It is a pleasure to bring the SSSA blog into the world and given that this is our 70th Anniversary it would seem that introductions are long overdue.
Fran Baseby, CRC Services Manager
I am responsible for services that provide access to collections at the School of Scottish Studies Archive & Library, and the Centre for Research Collections. This includes our online enquiries, collections-based teaching, and virtual and physical access to collections. I love that my job enables people to access the collections and experience the immense heritage that they include. Listening to a sound recording or sitting in front of a manuscript creates a unique connection between us as individuals and our collective histories.
Colin Gateley, Audio Visual Resources Technician. Digital Library
I started here in 2006 digitising audio for the Tobar an Dualchais project and now I mostly work on the archive’s photo collection. I like the variety of work – digitising photographs, image processing, video editing, and other AV work. And the collection is such a treasure trove – a sometimes surprising record of former lives and culture.
Elliot Holmes, Archive & Library Assistant
II am one of the Archives and Library Assistants with the SSSA and have been with the team since early 2020. I have particular interest in Welsh and Scottish folklore and I have written about folklore and the field for my undergraduate as well as my MSc in Information Management and Preservation. For the 70th Anniversary, I will be focusing on LGBT+ collections and developing representation and LGBT+ voices in the archive. One of the things I love about our archive and collections is the sheer amount of oral history and invaluable accounts from a wide range of voices, of which I hope to take even further this year.
Cathlin Macaulay, Curator
I have been working at the School of Scottish Studies for the past twenty years or so, mainly in the Sound Archive, though more recently I have had the opportunity to become more familiar with the Photographic Archive. As Curator I help to care for the archives, to enable people to find material, to make connections and to contextualise the collections.The Archives are full of voices, each with a different story to tell, a different song, a different tune. With its rich variety of knowledge and artistry, the SSSA is a place of continual exploration.
Stuart Robinson, Audio-Visual Digitisation Technician
II am an Audio-Visual Digitisation Technician for the School. I have been digitising the collections here for over 10 years, I also manage our digital file storage and contribute to our databases and technical systems. I came from a background working in community radio and commercial recording after studying Electrical Engineering.I enjoy working with and maintaining the fragile legacy audio and video carriers and the various devices that allow us to play them and transfer them to new (and hopefully) future-proof formats to ensure they can be accessed safely for many years to come. As a musician I also particularly enjoy hearing performances of traditional music and songs.
Louise Scollay, Archive & Library Assistant
I’ve been Archive & Library Assistant since SSSA opened the public service in 2017, but my history with the School goes back further as I studied there for my Scottish Ethnology degree and graduated in 2011.
It is an absolute joy working at the front-facing services of SSSA; I love seeing people connect and engage with our collections, particularly our sound archive, it’s like watching someone open a treasure chest! It’s hard to choose favourites amongst the collection, but I have a deep connection to our material from Shetland.
Kirsty Stewart, Archivist
I am Kirsty Stewart (Ciorstag ‘sa Ghàidhlig) and I’ve been the archivist for the School of Scottish Studies Archives, one day a week, since we re-opened in 2017. I have a degree in Gaelic Studies from Aberdeen University and did my postgraduate in Archival Studies in University College Dublin, next door to our old friends at the Irish Folklore Archive.
Initially my role was to re-establish the search room service and since then have focussed on managing the needs of our library/special collections and the manuscripts, in particular our administrative records, which tell the story of our 70 year history. One of my favourite things about SSSA is hearing different accents through recordings or their transcripts, these diverse voices that tell the story of our nation.
This year is our 70th Anniversary and we look forward to sharing events and content with you. If you would like to be kept up to date with our posts then please subscribe to get new posts straight to your inbox. You can find the subscribe box at the bottom of the page.
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