ABOUT THE SPECIAL COLLECTIONS PROGRAMME (SCP)

The SCP was created to provide all those working in special collections, at leadership and other levels, with coordinated support for initiatives and activities.

We aim to foster collaborative working, encourage sharing of skills and knowledge and improve our understanding of our current and potential audiences. 

The long term goal is to develop our practice and position to reflect a shift in focus taking place across the wider museum, library and archives landscape to include, not only the collections we look after, but the widest possible range of people who might want to use them.

We can strive for progress by working at institutional level with audiences, both new and familiar, working collectively as a consortium where we can have more impact by doing so, and by proactively looking to forge collaborative research networks in which both audiences and our departments form an integral part of the core. Our aspiration is to attract reward and recognition, both for our collections and for the contribution we make through our skills and knowledge to the work others do. By working together to achieve impact we can capture, we can create opportunities to share what we know more widely and show our collections in new ways to attract new audiences.

OUR PRINCIPLES

  • robust foundations
  • collaboration, not competition
  • inclusivity
  • best-practice
  • perseverance
  • network building
  • combining of knowledge to achieve progress
  • learning from existing examples
  • taking a long view for the big things
  • embracing short term gains where we can

SCP TIMELINE

[et id=”6975″]

Special collections reports

Read some of the latest RLUK reports exploring aspects of our members’ unique and distinctive collections (UDCs).

SCP NETWORKS

Special Collections Leadership Network (SCLN)

The SCLN establishes a clear line of communication between special collections departments across RLUK, provides peer to peer support for those in leadership roles and is set to become the focal point for embedding the SCP at institutional level.

Funders Network

The Funders Network was established to facilitate the start of a useful dialogue between RLUK and a range of funders currently supporting projects in UK Libraries and archives. It also aimed to begin a conversation that can develop over time between funders, who can also benefit from an exchange and sharing of news and developments to ensure minimum overlap between remits. The group meets two to three times a year to share developments, ideas and common challenges and opportunities.