Case Studies

There are a number of different ways archive material can be useful to students, staff and the wider community to support academic study and personal research:

Creative response
Our collections are filled with a variety of original media used by researchers for creative response work. These include primary source material like recorded sound, visual arts including commercial prints and posters, alongside secondary source material like our Artists’ books and early 20th century journals including The Cabinetmaker.

Undergraduate students viewing material from the Frederick Parker Collection and Artists' Books.

We offer workshops and focused sessions where groups, like our Visual Communication (Graphic Design) students, can introduce themselves to selected collections and access material e.g. our poster collections, which can provide inspiration on lines, shapes and fonts. 

Critical analysis
A critical analysis examines and evaluates someone else’s work, such as a book, artwork, or an object, such as a chair. It requires two steps: a careful study of that work and a thoughtful analysis of the information presented in – or message(s) conveyed by - that work.

Although this may sound complicated, all you are doing is closely reading or evaluating work and providing your opinion on how well its creator accomplished their purpose.

Critical analyses are most frequently done in academic settings (such as a class assignment). Writing a critical analysis demonstrates that you can read or study work and think deeply about it. However, critical thinking skills are vital outside of an educational context as well. You just don’t always have to demonstrate them in, for example, essay form.

Information and digital literacy
Research work conducted in our archives is a fantastic way to develop your information and digital literacy. In particular, using finding aids like our online catalogue to understand how information or data is organised, and described. It also provides an introduction to working with material created or owned by others, and what processes are required to correctly reference (or clear rights) in order to avoid plagiarism and copyright infringement.  

For students, building these information skills will prove useful for future employment opportunities. In particular, developing a knowledge of how to implement effective search strategies, and the ability to communicate information and data effectively.

Published Works

You can find examples of how archives from the Special Collections have been used by researchers on the London Met Repository, which include:  

Use of Primary Source Material in Blended learning: digital assets from the TUC Library collections Christine Coates (2010)

Employee status and collectivism: a study of managerial and professional trade unionism   Copley, Jane (2014) 

Union activism : an exploration of the differential consequences of employee and freelancer experiences  Jones, Edith Ann (2018)