Beyond the Books
For History Day 2022, the John Rylands Research Institute and Library is delighted to share a resource created for ‘Beyond the Books’, a public event connected to Being Human, the UK’s national festival of the humanities. The resource, which can be downloaded at the end of this blog, is aimed at encouraging members of the public to connect with staff and researchers at the Rylands. The Exhibitions and Public Engagement with Research team at the Rylands spotlights how libraries and scholars can partner to engage audiences in research and collections.
A blog by Kathy Davies and Alessia Benedetti — Exhibitions and Public Engagement Assistants at John Rylands Research Institute and Library
A Working Library
Libraries are more than storage spaces for the works of authors, artists, scientists, and scholars. They are custodians of printed worlds, made up of multiple distinct yet connected parts, most of which are usually hidden from visitors. These parts work together for the benefit of the reader and constantly evolve in response to new technology and change.
On Saturday, 12 November 2022, ‘Beyond the Books’ is a day of interactive activities that spotlights the work taking place behind the shelves at the John Rylands Research Institute and Library. It is a chance to see the hidden life of the library, learn about the work of the staff most visitors never see, and explore how technology and innovation has impacted their different careers.
Beyond the Books Programme
10am-4pm: Imaging (Drop in)
The Imaging team at the Rylands are at the centre of an ambitious digitisation programme. Drop into the Historic Reading Room for a chance to speak to our skilled photographers, who are experienced in imaging books, manuscripts, and 3D objects. The team’s advanced imaging techniques are vital to the research underpinning Transitions in Print.
10am-2pm: Reader Services (Drop in)
Reader Services retrieve items requested for research. Traditionally, readers would use card catalogues and paper slips to request items from the collections. Now, digital methods are more common. Drop into the Historic Reading Room and learn how to access the collections, see some of our most beautiful facsimiles and explore the Virtual Reading Room, a service launched in July 2020 which enables researchers to view material live online via a visualiser.
For more information, follow our helpful Medium guides on accessing the special collections.
11am-4pm: Exhibitions
The Rylands’ Exhibitions are rooted in ongoing research at The University of Manchester. They showcase special collections and the importance of new areas of academic inquiry. Transitions in Print focuses on the European printing revolution. It highlights how different technologies and techniques can be used to research historic material in new ways. Join us at 11am or 1pm for a guided tour of the exhibition, or drop into the Historic Reading Room between 2pm and 4pm to meet experts Prof Stephen J. Milner and Edward Potten and explore items from the special collections.
Exploring Innovation
Click on the images at the bottom of the page and download a leaflet we created for our visitors. This resource is designed to inspire people to build connections with our staff and to showcase technological innovations that have changed life at the Rylands, such as:
- Movable Type
Movable type printing technology revolutionised European printing and how information and ideas were recorded and shared. In 1892 founder of the Library, Enriqueta Rylands, purchased the Spencer Collection. This collection included a Gutenberg Bible and established the Library as an important repository for rare books. The Rylands now holds over 220,000 printed books and a 19th century Columbian printing press is on display in the Rylands today.
- Photography
In 1911 the first photography studio was established at the Rylands, laying the early foundations of the Imaging team.
- Collection Care
In 1983 the Conservation department was founded as an extension of the binding department. From 2008 this team evolved into the highly skilled Collection Care team, who work to preserve the wide range of items in the collections.
- The Rylands Now
In 2019 the Library Director celebrated 30 years at the Rylands. Read their reflections on three decades of change and explore Manchester Digital Collections, launched in 2020. This innovative platform has changed how people can engage with the special collections.
Click here to download the leaflet in .pdf format!
Images reproduced with the permission of The John Rylands University Librarian and Director of the University of Manchester Library. All images used on this page are licenced via CC-BY-NC-SA, for further information about each image, please follow the link in the description.
