From: Greg Brooks
National Foundation for Educational Research
The Mere
Upton Park
Slough SL1 2DQ
UK
email: EZUE100@uk.ac.ulcc.vmsfe
A WORTHWHILE ARCHIVE NEEDS A HOME
On six occasions between 1979 and 1988, the Assessment
of Performance Unit Language Monitoring Project, set up
by the British Government and based here at NFER,
carried out surveys of the language performance in English
of 11- and 15-year-old pupils in England, Wales and
Northern Ireland.
The samples of schools and pupils were nationally
representative, and each of the 12 surveys had a sample of
about 10,000 pupils.
On each occasion, about half of the sample did the writing
section of the survey, tackling 2 or 3 separate writing
tasks.
All the approximately 60,000 scripts have been kept, in
their original paper form.
At NFER we have on computer background details on the
pupils (sex, date of birth, etc) and of the schools (especially
location).
We also have on computer the impression marks which all
the scripts were given (on a rising 1-7 scale), and the
analytic marks in several detailed categories given to
various subsamples.
We can supply details of the writing tasks which the pupils
undertook, and on which occasions, plus a guide to the
whole archive.
Since 1991, the scripts have been held at the University of
Liverpool, but this arrangement has only a few more
months to run, because the library there is to be
refurbished, and the library's temporary accommodation
cannot hold the scripts.
If no other home can be found for the scripts, they will all
have to be destroyed.
SO THIS IS AN APPEAL - WHO CAN GIVE THIS
ARCHIVE A MORE PERMANENT HOME?
To help you investigate this, let me give you some further
information.
The archive itself exists ONLY in paper form - none of it
has been computerised or even microfilmed.
The scripts are stored in 604 archive boxes. Each box is
16 cm wide, 27 cm high and 40 cm long.
The volume of each box is approximately 17,280 cubic cm;
and the volume of the entire archive is about 10.5 cubic
metres.
To put this in terms of shelf space: if the boxes were on
shelves deep enough to hold them end-on, and there were
5 levels of shelves, and the shelves were along one straight
wall, they would stretch for about 20 metres.
I have weighed one such box; its mass is 7 kg, so the mass
of the entire archive would be about 4000 kg.
When the boxes were moved from Slough to Liverpool,
they filled most of a standard size removals van.
To estimate the number of words, I have adopted the
probably conservative figure of 200 words per pupil; this
suggests that the entire archive contains at least 12 million
written words.
IF YOU CAN HELP, OR REQUIRE FURTHER
INFORMATION, PLEASE CONTACT GREG BROOKS
AT THE POSTAL OR E-MAIL ADDRESS ABOVE.