Friday 26 February 2021

An Ode to Archivists- Access to Archives Internship Jan-Feb 2021

I’m Farhana Islam, Access to Archives Intern with Lothian Health Services Archive. I have one week left of my one-month placement and I’d like to start off this blog by saying thank you to everyone at LHSA and the CRC team for being so welcoming and supportive, including Laura Beattie, Louise Neilson and Ruth Honeybone. A special thanks to Louise Williams, my mentor/ supervisor over the past month; she was so patient with me while I got used to the new software, and extremely helpful in answering all the questions and queries I had. Before beginning the internship however, I questioned the potential of engagement with a team who lived and operated in another country, but Louise and Laura made Scotland feel like a ten-minute drive (from London); and the wider team through their various talks and presentations have made me really excited to visit the CRC and LHSA to meet everyone and explore the facilities in person (once things go back to normal).

My two main tasks were to input existing catalogues onto the ArchivesSpace software, and create catalogues and transcriptions for oral history recordings relating to Edinburgh’s HIV and AIDs epidemic in the late 1980s. During my first two weeks, I enjoyed developing my skills on the ArchivesSpace software and had the satisfaction of watching roots develop in to trees, and noticing myself become more fluent on the site. Listening to, cataloguing and transcribing oral histories was definitely my favourite, I feel as though I’ve found my calling! As an avid listener of podcasts and audio-books, It was like listening to a really interesting historical podcast, and then being able to contribute towards its preservation; simply magical!

In addition to learning a lot from these tasks, I learnt an immense amount from merely speaking and listening to members of CRC who are all so enthusiastic about what they do. In particular Emily Hick’s Sacred Objects project and the ‘Meet the Conservator’ livestream which was so informative and interesting. [I believe a recorded version can be found online].

Oral History

The work I have contributed towards has made me appreciate the strenuous nature of archiving and preservation so much more. From the attention to detail required during cataloguing, to the patience and methodical approach to recording and then transcribing oral histories and of course making it accessible to the public. It is so easy to overlook the several hours of effort behind the preservation of photos, historical documents, images, artefacts, oral history recordings and archives in general.

The image on the right is an example of one of the applications which can be used to make cataloguing and transcribing oral history easier. ExpressScribe, in its most basic form, is a transcription software which allows users to upload recordings and adjust audio clips and provides a space for transcribing as you listen.




 

In the oral history interview with Jacqui Mok, Helen Zealley describes creating books for children who were affected by HIV. ‘It’s Clinic Day’ (GD22/14/1/62) aimed to normalise the experiences of the children who might have been distressed by regular hospital appointments, home visits, and all sorts of medical examinations. As much as this information moved me, it was so refreshing to learn of the efforts made on the part of healthcare professionals in the 1980s in helping not only treat those clinically affected by the virus, but taking time out to care for the children’s emotional wellbeing. LHSA’s preservation of the historical fight against HIV and AIDS has definitely put things in to perspective about the effort that goes in to caring for people with a virus which, to this day, carries the burden of societal stigma.

Working from Home

I’ve seen quite a few (pre-Covid) blogs posting picturesque images of the view from the University of Edinburgh/CRC, so here’s my attempt at displaying my internship workspace. One of the perks of working from home is, you get to have spontaneous mini snowmen competitions with your siblings at lunchtime.





Virtually exploring the Qit’at- i- Khushkhatt....

As it was a virtual internship, I explored the archives and special collections online. Cameras are notorious for not being able to capture the real beauty of things in front of us, but these scriptures, calligraphy and art pieces were absolutely breath-taking, even on a screen. I thought I’d include them in my blog because seeing them made me really excited and I admittedly spent way too long staring at each of them, trying to read the Arabic.


 



You can view images of the Qit’at- i- Khushkhatt here: https://bit.ly/3pXVTV8

Family History Preservation

My mum recently discovered my grandad’s passport and immigration document, which was so exciting for my family, but the pages were wearing away. Luckily, I had the help of Ruth, who suggested the best methods of preservation for these specific documents. I am really excited to begin my own preservation project for the future generations of my family. It was such a privilege to have the expert opinions of archivists, conservators and curators at my finger-tips.




