The Special Collections Room is on the top floor of The Sir Michael Cobham Library. It exists to provide access to the collections which support the research of the University's Schools and to secure where possible, through the quality or uniqueness of its collections, distinction within the higher education community. As well as the collections themselves, the room provides a silent study area, PCs, network sockets and wireless capability for laptop use and a photocopier/scanner. For some resources, kept in secure off site storage, appointments will be necessary.
Contents:The Broadcasting History Collections focus on all aspects of broadcasting history in the United Kingdom from 1920's to the present day. They comprise:
BBC Radio 4 Analysis
The BBC Radio 4 Analysis collection comprises audio-tapes
1970-1994, stored in a remote location, and transcripts 1970-1990,
located in the Special Collections Room. The collection is
supported by a small grant from the Arts and Humanities Research
Board [AHRB].
Broadcasting Audience Research
The collection consists of data sets from the Broadcasters'
Audience Research Board (BARB), Joint Industry Committee for
Television Advertising Research (JICTAR), Radio Joint Audience
Research Ltd. (RAJAR), and associated material dating from
1966-2001.
Channel Four Television - Press
Information - 1990-2001
For researchers, Press Information is an invaluable source
of information on 'hard to find' programmes and provides the
most comprehensive overview of television output. Press information
list weekly schedules with brief synopses, information on
where programmes fit in the schedule and the contribution
that they make to series or themed seasons. Where programmes
are reviewed elsewhere, reviews are quoted together with relevant
information on awards, background of presenters and production
credits.
History of Broadcasting
Collection of books, annuals and reviews for the period 1920-1980
and journals including Ariel 1936-1991, BBC Record 1961-1975,
BBC Quarterly 1949-1954, The Listener 1930-1990 and The Radio
Times (London Ed.) 1936-1987.
In Touch Collection
Collection of nearly 20 years worth of recordings and broadcast information for the IN TOUCH radio programme, broadcast on BBC Radio 4 from c1969 to 1995. This unique programme provides a critical consumer evaluation of aids and services for people with a visual handicap. Bulk of the collection dates from the late 1970s and also includes copies of the IN TOUCH bulletin which from 1974 was produced quarterly with a summary of the broadcast information.
>> History of the In Touch Programme by Thena Heshel, Producer (PDF 453kb)
Independent Local Radio Programme
Sharing Digitization Project Archive
Digitised archive of local radio programmes from c1980-1990.
The Independent Local Radio Programme Sharing Scheme, organised
by the Association of Independent Radio Contractors [AIRC],
enabled independent radio stations to share features, drama
and music. The scheme ended after the 1990 Broadcasting Acts
relaxed the requirement for speech based broadcasting which
it served. The collection, located in the Special Collections
Room, was digitised in a partnership with the British Library,
National Sound Archive and Bournemouth University. The Collection
is supported by a Resource Enhancement Grant from the Arts
and Humanities Research Board [AHRB].
Independent Production Collection
Collection of material related to the introduction of Producer
Choice into the BBC, Channel 4 and Flashback Production. The
material is on permanent loan from Victoria Wegg-Prosser.
Independent Television Authority / Independent Broadcasting Authority (ITA/IBA) / Cable Authority Archive 1954-1990
Bournemouth University now holds the ITA/IBA Cable Authority archive, donated to the University by OFCOM. If you wish to consult the archive please contact Stephen Parton. Once accredited you will be sent a password to enable access to the archive catalogue. You will then need to select those boxes you wish to consult.
Viewing material is by prior arrangement only. Up to four boxes of material may be requested for retrieval from the off site store. Consultation is in the Special Collections room in The Sir Michael Cobham Library. All researchers will be required to sign a disclaimer before viewing material.
London Broadcasting Company/Independent Radio News (LBC/IRN) Audio Archive
The London Broadcasting Company / Independent Radio News audio archive consists of 7,000 reel-to-reel tapes in a collection that runs from 1973 to the mid-1990s. It is the most important commercial radio archive in the UK and provides a unique audio history of the period.
This digitised collection focuses on the most noteworthy content ? approximately 3,000 hours of recordings relating to news and current affairs. The digitised archive contains invaluable recordings of a wide range of broadcasts including coverage of the Falklands war, the miners' strike, Northern Ireland, the whole of the Thatcher period of government and recordings of the first hour of UK commercial radio including the first commercial radio news bulletin. Digitisation of this resource has been funded via the JISC Digitisation Programme.
This Week Collection
Collection of transcripts, broadcast information and recordings for this landmark UK current affairs series, for those years when it was aired (1956 - 1992). Transcripts and audio tapes are held in a filing cabinet in the Special Collections Room by date. The video recordings are shelved on the stacks in the Special Collections Room. There is a searchable database of the contents at http://bufvc.ac.uk/tvandradio which was created with grant support from the AHRC.
TV Times Project
TV Times from 1956-1985 on microfilm, located on the ground
floor of The Sir Michael Cobham Library. The microfilm is
the first output of an extensive project to create a digital
copy of the TV Times and a database containing the Schedules
from 1956-1985. The project is supported by a Resource Enhancement
Grant from the Arts and Humanities Research Board [AHRB].
Reference collection of documentaries 2005-6, 2008 to date submitted for various categories in the annual Grierson Awards in honour of Scottish documentary maker John Grierson (1898 - 1972), regarded as the father of the documentary.
Access to this collection is restricted to BU staff, Media School and affiliated AUCB students and bona fide researchers (on written application to Head of Academic Development Services).
>> Collection description
>> File of contents (xls 656kb)
History of Public Relations and Advertising
Small collection of seminal texts in Public Relations and Advertising 1920-1980. The collection is enhanced by an extensive collection of books and journals located in the main collections and databases available from the Library website.
Segrue Journalism Collection
One of the largest collections of books on the British Press 1910-1970 to remain in private hands donated to the University in 2002 by the Segrue family.
Arthur Brown Collection
Press cuttings and other printed material relating to riots
and civil disobedience in the UK covering the period 1976-2000.
Country Life Collection
Country Life 1944 -2000 with an index of properties covered
during this period .
Dorset Natural History and Archaeological
Society Collection
A collection of the proceedings, reports, newsletters and
bulletins of the Society covering the period from its formation
as the Dorset Natural History and Antiquarian Field Club in
1876, up to date.
Wedlake and Greening Collection
A collection books and pamphlets on archaeology split between
the Special Collections Room and the open shelves. The material
covers a period from c.1840 - 1976.
Environmental Collection
Reports, ephemera and interpretative material on environmental issues. This material is in the Special Collections room.
Student Use
Students who wish to use the collections must fill in a permission form (word 23kb) and have it signed by a tutor. The forms are available from the Help Zone and once completed are valid for one academic year.
Students are then issued with a TDSI card which will give them access to the Special Collections Room.
Single Items
Users are asked to complete a book store request which is available from the Help Zone. A member of staff will then retrieve the item from the Special Collections Room for use elsewhere in the Library.
Staff and Researchers
Please apply in person to the Help Zone at The Sir Michael Cobham Library for a door pass to the Special Collections Room. This will be issued to you for the day, using your ID card. For the ITA/IBA Cable Authority Archive 1953-1990, there are special arrangements in place.
External Users
All external users should write to the Head of Academic Development Services to request permission to access to the collection.