PhD placements students, Andrew Booth and Rowan Campbell, write: What happens when you have a collection of recordings of endangered languages but little further information about what’s actually on them? Guest speaker Dr Alice Rudge, a cataloguer in the sound archive, talks to Andrew and Rowan about the fascinating stories…

PhD placement student, Andrew Booth, writes: The Library’s sound archives contain voices from all over the world and up and down the British Isles. The Isle of Man was included in the Survey of English Dialects in the 1950s and 60s and the Sounds website features a fantastic recording of…

This week’s selection comes from Cheryl Tipp, Curator of Wildlife and Environmental Sounds. It’s not only letters, local newspapers and pizza flyers that pop through our letterboxes. Sometimes the wind can get through too. This can be heard to great effect in the following recording, made on a blustery January…

This week’s selection comes from Stephen Cleary, Lead Curator of Literary & Creative Recordings. Anyone who enjoyed BBC Four’s recent two-part documentary on American minimalism Tones, Drones and Arpeggios: The Magic of Minimalism might also like this recording of composer Steve Reich discussing his life and work. Reich was joined…

PhD placement students, Andrew Booth and Rowan Campbell write: Are there any words your family use that no one else has heard of? Can you guess what fruckle, woga, elpit and pivoed mean? This week, Andrew and Rowan look into this phenomenon, with lots of examples from visitors who donated…