MUSTAF: Pardon me. Is this the Archives Service Centre?
ARCHIVIST: That’s correct. I’m sorry we don’t have a proper sign, but you have reached the right place. What may I do for you?
MUSTAF: I’m so glad I found you. I really need some help. I’m taking a course on Scottish history, and my professor has assigned me to research the decline of Scotland’s shipbuilding industry.
ARCHIVIST: That’s very particular indeed, but also quite interesting.
MUSTAF: Well, perhaps, but I really have no idea where to start looking for such information. The librarian told me to speak with you.
ARCHIVIST: That’s because you’ll need to access records from archive collections. What years are you focusing your research on?
MUSTAF: The professor wasn’t specific, but I suppose I need to go back to the founding of the Kingdom in Scotland in 843 and up until the present time.
ARCHIVIST: You’d have a lot of reading to do, then! May I make a suggestion?
MUSTAF: Sure, of course.
ARCHIVIST: Most industry in the United Kingdom wasn’t really established until the Industrial Revolution. So, you’d probably be safe if you looked at the 19th century onwards.
MUSTAF: That’s a good point. But from what I understand, Scotland has a long history of master shipbuilders...”Shipwrights” is what I think they were called.
ARCHIVIST: Well, you can briefly mention the historical tradition of shipbuilding in that region, but you don’t need to go into too much detail there.
MUSTAF: OK. So, what kinds of records should I be looking for?
ARCHIVIST: Let’s see...business records, relevant political documents, exhibition archives...
MUSTAF: Wow, that seems like a lot.
ARCHIVIST: It won’t be that bad. I will help you with your search, and we’ll make sure you are only reading through the most pertinent documents.
MUSTAF: I appreciate that. How long does a search like this usually take?
ARCHIVIST: That depends. I’d say anywhere from one day to one week.
MUSTAF: I better get started then. I only have two weeks to turn in my report.
ARCHIVIST: Well, one way we can expedite the research process is to get help from our friends over at the University of Glasgow. They would, of course, have the best archives for anything related to Scotland.
MUSTAF: You know people there?
ARCHIVIST: Oh, yes. A good friend of mine, Peter Hansford, is heading up the university’s Archive Services.
MUSTAF: Peter who?
ARCHIVIST: Peter Hansford. H-A-N-S-F-O-R-D.
MUSTAF: But how will he be able to help us from half across the world?
ARCHIVIST: These days, even archive collections are mostly digitalised. Pretty much anything you need can be sent to us via an electronic inter-library loan. They send us a digital file of the pertinent documents, and those files will self-destruct once they expire.
MUSTAF: I had no idea library services were so high-tech!
ARCHIVIST: They are, in fact. Also, we can have any materials that are not digitalised sent over here through expedited mail. But I don’t think we’ll run into that problem. I know that the University of Glasgow has put a lot of time into modernisation of its archives.
MUSTAF: So, how do I start?
ARCHIVIST: First, you need to look through their online collection guides. Each guide contains a list of the collections the university has for a specific topic. I suggest starting with the business archives, specifically with the guide for the Ship Building, Ship Repair and Allied Industries collection.
MUSTAF: What kinds of resources will be available in that collection?
ARCHIVIST: Oh, you know...financial records, licensing records, photographs...those kinds of resources.
MUSATAF: Perfect. Can I access these guides through my student library account?
ARCHIVIST: No. I’ll log in through my account and let you use my computer to do your research. Then, you can let me know what you want sent over here.
MUSTAF: OK. I really appreciate all of your help. I would be lost without it.
ARCHIVIST: No problem. Let me just close up the files I was working on and log into the University of Glasgow database for you.
MUSTAF: Great. I’m going to make a quick phone call, and then be right back.
ARCHIVIST: Sure.