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Frank McAree asked about what was going to happen to the tapes used in The Century Speaks. Originally the tapes were only going to be lodged with the British Library. Local History Magazine, among others, did make representations to the BBC about this and following is the text of a letter which was published in the issue 72 (Mar/Apr 1999) of the magazine: 'Can I reassure your readers about our plans for 'The Century Speaks', the BBC's Millennium Oral History Project? All the interviews collected will be archived by the British Library National Sound Archive in their entirety and made available to the public via the Library's two sites in London and Boston Spa. Every interview is being deposited with a detailed content description which includes additional biographical information about each speaker. Once integrated into the NSA's main on-line catalogue this will provide historians and other users with much more sophisticated search facilities than is usual for a collection of this size. Given the power of modern databases and the often prohibitive costs of transcription, few oral historians nowadays argue that whole collections should be transcribed, especially when, as here, we expect to collect some 12,000 to 14,000 hours of interviews. Additionally, we are looking, with the British Library, at way of making material available to local libraries and archives. Subject to copyright clearance and other rights agreements, they will be assisting recognised local centres to acquire copies of material relevant to their areas. Tim Brassell Head of Press & Publicity, BBC National & Regional Broadcasting' If anyone wants more information about what is going to happen to the collection at the BL, then the person to contact is Rob Perks in the National Sound Archive at the British Library. -- Susan Griffiths The Local History Press 3 Devonshire Promenade Lenton Nottingham NG7 2DS Tel: 0115 9706473 Fax: 0115 9424857 web site: www.local-history.co.uk %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%