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Paul Ralphs, Assistant Customer Services Manager (Training)

Ria Sunga, Engagement Manager (Students and Communities)

In 2024 the Library introduced a new Community Membership. This was done with the intention of opening the Library to a wide range of people giving them access to our Main Library space and collections, and in line with the University’s dedication to civic engagement.

Our talk will discuss the decisions that informed the creation of the Community Membership, how many members we have, and how we plan to progress our engagement with new members of our Library community.

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Grant Collier, Curator for University Heritage 

Curator for University Heritage Dr Grant Collier will introduce the new Student Life at Manchester (SL@M) Collection, with examples from our Student Ephemera and University Heritage Collections. The SL@M Collection will prioritise student voices and experiences and will be developed in partnership with our students. We aim to actively collect and preserve material culture of contemporary student life in Manchester, providing a platform for future research into the social, cultural and political lives of students today. You can help by offering ephemera to the collection and raising awareness across campus.

Helen Foster, Teaching Collections and eTextbook Programme Manager

In 1899, Enriqueta Rylands founded The John Rylands Library in memory of her husband, as a monument of knowledge and a space of public good.

125 years later, those founding principles live on at The University of Manchester Library, not just in the building and the books it houses, but through our pioneering collections and services; one of which is our sector-leading eTextbook Programme, which also celebrates a big milestone this year as it turns ten years old.

Together, these milestones reflect a similar vision: to provide equitable access to knowledge, whether bound in leather or encoded in pixels. This presentation will detail how our pioneering programme grew from a small pilot study to the largest eTextbook Programme in the UK and will consider what the next ten years might look like. 

Ian Gifford, Head of Digital Development

Liam Sullivan, Systems Support Analyst (Library Systems)

Jenny McNally, Systems Librarian, The University of Salford

This presentation will be jointly delivered by representatives from Manchester and Salford libraries, showcasing their collaborative project to enhance user experience across institutions. It will cover how they co-developed the idea, selected a shared interface for usability and accessibility testing, and partnered with various library teams to run a user testing session at AMBS's behavioural lab.

The session will highlight how results were reviewed and analysed collaboratively, with feedback provided to the supplier. Key findings and areas for improvement in the Leganto Reading List system will be shared, along with reflections on the benefits, challenges, and lessons learned from this cross-institutional approach.

Scott Taylor, Head of Library Research Services and Office for Open Research

Janette Watson, Engagement Manager (Faculties and Collections)

The Library’s Publishing Futures Group is driving bold, transformative change to advance our research dissemination and collaboration. With our new strategy, recently approved by the University Executive Group, we’ve set clear criteria to govern our engagement in transformative agreements with publishers, empowering us to step away from those that do not meet with our vision.  

At the heart of this strategy is the Manchester Open Research Environment (MORE), a world-first impact repository redefining Green Open Access. By enhancing how research is shared and cited, MORE is set to amplify the global reach and performance of academic work.  

We’ll share our key achievements so far and outline our ambitious goals for the year ahead.  

Jo Castle, Senior Photographer

The Rylands holds an important example by a British pioneer of concrete poetry, the poem ‘Frog – Pond – Plop’ by Dominic Sylvester Houedard.  This takes the form of typed letters on paper which is folded into a paper fortune teller. Manipulating the fortune teller reveals different letters which construct the words of the poem.  

The item’s fragility means that we cannot display it in operation nor allow handling, so it is not possible for visitors to experience the poem as intended.  I will attempt to reconstruct the folds using 3D animation software Blender so that viewers can see it digitally in operation. I will also be asking how digital construction fits into the Imaging Team’s practice of 'faithful’ representation.

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Mark Ogden, Teaching and Learning Librarian

Michael Roughley, Teaching, Learning and Students Co-ordinator

Verity Richardson, Teaching, Learning and Students Co-ordinator

Race across the Library is an upcoming event to be held during Get Started. Each department in the Library will be given a chance to design a themed activity, with students ‘racing’ around the Library completing each one, with the fastest team winning a price.

The aim is to demystify the Library space and the service for new and existing students, allowing them to explore the Library while learning what each service does.

