Please provide your institutional context and discuss why you decided to develop Virtual Reading Room (VRR) or Virtual Teaching Space (VTS) services.
Following the success of VRR set ups at other institutions SHL was keen to implement something similar as part of its Library Transformation Programme. One of the goals of this is to establish SHL as a national resource for the arts, humanities and social sciences. Being able to share collections through the VRR, both through teaching and research appointments feeds directly into this programme of work. The VRR was funded through a bid to an internal grant making body.
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.)
Our virtual reading room was launched in September of 2023 and is for the use of special collections materials to be viewed online by appointment, with readers who are unable to visit in person, either due to travel issues or mobility/accessibility problems and for teaching in classes both hybrid, in person and fully online.
We use two different visualisers, one wall mounted overhead that is better used for large items, and one smaller visualiser, better suited to items around A4 size. We use the visualisers via Microsoft teams, as the bookings made by our users automatically generate a Microsoft teams meeting invite for both the user, and the staff member. They could, however, be used by any software including zoom or skype, all that is required is that the visualiser is selected as the camera, as opposed to any inbuilt camera the staff devices use.
In our special collections we house both printed materials such as rare books, as well as manuscripts and archival materials. The VRR has a fairly even split demand of both, but we tend to use our smaller visualiser more than the large one as the majority of the collection is more suited to it.
Who is using the service(s) currently? Has the audience changed since the time of the launch?
The service is used mainly by readers abroad, however it is also used by UK based researchers who may have already visited the library and seen an item in person, but perhaps missed e.g., a reference in an archive file and they wish to take a quick look again, rather than travel to the library. A lot of our users from outside of London or abroad also tend to book appointments to take a quick overview and sample of the collection before booking travel plans, to make sure their journey to see a collection in person will be worthwhile.
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?
The types of use of the VRR service itself have tended to be consistent throughout its tenure, however the use of the visualisers has evolved into being used for teaching classes, as rare books can be shown online to a much larger audience. Talks can be given live to hundreds of viewers at a time with the ability to get an up-close look at rare and fragile books they ordinarily wouldn’t be able to see. We can also project the visualiser onto a much bigger screen and give these same classes and talks in person, often simultaneously with an online audience, giving us a huge increase of capacity. Using the equipment in this way has actually had a positive impact on the service, as its quality and ease of use during classes, has helped to promote the service too users who were unaware of its existence prior to attending said classes. We have noticed a definite increase in the frequency of VRR appointments immediately following well attended courses, classes or lectures.
How has the institution benefitted from offering a VRR or VTS service?
In terms of the VRR and its popularity making a positive impact; we have had multiple users of the VRR make initial consultations of our collection using the service, before following up and coming to visit the library in person. At least one user has actually been given a grant to travel to Senate House from abroad, following their initial research using the VRR. The ability to use the VRR in teaching has increased our ability to deliver high quality hybrid events.
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)?
Our virtual reading room service works in quite close contact with out digitisation department. Often the digitisation team will receive requests from users unsure of the exact content they would wish to purchase reproductions of. In these circumstances it benefits all parties if users can first view the item they wish to purchase digitised extracts from. There also may be items still in copyright of some kind, which our digitisation team would be unable to reproduce. Again, in those circumstances, the team there will give the details for the VRR service to the user, meaning they will still be at least able to view the item in question to potentially complete their research.
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?
The main challenge comes from the staffing of the VRR service. The service is managed and operated by our special collections reading room team and, as a small team with a busy workload, it can be challenging to maintain. We manage to work around the shortages by drafting in staff from other areas to cover regular services and free staff to ensure the VRR can be covered. In future, there are discussions around training more staff from other areas in operating the VRR service to mitigate these circumstances.
Who is responsible for leading or delivering VRR and VTS sessions in your institution?
The implementation of the VRR service was led by a subject librarian. Now the service is up and running the service is managed and operated by our special collections reading room team. They manage the booking system, the retrieval of materials for classes, the scheduling and the overall wellbeing of the hardware associated with the VRR.
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?
We would recommend planning and setting out manageable expectations and parameters, for example; setting limits on how many items users can view in any one session and limiting the duration of appointments to one-hour slots (as they can be quite tiring for the staff member operating the service). We would also recommend that you limit the amount of days the service operates, the frequency would need to be based on an individual institutes capacity to offer the service in terms of staffing etc. We currently offer VRR appointments three days a week, not every day.
Please provide any additional information you think may be useful or any relevant links.
Keeping estates and IT teams involved is key to delivering the service, particularly at set up.
Author:
Lucy Evans, Head of Collections, Senate House Library
Relevant links: