Ways into the Collection: Questions to ask yourself: Reading Race, Collecting Cultures - Research Skills Series

The Ahmed Iqbal Ullah Race Relations Resource Centre (AIU Centre) is an open access University of Manchester facility which is both public and academic facing. The Research Skills Series of blog posts is designed to promote insight into how the Centre's collections can enrich the work of students and researchers. The blog post 'Ways into the Collection: Questions to ask yourself' is the first of four 'Ways into the Collection' pieces. It explains the significance of the AIU Centre as the premier resource centre in the UK devoted to making available materials to facilitate the study of race relations, consulted by researchers from across the world. To aid understanding of how to make the most of the collections, the post touches on some of the realities of archives and archival research which need to be borne in mind, as well as questions for potential users to ask themselves to help them prepare to engage an archive collection. Other 'Ways into the Collection' pieces cover: Databases; 'Human Interface'; Serendipity.