 

All in all… 

I’ve come away from the internship, excited for a career in archives. I’ve been exposed to several different avenues within the heritage sector, and look forward to continuing my journey in preservation. I have enrolled as a volunteer onto an oral history project (which I begin next week), called the ‘Tape Letters Project’; looking at the unusual method of communication used by working class Pakistani migrants, who recorded cassettes for their families to listen to in Pakistan. Oral history, here I come! I feel truly grateful to have had the chance to work with such crucial, historical information and would like to thank everyone at LHSA for making me feel so welcome and included in the preservation of Lothian’s history.

 

-Farhana Islam


Friday 19 February 2021

Tessa talks about her experience as one of our very first remote Interns!

 

Hello! I’m Tessa, and for the last four weeks I’ve been the Web Accessibility and Resource List Intern here at LHSA – well not exactly ‘here’, as like all of us I’ve been working remotely, which for me is from my flat in Glasgow. Despite this I’ve had a wonderful experience, and keen to share what I’ve been working on…

My internship was formed of two main parts; firstly, I tested the LHSA’s website against the UK Government’s Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG 2.1). It was surprising to find out this is a mandatory list of criteria that a website must meet in order to enable access to users with disabilities such as visual, hearing, cognitive and mobility.  

WCAG 2.1 is based on the following 4 design principles:

·         Perceivable

·         Operable

·         Understandable

·         Robust

Essentially these principles encompass everything that makes a website accessible for all users, from ease of navigation to appropriate colour contrast. With the daunting thought of over 500 pages making up the LHSA website, I started by testing the main index pages (of which there are 16) as these are likely to receive the highest user traffic. I then further tested internal pages, which contain elements like tables, video and audio sections which I thought would be beneficial to assess. I ended up exceeding my expectations, testing just shy of 80 pages, which I hope will provide a good representation on the types of future improvements to be made. As there could often be many elements to test within one page, the application WAVE (Web Accessibility Evaluation Tool) proved invaluable by cleverly highlighting areas that needed attention and also translating web code into human language!


WAVE in action, testing the LHSA Home page

After about a week of running tests, the second part of my internship was a complete contrast! As the reading room is currently closed, my task was to compile a list of digital resources from the University of Edinburgh and beyond on the history of psychiatry in the UK, to aid research and teaching. Records relating to this subject are often highly requested at the LHSA, and fortunately for me, there was so much to be found online! Among the range of resources I’ve included on the list are three podcast series from the University of St Andrews, and an entire playlist of talks on mental health, recorded at the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh. Also, it was interesting to see the different and innovative ways institutions are enabling and facilitating remote access to their collections while access is currently limited, and I definitely found myself falling down a few rabbit-holes during my research…


The feeling when you stumble across a page of online exhibitions 

The Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh's online exhibition 'Moonstruck: 500 Years of Mental Health' https://www.rcpe.ac.uk/heritage/moonstruck-360-degree-tour


As well as these two tasks, I was able to learn about the history and daily operations of the LHSA – talking to Ruth Honeybone about her conservation work, finding out more about Louise Neilson’s role as Access Officer and Louise Williams' work as archivist. These chats have been great for keeping myself and fellow Intern Farhana connected, along with attending the CRC Staff meeting – not least the weekly virtual coffee breaks!

It is clear to me that I have learnt a tremendous amount in the last four weeks, which I somewhat feel is a result of remote working, rather than in spite of the current restrictions. With this, I’ve had to learn to adapt to new challenges, but I’ve felt incredibly supported throughout (a testament to Louise N and the rest of the wonderful LHSA team!) and would certainly recommend any new professionals like myself pursuing a remote internship in the future. I look forward to when I’m able to visit the LHSA in person in the not-so-distant future!