Library information provider OCLC Research, US, and Research Libraries UK are working together on a project to gather data on special collections in research libraries in the UK and Ireland. The project is similar to a project conducted by OCLC Research in 2009 that gathered data on special collections in the US and Canada.
The distinction that special collections bring to research institutions has become widely recognised, and an aggregated profile of collections, access policies, users, adoption of new technologies, and other important topics will establish norms across the UK special collections community. The data will effectively support decision-making for strategic priorities and collaborative projects. Individual libraries will be able to place themselves in the context of community norms and consider taking appropriate actions in response.
The survey population will include all Research Libraries UK (RLUK) members, as well as OCLC Research Library Partnership institutions in the UK and Ireland. The project fits comfortably into RLUK's current strategic priorities, which include a strand, Unique and Distinctive Collections, which focuses on maximising the potential of special collections. It also extends the impact of OCLC Research's 2009 work by facilitating comparison of responses in North America and the UK.
The OCLC Research and RLUK project team expects to retain most questions from the 2009 survey to enable comparisons across the two projects. The questions will be adapted or enhanced as appropriate to reflect practices and priorities of the RLUK community. A committee of experts selected by the RLUK board of directors will work with OCLC Research staff to adapt the survey to the RLUK landscape.
A report detailing the results of the survey will be published in the second quarter of 2012.
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