The City Archives - IELTS Listening Answers & Explanations

Narrator: Now turn to Section 3 on page 7.

Section 3. You will hear a conversation between a university student and a librarian about using the City Archives.

First, you have some time to look at Questions 21 to 24 on page 7.

As you listen to the first part of the conversation, answer Questions 21 to 24.

Student: Hello. I was wondering if you could give me some information about using the archives.

Librarian: I’d be happy to. Are you a resident of the city?

Student: Actually, I live just outside the city, but I study at the university downtown.

Librarian: That’s fine. All you need to do is show your university identification card and you can use the archives at no charge, as long as your ID card is current, of course.

Student: Yes, it’s valid. So I don’t have to pay anything?

Librarian: No. City residents pay an annual fee, but students can use the archives for free. Everyone else needs to get special permission from the director, but that doesn’t apply to you, of course.

Student: Oh, good. I was also wondering about the schedule. I have classes every day, Monday through Friday, and I also have a part-time job, so I could really only use the archives on weekends.

Librarian: That’s not a problem at all. We’re open all weekend; actually the only day we’re closed is Monday. So you can come any day, Tuesday through Sunday.

Student: Are you open in the evenings?

Librarian: Yes, we’re open from 9:30 in the morning until 8:30 in the evening.

Student: That will fit my schedule well.

Narrator: Before you hear the rest of the conversation, you have some time to look at Questions 25 to 30 on page 8.

Now listen and answer Questions 25 to 30.

Librarian: Is there something else I can help you with?

Student: Yes. One thing I’ll be needing to see for one of my class projects is old photographs. Do you have photographs of the city in the nineteenth century that I could look at?

Librarian: Yes, we store all the photographs in the basement. Those stairs over there will take you down to the photography collection. Just tell the librarian there what you’re interested in, and he’ll help you.

Student: Those would be nineteenth-century photographs?

Librarian: Yes, the entire collection is there. Now, if you’re interested in seeing documents from the nineteenth century, those are right here on the ground floor.

Student: I would like to see some of those documents. Does that collection include newspapers, too?

Librarian: No, all the newspapers from the earliest ones, in the eighteenth century, up to the current time, are on the second floor. Here, let me just give you this map of the archives, and you’ll be able to find whatever it is you need.

Student: Thank you. Oh, I see you have a whole room devoted to maps.

Librarian: Yes, on the third floor.

Student: That’s great because one thing I need to do is look at how the city has developed over time.

Librarian: I’m sure you’ll find a lot of helpful information there. Of course, some of the maps are several centuries old, so generally visitors are only allowed to see photographic reproductions of them.

Student: That shouldn’t be a problem. What’s this on the fourth floor—Ogden’s Woolen Mill?

Librarian: As I’m sure you know, Ogden’s Woolen Mill was the major entity responsible for the growth of this city in the nineteenth century. The Ogden heirs gave money for the archives to devote an entire floor to information about the history of the mill.

Student: Will I be able to find information about the Ogden family there—photographs, personal papers, things like that?

Librarian: Probably the family photographs are stored downstairs in the photography collection. The personal papers would be on the fifth floor, where we keep all the personal papers of famous residents of our city.

Student: Thank you so much for your help. I’ll be able to do a lot of my research here.

Narrator: That is the end of Section 3. You now have half a minute to check your answers.