Project Description
Date: March 2019
Authors: Christina Kamposiori and Sue Crossley
This report examines the role that the unique and distinctive collections play in enabling research libraries to meet their impact goals and investigates the ways impact resulting through relevant services and activities is evidenced.
The unique and distinctive collections held by research libraries have long been recognised as cultural assets by their institutions, with strong research and educational potential. Yet, over the past decades the practices and values of academic and cultural heritage institutions have shifted in response to pressures from a fast-changing society, the digital revolution and a constrained economic climate. These institutions, including research libraries, have been challenged to respond to the call for openness in scholarship and culture, as well as to prove their worth and positive impact on society. In such a shifting environment, the roles played by unique and distinctive collections are being reassessed and the way in which they can align with the wider institutions’ missions re-evaluated.
