News from the British Library, mid-June 2012

London - The latest news from Britain's leading research archive includes a new sound archive for researchers interested in dialects.

According to the June edition of the British Llibrary Reader Bulletin, the BBC Voice Recordings project is now available on its Sounds website. This is said to included 303 group conversations recorded by the BBC as part of its national linguistic survey, Voices. The conversations were recorded between May 2004 and July 2005. Th British Library holdings are vast, but some of the recordings on this site are restricted, however, the above additions appear to be available to all. The Library's new Explore catalogue takes some getting used to, but it allows non-readers to order documents on-line, albeit at a hefty premium. The Library continues to host both temporary and permanent exhibitions as well as seminars. On July 3 there is an evening presentation Inspiring Entrepreneurs: From Battlefield to Business, which is aimed at people who have left or are about to leave the armed forces. There are also free reader training sessions including one on Explore. Check out the What's On page for information about upcoming exhibitions and more.