Towards a National Collection Programme Directorate
Lead Research Organisation:
Historic Environment Scotland
Department Name: Education and Outreach
Abstract
'Towards a National Collection: Opening UK Heritage to the World' is a five-year research programme funded under the UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) Strategic Priorities Fund. Led by the Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC), the programme aims to benefit researchers and audiences of all kinds by making the UK's unparalleled museum, library and heritage collections increasingly discoverable as a unified 'virtual collection'.
The programme will support two grant stages - eight small-scale 'Foundation' projects led by the AHRC's Independent Research Organisations (IRO) and delivered in partnership with UK Higher Education Institutions (HEI); and up to five large-scale 'Discovery' projects led and delivered by partnerships between the AHRC IROs and UK HEIs, with further collaboration with local and regional cultural, third sector or community organisations.
The programme directorate will lead and co-ordinate the programme, ensuring that the range of funded projects work together in a complementary way to demonstrate the value of unifying collections across types and geographies, and creating public-facing outputs that can be displayed to, and tested with, large-scale audiences across the UK. In addition, the directorate will undertake and commission additional research that underpins or connects the portfolio of grant-funded projects. The directorate will lead on communicating the ambitions and achievements of the programme to both stakeholders and the public, and on making recommendations as part of ensuring a legacy for the work.
The directorate will be based in Historic Environment Scotland and will comprise a Director, a Senior Digital Research Analyst and a Communications & Events Coordinator.
The programme will support two grant stages - eight small-scale 'Foundation' projects led by the AHRC's Independent Research Organisations (IRO) and delivered in partnership with UK Higher Education Institutions (HEI); and up to five large-scale 'Discovery' projects led and delivered by partnerships between the AHRC IROs and UK HEIs, with further collaboration with local and regional cultural, third sector or community organisations.
The programme directorate will lead and co-ordinate the programme, ensuring that the range of funded projects work together in a complementary way to demonstrate the value of unifying collections across types and geographies, and creating public-facing outputs that can be displayed to, and tested with, large-scale audiences across the UK. In addition, the directorate will undertake and commission additional research that underpins or connects the portfolio of grant-funded projects. The directorate will lead on communicating the ambitions and achievements of the programme to both stakeholders and the public, and on making recommendations as part of ensuring a legacy for the work.
The directorate will be based in Historic Environment Scotland and will comprise a Director, a Senior Digital Research Analyst and a Communications & Events Coordinator.
People |
ORCID iD |
| Rebecca Bailey (Principal Investigator) |
Publications
McNeill, A
(2022)
Art UK: Opening Up Access to the Nation's Art
Gosling, K
(2022)
Digital Collections Audit
Paltrinieri C
(2021)
International Benchmarking Review
Bailey-Ross C
(2021)
Online User Research Literature Review
Woodley, S
(2022)
User Research
| Description | February 2022 - January 2023 The third year of the Towards a National Collection (TaNC) programme has seen a significant volume of both grant funded and commissioned research completed and shared with the wider TaNC community and our stakeholders through webinars and published reports. By the end of the reporting year, all Foundation and COVID-19 Projects had published their final reports, which were viewed and downloaded more than 15,000 times. All five Discovery Projects are well underway, with their first reports, published in October 2022, attracting 2,300 views and downloads. The first phase of six pieces of commissioned research was completed, with their reports viewed and downloaded more than 19,000 times. Two of these reports - essential and ground-breaking audits of the digital cultural heritage collections of the UK and how they approach copyright and open access, attracted particularly significant interest - account between them 74% of the total views and downloads of completed commissioned research. Almost all grant funded projects, and the directorate itself, experienced recruitment and retention challenges throughout the year, due to a strong job market and a lack of available staff with specific skills. This particularly affected project management and programme communications, as well as posts focussed on the development and application of digital technologies. Invitations to present the work of the programme both domestically and internationally continued and with the gradual receding of COVID-19 restrictions and impacts, the year saw a welcome return of in-person conferences and workshops. The Steering Committee held its first hybrid meeting since the start of the programme, with an extended debate on the value of what has been achieved to date, the infrastructure funding opportunities potentially offered, and the ambitions of the programme to embrace those opportunities. At a further meeting, the Committee began to discuss the policy recommendations that will form a major output from the programme. Towards the end of the year a further two rounds of commissioned research got underway, with policy and research analysis, a consolidation report on the work of the Foundation Projects, and a scoping of Total Economic Value. And finally, after three failed procurement attempts, an impact evaluation is due to get underway in March 2023. Over the year the TaNC community grew to 934 newsletter subscribers, 1,260 Instagram followers, and 2,325 twitter followers; while 370 people attended our public webinars and 523 viewed the recordings. |
| First Year Of Impact | 2020 |
| Sector | Digital/Communication/Information Technologies (including Software),Culture, Heritage, Museums and Collections |
| Impact Types | Cultural,Policy & public services |
| Description | Copyright and Open Access Roundtable |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | Copyright and Open Access Roundtable |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2021 |
| Description | Digital Practice in Heritage Collections during the COVID-19 pandemic - webinar |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | Webinar to share results of three COVID-19 research projects |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2022 |
| Description | Digital Public Engagement Webinar |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | Digital Public Engagement Webinar |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2021 |
