UCL Special Collections

Active

Description

UCL Special Collections is the department of UCL Library Services that manages the university’s rare books, archives and manuscripts, a collection of over 10,000 metres dating from the 4th century to the present day. As a department it collects archives, records and rare books to support the research and teaching of UCL, preserves those materials for the future, engages UCL staff and students and external audiences, provides access to rare materials through specialised cataloguing, and provides a records management service across UCL. The main subject areas covered by its collections are the histories of science, medicine, law, art, archaeology, architecture, education, languages, literature, social history (particularly of London) and political science. Special Collections took its present form after the merger of the Institute of Education and UCL in 2014 and a restructure of UCL Library Services in 2016, and was awarded Archive Service Accreditation in August 2021. Its conservators specialise in books and paper conservation and undertake imaging research in collaboration with the UCL Centre for Digital Humanities, UCL Medical Physics and Biomedical Engineering and the UCL Department of Chemistry. Staff publish research on individual collection items on the department’s blog, and the department runs the Anthony Davis Book Collecting Prize for students. Visiting fellowships for research on its collections are awarded by the UCL Research Institute for Collections. Follow UCL Special Collections on Bluesky and YouTube.

Currently active

Yes

Offers funding

Yes, this infrastructure provides funding in the following categories:

Contact details

Special Collections, Library Services, University College London, Gower Street
London
Greater London
WC1E 6BT

Website: https://www.ucl.ac.uk/library/collections/special-collections

Public email: spec.coll@ucl.ac.uk

@uclspeccoll

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Categorisation

Type

University affiliation(s)

University College London (UCL)
London

Partner Infrastructures

UCL Centre for Digital Humanities (UCLDH)

Founded in 2010, the UCL Centre for Digital Humanities (UCLDH) is a cross-faculty research centre, bringing together a vibrant network of people who teach and research in a wide range of disciplines, … read more about UCL Centre for Digital Humanities (UCLDH)

London

UCL Research Institute for Collections (RIC)

The UCL Research Institute for Collections (RIC) is a virtual centre for scholarship, pedagogy and impact based around UCL’s collections. It was founded in 2021 to foster research synergies cent… read more about UCL Research Institute for Collections (RIC)