Audio Archives

A.W. Purdy Digital Archive

Person Describing Archive

Annie

Is this primarily a poetry audio site?

N (The archive consists of a variety of archival materials pertaining to Al Purdy.)

Sponsoring Person or Institution

University of Saskatchewan Special Collection Library

Site URL

http://library2.usask.ca/purdy/audio

Site Last Updated
Date Visited

2011/03/02

General Description of Archive

University of Saskatchewan Special Collections has an Al Purdy Collection, and it includes digitized textual documents, photographs and audio recordings.

Description of archive history or URL

The Collection was acquired in 1966, and is gradually being digitized and put online in a Drupal web environment. The the actual items are stored in Content DM digital collections software.

Contact information

Special Collections Department
University of Saskatchewan Library
spec.coll@usask.ca

Searchable options
Relation from the audio to the text

No transcripts are available for the poems read or performed. The metadata indicates which poem is being read.

Date/Time/Length/Context info about the audio items

Metadata for the recordings is provided, and includes basic time stamping to demarcate when each different poem starts. The user can see when the recording was made, subject heading(s) and copyright statements.

Author bios and context within literary history

"Additional resources" page gives context and further reading.

Audio file type: streaming, download, file format, audio file compression quality (WAV, MP3, bitrate)

MP3 files for download.

Multimedia integration (pictures, video, etc.)

Above the metadata for each recording is a photo of Purdy. Although the MP3 file plays in whatever media player you use on your computer, if you want to keep track of the poem that is being read you can look at this screen and photo as you listen.

Audio playback setup (opens in Flash player, on new blank screen, etc.)

You download the audio file from the site and play it in whatever audio player you have on your computer. Playback doesn't integrate with the main site or bibliographic record page.

Mobile access (i.e. accessible on smart phones, tablets, etc.)
Browsing

Yes, through Content DM's Browse feature.

Discovery features (pre-made playlists; dynamic lists: lists of recent additions, featured items, related items, etc).
Interactivity and Web 2.0 features

You Tube videos of Al Purdy embedded in the "Additional Resources" page.

Other notes