Strategic Programme
National Research Library in the North
Vital to UK research
Lead priority areas
The University of Manchester Library is one of only five National Research Libraries in the United Kingdom and the only one outside of Oxford, Cambridge and London. National Research Library in the North is a confirmation and reimagination of Manchester’s leading and instinctively collaborative national role.
National Partnerships
Manchester works with the other UK National Research Libraries, the three National Libraries and with all other collecting institutions with a national role to transform ways of working and to better enable research through our collections, services and facilities. We actively seek cross-sectoral partners, including those allowing us to further develop the Equity, Diversity and Inclusion projects for our staff and research collections. The ground-breaking work of our Ahmed Iqbal Ullah Race Relations Centre is fully represented as being of national importance.
The John Rylands Library Next Chapter
The John Rylands Library is the most remarkable university special collections library in the world. The Next Chapter in its eminent history is a project to enrich and transform the researcher and visitor experience through new exhibition facilities and redesigned spaces for research, teaching, learning, events and research impact. A major discovery and cataloguing project is also delivering new understanding of our internationally significant collections of incunabula.
COLIM Libraries
The university libraries of Cambridge, Oxford, UCL, Imperial and Manchester (COLIM) share in their institutions’ large-scale research environments. Three of the partners, including Manchester, are also National Research Libraries, and all five constitute the Band One institutions of library content purchasers in the UK. COLIM develops a shared agenda for the libraries of the country’s most research-intensive universities, in particular in the fields of open access research communications and scholarly publishing.
Manchester Modern Collections
Our print and digital modern collections are amongst the most outstanding in the UK and we constantly seek to further increase their breadth and depth. Our teams deliver this across the Library with expertise in collection management and development and in close liaison with the faculties and schools of The University of Manchester. In addition to the internal drivers of growth, the Library works with others nationally and regionally on contemporary and future-driven ideas of shared and collective collections.
Manchester Digital Scholarship
Manchester Digital Scholarship (MDS) determines and delivers a diverse field of activity. Key partnerships are developed, especially through our membership of Research Libraries UK, which focus on the continued transformation of scholarship through digital technologies and global collaboration. MDS acts as a conduit for new research, research impact and for the coordinated long-term care and interpretation of research collections.
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