1.5.1 Glasgow Trip

On Friday October 18th we visited the National Library of Scotland’s Moving Image Archive at Kelvinhall, and the Glasgow Women’s Library.

At the MIA, Sheena explained the history of the branch, and showed us how to use the catalogue. I was interested to learn that the MIA collects home movie footage as well as professionally produced material. For family archival footage, the NLS will digitise the footage for the donors. As this is often the most affordable way old footage can be salvaged by families, it is a great incentive to bring people to donate to the Library.

We next met with Morag Smith (National Development Worker) and Lauren Kelly (Archival Apprentice) from the Glasgow Women’s Library. It is an amazing institution that prioritises inclusivity and ease of use. They don’t require proof of address, don’t charge late-fees, and for their women-only events, they accept every definition of woman across the gender spectrum, including non-binary. They gave us a tour of their archives, and spoke with us about the different types of events and community gatherings they host.

Takeaways and For-Next-Times:

This trip got us thinking about the conversational bit of our exhibition (as we are imagining it right now) and how we can improve and broaden that based on the GWL’s events and experiences in that area.

This visit, in conjunction with our incredibly productive meeting with Alice Heywood (NLS Digital Learning and Outreach Officer) on October 22nd , with whom we explored a lot of different creative ways to layer digital elements with physical exhibition, has started us thinking more about the ways in which the audience can interact with our exhibition.

Our group got to know eachother better outside of the classroom, which I feel is important for our work dynamic in the coming months.

We could have done more research on the GWL’s Archive before visiting. Morag and Lauren were lovely and showed us lots of amazing things, but if we had already had that base knowledge, we could have asked deeper questions and perhaps discovered even more inspirational material.

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