Are you struggling with increasing numbers of users, demand for digital, crumbling collections, unsuitable storage space, intellectual property conundrums, born-digital collections, lack of skills, pressure of public sector cuts and recession ...? You are not alone! Two essential new reports reveal the challenges faced by UK special collections and archives and give us the evidence … Continue reading Too Many Collections, So Little Time?
Category: Marketing
Manuscripts Online! And in the Public Domain …
"My vision then of a future manuscript catalogue would be of something that links together a wide range of resources ... anchored by the record of the physical manuscript itself ..." This vision is outlined by Andrew Prescott, Professor of Digital Humanities at Kings College London, in The Function, Structure and Future of Catalogues, now … Continue reading Manuscripts Online! And in the Public Domain …
If you’ve got it …
... Flaunt it! Exhibitions of special collections are a wonderful way to reach audiences who might never think or wish to use them in a reading room setting. However, it isn't easy to create exhibitions and most of us struggle with limited funding and space problems. Speakers at the 2011 CILIP Rare Books and Special … Continue reading If you’ve got it …
Delivering Value for Money: Internal Marketing Matters
I just discovered (thanks to an academic colleague) a very useful dissertation available online. Elizabeth Morgan's dissertation (UCL, 2010), Delivering Value for Money: why and how institutional archives should market themselves to their internal publics, explains why internal marketing/advocacy is absolutely essential. She includes lots of great realistic examples of what can be done, drawn … Continue reading Delivering Value for Money: Internal Marketing Matters
52 Fantastic Bindings – what next?
Special Collections at the University of St Andrews have been running a weekly series: 52 Weeks of Fantastic Bindings, highlighting the gorgeous bindings of their rare books and manuscripts. I mentioned this great series before, but, now that the 52 Weeks are over, I think it's time to mention it again! The series is worth … Continue reading 52 Fantastic Bindings – what next?
23 Things …
There are many amazing web tools out there which make working life easier (lovely Zotero for instance). However, it can be hard to find time to explore them and see whether they are worth using. Which brings me to 23 Things for Professional Development ... back by popular demand on 7 May 2012. 23 Things … Continue reading 23 Things …
Exhibiting the Written Word
A new report, Exhibiting the Written Word, makes the excellent point that "there has been little reflection on the challenges of displaying the written word and how such displays differ from the display of art and museum artefacts". The report outlines the challenges e.g. book formats were not (usually) created to be shown in glass … Continue reading Exhibiting the Written Word
Manage and Grow your Web
Managing and Growing a Cultural Heritage Web Presence: a strategic guide by Mike Ellis (Facet, 2011) is a handy book which I would certainly have included in the Handbook had it been available. Mike offers loads of useful perspectives and advice for managers on the complexities of managing your service's online presence. Highly recommended for … Continue reading Manage and Grow your Web
The Special Collections Handbook 