Have you found it difficult to access library and archive collections over the past two years? Do you sometimes struggle to get enough funding to travel to use collections that are important for your research? Are you reconsidering how often you plan to visit archives and libraries abroad because you’re concerned about the environmental cost of international travel? Are the collections you work with distributed across multiple institutions and locations? If so, we would love to hear your views about new forms of collections access and usage that are being developed by research libraries around the world.
Virtual Reading Rooms (VRRs) and Virtual Teaching Spaces (VTSs) are being trialled which allow teachers and researchers to gain remote access – from home or from a university office or seminar room – to archives, special collections and cultural heritage objects. On-site visualisers allow live streaming from library reading rooms, linking a remote researcher directly with the materials of their choice for a real-time consultation. VRRs offer bespoke digital access to collections, which does not depend on digitisation and is supported by expert library and archive staff working with you to handle and examine documents and objects.
As libraries begin to establish VRR and VTSs it is vital that they hear from researchers and teachers both about how they have used services of this kind and how they might use them in the future. Don’t worry if you haven’t heard of or used a VRR before. We are planning for the future, and your views about what might be possible using new forms of digital access to collections will help us to support your research and teaching.
This is a collaborative initiative between Research Libraries UK (RLUK), the School of Advanced Study (SAS), University of London, and members of a working group convened by the International Alliance of Research Library Associations (IARLA).
We welcome submissions from academics, researchers, and postgraduate students from around the world who would be willing to
- Share their experiences of using VRRs and VTSs
- Share their perceptions of VRRs and VTSs (if they haven’t used them)