife recordings, and recordings of accents and dialects from the UK. Contact information is provided for the ADI Subject Librarian to get further assistance accessing and using the British Library Sounds collection.

1. ADI Resources
Simone Ngozi Okolo
ADI Subject Librarian
s.n.Okolo@uel.ac.uk

2. The British Library Sounds
From the Library Page

3. Click on B for British Library Sounds

4. Select On and Off Campus

5. What is British Library Sounds
• Includes 50, 000 recordings and
their associated documentaries
• Recordings come from all over
the world
• Cover the entire range of
recorded sound – music, drama,
literature, oral history, wildlife
and environmental sounds.
• Divided in 9 categories as
follows:
• Accents and dialects,
• Arts, Literature and
Performance,
• Classical music,
• Oral history,
• Sound recording history,
• World and traditional music
• and finally Sound maps

6. Listening to interview of the African Writer Chinua
Achebe – Arts, Literature & Performance

7. Select African Writers’ Club

8. Select Interviews

9. Select interview with Chinua Achebe

10. Interviews of Chinua Achebe

11. Click on Confirm your institution to obtain
access

12. Search for UEL and Continue

14. Click on Download arrow and proceed to
listen

15. Description of the interview

16. Searching using keyword

17. Searching for a classical music - Mozart
You can also limit to ONLY RECORDINGS I CAN PLAY

18. Result of the search

19. Download and proceed to play

20. Accents and Dialects
• BBC Voices: conversations about language
recorded by BBC Nations and Regions
• British Commonwealth Recordings –
Recordings of WW1 British prisoners of war
held in Germany
• Millenium Memory Bank: Oral history in
Europe, recorded by BBC Local radio stations
duing 1998 & 99
• Survey of English Dialects: Extratcts taken
from recordings made between 1951 and 74
• UCL Phonetics Recordings: Poetry, dramatic
performance, nursery rhymes, folktales and
teaching materials for English

21. Arts, Literature and Performance
• African Writer’s Club: Radio programmes
on Africa literary, social and cultural
affairs produced in London for broadcast
in Africa
• Art & Photography: Intimate encounters
with the life and work of British painters,
sculptors, photographers, designers and
architects.
• Between Two Worlds: Poetry &
translation: A wide range of poets who
are bilingual or have English as a second
language.
• Early spoken word recordings: English
language recordings drawn from
commercial sylinders and 78 rpm discs
• ICA Talks: Talks and discussions held at
the ICA during the period 1982-1993,
featuring leading writers, artists and film
makers.
• ST Mary-le-Bow public debates from the
60s and 70s on social issues, featuring
guests from the world of entertainment,
business, politics and science.
• The Power of Caribbean Poetry:
Readings, lectures and discussions
• Theatre Archive Project: A reinvestigation
in British theatre history 1945-1968.
• Touch Radio: All the broadcasts from the
pioneering station

22. Classical music
• BACH: All the pre-1957 recordings of the
Orchestral suites, Brandenburg Concertos and
keyboard Concertos.
• BEETHOVEN: Compare & Contrast
performances of Beethoven’s string quartets,
symphonies and concertos
• BRAHMS: Recordings of the symphonies,
concertos and overtures made before 1957.
• Chamber Music: Performances include the
Philharmonic String Quartet, the London .
• CHOPIN: Performances of all the major works.
• DEREK COLLIER COLLECTION: Recordings of
the British Violinist at the BBC
• HAYDN: Pre-1957 recordings of the
symphonies
• HUGH DAVIES: Experimental music.
• MOZART: Symphonies and Concertors
recorded before 1957.
• ORAL HISTORY of GYLNDEBOURNE OPERA:
Interviews with people connected to
Gylndebourne Opera
• WILHELMJ CYLINDERS: Recordings of the
Great Violinist

23. Environment and Nature
• A.R,Gregory Kenyan bird recording:
Recordings from the most
comprehensive archive of wildlife
sounds from East Africa.
• Amphibians: A comprehensive
collection of vocalisations from
around the world.
• British Wildlife recordings: A selection
of sound recordings of wildlife from
around Britain.
• Early wildlife recordings: Pioneering
wildlife sound recordings from the
first half of the twentieth century.
• Interviews with wildlife sound recordists: A
growing collection of interview with British
wildlife sound recordists.
• Listen to Nature: Birds, mammals,
amphibians, reptiles and insects from all
over the world.
• Sound Effects: From Victorian street scene
to the sounds of World War Two.
• Soundscapes: This selection draws together
industrial sound and natural soundscapes
and wildlife sounds from around the globe.
• Water: Field recordings of various bodies of
water from around the world.
• Weather: Field recordings of meteorological
phenomena

24. Popular music
• Oral History of Jazz: Musicians,
promoters and label owners
reveal some of the less well
known aspects of British Jazz.
• Skiffle recordings
• Touch radio: All the broadcasts
from the pioneering station

25. Oral History
• Architecture: Oral history interviews with
British architects and those in associated
profession.
• Art & Photography: Intimate encounters with
the life and works of British painters,
sculptors, photographers, designers and
architects.
• Branding & Design: Life story oral history
interviews with people involved in British
branding fashion and design industries.
• Disability Voices: Interviews that chart the
experience of disabled party.
• Early spoken word recordings: English
Language recordings drawn from commercial
cylinders and 78 rpm discs. E.g. Archbishop
Bourne’s speech on Education.
• George Ewart Evans Collection: Interviews
and songs recorded by oral history pioneer
George Ewart Evans between 1956 and 1977.
• History of the Common Cold Unit: The
memories of those who worked at the
Common Cold Unit from 1957 until it’s
closure in 1990.
• Industry, Water, Steel and Energy: Oral history
interviews documenting the lives and careers
of those who worked in the UK Electricity,
Water, Steel, Oil and Gas industries
• Jewish Survivors of the Holocaust from Jewish
survivors living in Britain.

26. Sound recordings history
• Alan Blumlein recordings: Early
recordings made by the pioneering
sound engineer.
• Early record catalogues: Record
catalogues from 1898 to 1926 of discs
produced for the British markets.
• Oral history of recorded sound:
Interviews with people involved in all
areas of the recording industry.
• Playback and recording
equipment: Over 400 images of
devices, from phonographs to DAT
players.

27. Contact
• Simone Ngozi Okolo
• S.n.Okolo@uel.ac.uk
• Ext.2666