Sustainable infrastructure for the digital shift: upgrading collections access and preservation at the University of Reading

Lead Research Organisation: University of Reading
Department Name: Museum of English Life & Special Collect

Abstract

This project will refurbish and upgrade physical and digital collections-based research facilities operated by the University of Reading's Museums and Special Collections Services (UMASCS), to create a step-change in the infrastructure for accessing to the University's outstanding research collections. With the University's research strategy for arts and humanities now closely aligned to the strengths of its collections, this proposal will invest in the essential research facilities that have been instrumental in transforming the University's approach to collections-based research and digital scholarship in recent years. These collections and facilities have already been critical to the successful development of major AHRC-funded research and with further investment will underpin the University's renewed strategy for arts and humanities around centres and clusters of research excellence. These include research projects underway or in development relating to the creative works of Samuel Beckett, the experimental film maker Stephen Dwoskin, modernist publishing, and the design and use of landscapes.

Existing infrastructure managed by UMASCS was established in 2006 primarily to improve physical access and collections management across museums and collections. This unusual integration of museums, archives and library special collections has proved highly effective in supporting AHRC and other grant capture and in instigating innovation in collections-based research and teaching. Refurbishment of galleries and public engagement and learning spaces, supported by NLHF, Wellcome and DCMS Wolfson funding, has raised the profile and hence research and impact activity linked to UMASCS, resulting in growing on-site (over 50,000) and online usage numbers (over 150,000 social media followers). Demand for collections research is substantial, with over 2,400 visits and 16,800 book and document retrievals last academic year, in spite of COVID-19. While recent opportunities to advance digital access and scholarship have brought piecemeal investment in new technologies and skills, this proposal would enable comprehensive improvements and upgrades, particularly to support the digital shift in arts and humanities scholarship, multidisciplinary work and creative engagement. This aligns closely to the University of Reading's strategic goals.
The proposal encompasses five related areas of refurbishment covering the two key sites: St Andrew's, where the main collections reading room, digitisation suite, public engagement and gallery spaces are located, and Worton Grange, an off-site facility holding high-volume collections with associated processing spaces.

The St Andrew's refurbishment will increase the capacity of the reading room that serves the library and archive of the Museum of English Rural Life and the University's Special Collections. This will include new desks, upgraded digital terminals, and an expansion of open access library capacity with new directional signage. The associated digitisation suite will be upgraded to enable better quality and faster image capture, digital asset management and digital preservation. New AV equipment will replace the current ad hoc facilities for digitising time-based media. In the public areas, upgraded facilities for research data capture from the public or specific groups will enable greater flexibility, and be brought onto a common platform with online data capture, enabling a linked open data approach.

At Worton Grange, the collections access and digitisation area will be refurbished to create a collections research lab. This will enable researchers to hot-desk and work alongside collections staff. The upgrade will improve the specification and optimise storage space of including refurbishment of the storage racks to enable a wider range of collections - such as the University's Herbarium - to be brought on-site, so that research facilities can be deployed and shared more effectively.

Publications

10 25 50
 
Description This project set out to refurbish and upgrade physical and digital collections-based research facilities operated by the University of Reading's Museums and Special Collections Services (UMASCS), to create a step-change in the infrastructure for accessing to the University's outstanding research collections.
When the award was granted (after a delay and on a shorter timescale) some adjustments were made from the original proposal. However, it still encompassed five related areas of refurbishment covering the two key sites: St Andrew's, where the main collections reading room, digitisation suite, public engagement and gallery spaces are located, and Worton Grange, an off-site facility holding high-volume collections with associated processing spaces.
The St Andrew's refurbishment increased the capacity of the reading room that serves the library and archive of the Museum of English Rural Life and the University's Special Collections with new furniture, upgraded digital terminals, and an expansion of open access library capacity with new directional signage.
The associated digitisation suite enables better quality and faster image capture and digital preservation, with new AV equipment that replaces the current ad hoc facilities for digitising time-based media. In the public areas, new equipment to enable research data capture from the public or specific groups was procured.
At Worton Grange, digitisation equipment and furniture was purchased to create a collections research lab which will enable researchers to hot-desk and work alongside collections staff. Storage racking space has been expanded to enable a wider range of collections - such as the University's Herbarium - to be brought on-site, so that research facilities can be deployed and shared more effectively. In an agreed change to the original proposal, this included the purchase of on-campus storage elements for botanical and zoological collections.
The project has been instrumental in helping to underpin the strategic alignment of the collections infrastructure with strategic research priorities within and beyond the institution. This is manifested in two ways: 1) museums and collections have improved their capability to support research at all stages of the research lifecycle and to proactively promote that support; 2) museums and collections are better able to work across interdisciplinary boundaries. There is increased involvement of museums and collections in both internal research infrastructure governance and development (Committee for Research Infrastructure, Digital Humanities Hub) and in the establishment of new strategic research partnerships with independent research organisations. By enhancing key infrastructures, the project has enabled the service to engage positively with these conversations and to be more proactive in supporting emerging research ideas from with the University and beyond it.
Exploitation Route There are several novel aspects to this project which might be exemplary for the cultural heritage sector in terms of its interface with research and its response to the digital shift in collections. The infrastructures might be seen as a microcosm bringing together artefactual, archival, bibliographic, botanical and zoological collections with born-digital collections and research data. This convergence is being examined in several current projects (notably under the Towards a National Collection programme) but the scale and breadth of the work within a single institution and across disciplinary boundaries is unusual. Shared infrastructures enable not just economies but also an improvement in the quality of stewardship and access, and a reduction in risk.
Sectors Culture

Heritage

Museums and Collections

 
Title Collections research lab at University of Reading (off-site collections store) 
Description Refurbished collections processing and digitisation area to provide embedded researchers with dedicated desk and temporary storage space close to collections; upgrade of digitisation facilities. 
Type Of Material Improvements to research infrastructure 
Year Produced 2022 
Provided To Others? Yes  
Impact Documents can be digitised without being transported to the main collections site. 
 
Title Upgrade of collections digitisation facilities at University of Reading 
Description Digitisation suite reconfigured to enable digitisation of time-based media and overhaul imaging facilities with specific upgrades to camera set-ups; integration of AV and digital preservation equipment. New equipment for digitisation of slides, microfilm, microfiche and aperture cards. 
Type Of Material Improvements to research infrastructure 
Year Produced 2022 
Provided To Others? Yes  
Impact Ability of the archive and library teams to digitise a wider range of collections formats, and more efficiently 
 
Title Upgrade of collections storage at University of Reading (off site store) 
Description A total of 1560 shelves installed, space for 9360 boxes. Associated collections moves to enable efficient use of space and effective retrieval workflows. Additional shelving purchased for botanical and zoological collections. 
Type Of Material Improvements to research infrastructure 
Year Produced 2022 
Provided To Others? Yes  
Impact Standardised use of space for archival storage, ability to store and make accessible a wider range of collections, optimised for efficient management and retrieval. 
 
Title Upgrade of physical and digital research access facilities for collections at University of Reading (reading room and open access library) 
Description Upgraded physical and digital research access spaces; reconfigured reading room to increase researcher capacity and expanded the open access library area (additional 2,000 books). New furniture and study booths to create dedicated terminals for digital resources. New public access terminals. Increased signage for the library open access area. 
Type Of Material Improvements to research infrastructure 
Year Produced 2022 
Provided To Others? Yes  
Impact Increased capacity for research visits and for open shelf library resources. 
URL https://merl.reading.ac.uk/visit-us/reading-room/