In today’s uncertain political and economic climate the ability to demonstrate why heritage and culture matter – and to whom – has never been more important or relevant.
I’d agree with that! These words are from the website of Discovering Collections, Discovering Communities, a conference which will help us to tackle this challenge.
Taking place at the Lowry in Salford on 27-29 November 2017, DCDC 2017 will bring together 1000 speakers and delegates from academia and heritage to explore the best ways to demonstrate our value. Programme highlights include building a ‘culture of assessment’ at the Bodleian, imagining Charles Booth’s London, museums helping socially isolated older people, the role of university archives in the Research Excellence Framework, and so much more.
Oh, and may I draw your attention to Panel 12? It is the very last panel, but we hope people will linger rather than dashing off for trains. The speakers will be discussing inreach and internal advocacy; my piece reflects on some new ways of ‘reaching in’ to University of Bradford colleagues. I’ll tell you a little bit more about this in a future blog post.
DCDC is always a fantastic and inspiring event, thanks to tremendous work from its creators, RLUK and The National Archives, and of course everyone who takes part. This storify of 2016’s social media coverage gives a sense of the enthusiasm and excitement experienced by those taking part: https://storify.com/time_image/dcdc16.
Do come if you possibly can, or if not, join in the massive tweetfest (#dcdc17).
See you there?
The Special Collections Handbook 