Please provide your institutional context and discuss why you decided to develop Virtual Reading Room (VRR) or Virtual Teaching Space (VTS) services
We are a large collecting archive that is open to researchers regardless of institutional affiliation. We began to explore VRR during the pandemic, when our reading room was closed due to repeated and prolonged lockdowns.
Please tell us a few things about your VRR or VTS service (e.g. when it was launched, what is mostly used for, the types of collections shown etc.)
It was launched in 2022, and is mostly used for our archival collections, but occasionally also rare books. We don’t use it very much for VTS, as both lecturers and students appear to prefer an IRL hands-on experience.
Who is using the service(s) currently? Has the audience changed since the time of the launch?
Most of the researchers are academic, either tenure or graduate students, and usually from interstate or international. We have recently had a documentary producer access it as they were international. I don’t think this has really changed since the beginning, just expanded slightly.
Have the types of use expanded or changed since the time of the launch (e.g. more supplementary)? If use has changed, why do you think this happened and what does this mean for the service?
Not much has changed, but it has expanded slightly over the years. The expansion has also come about because staff are more willing to recommend it to clients, especially interstate or international, as they become more confident in the technology and in the service provision.
How has the institution benefitted from offering a VRR or VTS service?
It has allowed us to provide access to researchers who would not otherwise have been able to access material. This has raised our profile internationally, with a number of international publications stemming from the research done over VRR.
How does your VRR or VTS service relate to other services or policies in your institution (e.g. linked to digitisation or collection development strategy)?
VRR can be used as an initial point of contact before a digitisation request is made. It fits into our reading room and reference services as an important option available, but doesn’t really relate to any policies, other than increasing visibility and accessibility of the collections.
What are the current challenges you face in terms of sustaining the service(s)? If there are challenges, are there any plans for overcoming these?
It is important that staff work through with the client to determine a realistic amount of material to be viewed. This has taken a bit of time to get the hang of.
Who is responsible for leading or delivering VRR and VTS sessions in your institution?
The coordinator of the reading room and the reference archivist.
What are the lessons learned from planning, developing, and offering VRR or VTS services in your institution? Are there any specific lessons with regards to the sustainability of the services?
I think the main thing is for staff who use it for researchers to become skilled at figuring out how much material can be used in a session and what is a sustainable and fair boundary for the service provision. This is difficult to put into a workflow or procedure/policy, but is done through training up staff on the job and collaboration across the reference and reading room team. I think VTS has been far less relevant for us, and is likely to only be used in future if there is a return to online classes for whatever reason.
Please provide any additional information you think may be useful or any relevant links.
The success of VRR has led to the inclusion of fixed VRR hardware in the current redevelopment of the reading room.
Virtual Reading Room Services at the University of Melbourne Archives
Author:
Katie Wood, Deputy University Archivist, University of Melbourne Archives