| Description | Discovery Projects pre call meeting - Edinburgh |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | Information and consultation on Discovery Projects funding programme |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2020 |
| Description | Discovery Projects pre call meeting - London |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | Information and consultation on Discovery Projects grant programme |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2020 |
| Description | Discovery Projects webinar series |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | Information on Discovery Projects Call - 27 May, 1, 2 & 3 June, 11, 12, 18 & 19 August 2020 |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2020 |
| URL | https://www.nationalcollection.org.uk/funding-calls |
| Description | External event - Archivos Magazine |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | Presentation in 'Archivos Symposium' |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2021 |
| Description | External event - Boundary Objects Project |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | Presentation in 'Boundary Objects' |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2021 |
| Description | External event - British Library |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | Presentation in 'Open and Engaged' |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2021 |
| Description | External event - DCDC |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | Digital interactive presentation in DCDC conference |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2021 |
| Description | External event - Data to Power |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | Presentation in 'GLAM and Digital Soft Power' |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2021 |
| Description | External event - Museum Computer Group |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | Keynote presentation in 'Museums and Tech' |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2021 |
| Description | External event - School of Advanced Study, University of London |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Postgraduate students |
| Results and Impact | Presentation in 'Unlocking Collections' |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2021 |
| Description | External event - The National Archives/Independent Research Organisation Consortium |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | Presentation in 'TNA Open Collections' |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2021 |
| Description | External presentation - Council on Library and Information Resources |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | Presentation at 'New Shapes of Sharing' |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2021 |
| Description | External presentation - Max Planck Institute for Art History |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | Presentation at 'Digital Reflections seminar' |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2021 |
| Description | First International Seminar |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | First in series highlighting international exemplar projects of relevance to Towards a National Collection. Featured DigitalNZ and JapanSearch. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2020 |
| Description | Foundation Projects Webinar |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | Sharing results of Practical Applications of IIIF, Born Digital and Deep Discoveries projects |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2022 |
| Description | Foundation Projects Webinar |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | Sharing results of Locating a National Collection, Engaging Crowds, and Heritage PIDs projects |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2022 |
| Description | Foundations Projects Webinar |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | Webinar to share results of Heritage Connector and Provisional Semantics projects |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2022 |
| Description | Open Access in UK Heritage Collections Webinar |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | Sharing Andrea Wallace's research into copyright and open access |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2022 |
| Description | Presentation at Art Fund/Museum Association Workshop |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | Presentation as part of event on Digital Impact Research |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2022 |
| Description | Presentation at Culture and Museums International Tech Forum in Malaga, Spain |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | Presentation at international conference |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2022 |
| Description | Presentation to All Party Parliamentary Group on Archives and History |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A formal working group, expert panel or dialogue |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Policymakers/politicians |
| Results and Impact | Presentation of the work of Towards a National Collection to inform and involve politicians |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2022 |
| Description | Presentation to Digital Skills Summit |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | Introduction to Towards a National Collection, and contribution to debate on digital skills |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2020 |
| Description | Presentation to Independent Research Organisation Consortium |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | Update on Towards a National Collection for heads of research |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2022 |
| Description | Presentation to Swedish National Heritage Board, Stockholm, Sweden |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | Presentation on Towards a National Collection as part of digital session at Swedish National Heritage Board biennial conference |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2022 |
| Description | Presentation to Warburg Institute |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Other audiences |
| Results and Impact | Presentation on Towards a National Collection to academic audience discussing digital decision-making |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2022 |
| Description | Second International Seminar |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | First in series highlighting international exemplar projects of relevance to Towards a National Collection. Featured Cultura Italia and Deutsche Digitale Bibliothek |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2021 |
| Description | Who is the Audience for a Virtual National Collection? Webinar |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | Sharing Digital Collections Audit (Collections Trust) and User Research (Audience Agency) reports |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2022 |