Streamlining facilities for access and preservation of Cultural and Heritage collections at the University of Leeds

利兹大学拥有英国最大的艺术和人文研究人员队伍之一。与此相匹配的是，我们的文化和遗产藏品的重要性，由大学图书馆特别藏品管理。五部手稿和珍稀藏书被英国艺术委员会指定为具有国家和国际重要性的藏品。我们获得了档案馆和博物馆的认证，大学艺术收藏品得到了英国研究中心的支持，以增加对利兹以外藏品的研究机会。特别收藏在兄弟图书馆经营着一个公共研究中心，旁边是两个图书馆画廊，兄弟之宝和斯坦利和奥黛丽·伯顿艺术画廊，免费向所有人开放。特殊收藏品负责国际纺织品收藏。收藏品分布在不同的商店，面临不同的挑战。在过去的十年里，藏品一直在快速增长，形式也多样化了。商店人满为患，并不是为容纳这些物品而设计的，导致环境条件和安全方面的差异。在校园内移动藏品是一项挑战，限制了它们的使用。实际上，一些收藏品对研究人员来说是无法获取的，并且面临着质量下降的巨大风险。馆藏知识在整个策展人员团队中面临减少的风险，收藏管理的效率低下限制了可用于支持研究的时间。这些因素可能会减少对该国一些最杰出收藏品的研究使用，而不是将它们置于许多跨学科研究项目的中心。由AHRC支持的这一雄心勃勃的项目将通过一系列同时进行的升级工程计划来改变藏品的保存、获取和使用。该项目将改善研究性学习环境。它将使我们能够实现我们的雄心，即在一个设施中提供访问和增加对所有文化和遗产收藏的使用。这一连贯的提议将使研究人员能够在适合21世纪的数字化设施中，跨多个收藏，处理不同格式的项目。通过升级我们美术馆研讨会空间的存储系统，我们将能够创造性地使用纺织品收藏。通过整合和重组几个商店区域，我们将改善保存条件、管理效率和知识。有害因素将被降至最低，大型、具有挑战性的格式将拥有扩展空间，并提供适合其需求的存储解决方案。这一紧急和及时的设施升级在战略上符合大学研究战略和图书馆空间战略。它解决了长期的挑战，这些挑战阻碍了我们支持研究的能力，就像藏品所保证的那样广泛。我们的改进计划得到了国家档案认证计划的批准，重点放在存储升级的紧迫性上。AHRC项目为慈善和大学投资带来了显著的附加值，它将扩展研究中心，提供新的教学和研究室设施，使我们能够与藏品进行新的研究合作的能力增加三倍。AHRC项目将使策展人员能够花更多的时间支持研究访问，促进未充分利用和新获得的藏品。它将使团队能够在一个设施中重新平衡地融合物理和数字参与。将与创意产业的区域合作伙伴一起开展创意活动，以深化参与。这些藏品的出版物产量将会更大，集中在这些藏品上的研究补助金申请将会扩大。

The University of Leeds has one of the largest cohorts of arts and humanities researchers in the UK. This is matched by the significance of our cultural and heritage collections, managed by the University Library Special Collections. Five manuscript and rare book collections have been designated by Arts Council England as of national and international importance. We are archive and museum accredited, and the University Art Collections receive support from Research England to increase research access to the collection beyond Leeds. Special Collections operates a public Research Centre in the Brotherton Library, alongside two Library galleries, The Treasures of the Brotherton and the Stanley and Audrey Burton Art Gallery that are freely open to all. Special Collections is responsible for the International Textile Collection.Collections are located across different stores, with varied challenges. Collections have grown at pace over the last decade, diversifying in format. Stores are full to capacity and were not designed to accommodate many of these items, leading to a differentiation in environmental conditions and security. Moving collections across campus is challenging, limiting their use. In effect, some collections are inaccessible to researchers and at significant risk of degradation in quality. Collection knowledge is at risk of diminishing across the curatorial staff team and inefficiency in collection management limits time available to support research. These factors could decrease research use of some of the most outstanding collections in the country rather than placing them at the centre of many interdisciplinary research projects. The ambitious project supported by AHRC will transform preservation, access and use of collections with a number of concurrent programmes of upgrade works. The project will improve the research study environment. It will allow us to realise our ambition to provide access and increase use of all cultural and heritage collections in one facility. This coherent offer will enable researchers to work with diverse format items, across multiple collections, in a digitally enabled facility fit for the 21st century. By upgrading storage systems in our art gallery seminar space, we will enable creative use of the textile collection. By consolidating and reorganising several store areas we will improve preservation conditions, curatorial efficiency and knowledge. Pests will be minimised and large, challenging formats will have expansion space with storage solutions appropriate to their needs. This urgent and timely upgrade to facilities strategically aligns to the University Research Strategy and the Library Space Strategy. It addresses long term challenges that impede our ability to support research as broadly as the collections warrant. Our improvement plans approved by the National Archives accreditation scheme focus on the urgency of storage upgrades. The AHRC project brings significant added value to a philanthropic and University investment which will extend the Research Centre to offer new teaching and research room facilities, tripling our capacity to enabling new research collaborations with collections.The AHRC project will enable curatorial staff to spend more time supporting research visits and promotion of underused and newly acquired collections. It will enable groups to work with a rebalanced blend of physical and digital engagement in one facility. Creative activities will be developed with regional partners across the creative industries to deepen engagement. There will be a greater output of publications from the collections and a scaling up of research grant applications focused on the collections.