The workshop will run through the origin and creation of the original event, how we evaluated the impact, and how it will work here at Manchester. There will also be a chance to play through several of the activities in teams, with prizes available for the winners!

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Pete Morris, Software Developer

It seems that every week there is a new AI model in the news, with each company and country vying for supremacy. But is the latest always the best? Are specialist models more suitable than generalised ones? Are larger models slower than smaller ones? And do different creators have different political biases?

Join us for The Great AI Face-Off, a quiz with a difference. You don’t answer the questions, your Large Language Model (LLM) has to answer them for you! Place your bets and pick a model to battle it out against others, answering a mixture of questions designed to trip them up.

And amongst all the silliness, discover what makes different LLMs suited to different tasks.

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Maya Sharma, Head of AIU RACE Centre

Lianne Smith, Library Manager AIU RACE Centre

Our session will take the RACE Centre's recently-published "Working Ethically with Black Histories: A Manifesto" as its starting point. We will invite colleagues to look at the Manifesto content and consider how it might inform their thinking and their work.

The session will be participatory and allow colleagues to ask questions, share thinking and ideas in a positive space. The session is aimed at colleagues from all roles in the Library, not only those working with our Special Collections. 

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Jane Gallagher, Head of Digital Special Collections and Services

Tino Oudesluijs, Manchester Digital Collections Content Coordinator

Kathryn Sullivan, Metadata Discovery Manager

Digital Special Collections have recently become more complex, significant and valued, with wider trends such as AI, access and data mining driving the agenda.

There are, however, many other aspects to Digital Special Collections that require careful consideration, most of which precede the process of publicly displaying the collections; from deciding which collections are to be made available to determining how to best communicate the sensitive topics and complex histories that come with many of them. But how should we then decide on our priorities and communicate the gaps in our digital collections?

Working with our Digital Special Collections Principles, this session will engage attendees in some of the challenges and encourage debate on our innovative ways of working, considering issues of sustainability, EDI and access. Balancing the responsibilities of a national research library with the needs of individual users, and the opportunities of digital with the needs of historic objects, attendees will have the chance to explore and influence our future directions in this exciting area.

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Megan Johnston, Stock Operations Coordinator

Abi Harrison-Henshall, Open Research Specialist

This session is aimed at colleagues who are interested in applying for the Library and Archive Studies MA scholarship and would like to find out more about the course.  It will include an informal presentation and discussion around course content, module selection, time commitments, the variety of assignments, etc.  

Abi and Megan will also reflect on their personal experiences over the last two years and offer guidance to anyone who is considering applying for 2025/26. There will also be an opportunity for participants to submit questions in advance and ask them on the day (either verbally or via Menti).

Please note:  Previously the scholarship was only available to colleagues currently in grades two to five.

•  Book tickets:  Collections Care Lab (11.45am–12.10pm)
•  Book tickets:  Collections Care Lab (12.20pm–12.45pm)

Sophie Coulthard, Conservator

Visit the Collection Care Laboratory at the Rylands and step into the world of conservation in action. This is your chance to go behind the scenes and discover how we care for the Library’s extraordinary Special Collections.

From magnetic mounting to papyri glazing, explore some of our recent conservation projects and learn about the techniques and decisions that shape our work. Whether you're curious about how fragile objects are stabilised for handling and display, or want to understand the thought processes behind conservation choices—this is your opportunity to ask questions and connect with our team of Conservators.

Come and see how we balance accessibility with preservation to safeguard the Library’s collections for current and future generations.

Please note: the tour will be run twice during the Breakout session period and each tour will last 25 minutes.

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Sarah Howley, Learning Developer

Kai Prince, Library Student Team Member (Digital Skills)

Synthesising information to form a critical argument is one of the more challenging academic skills for students to grasp. A true scholar is not only able to draw insightful connections between sources; they pull together the most credible and relevant information. Students often struggle with how to put this into practice, so our game explores how these typically serious skills might be acquired through playful means.

With influence from logic puzzles and role-playing games such as The Traitors and Town of Salem, players must synthesise sources to identify a correct claim within a time limit. However, hidden troublemakers will cause disruption and mischief, while flying beneath the radar of those hunting them. In the first half of this session, we will be playing the game. The second half will be spent reflecting on the experience and making recommendations for future iterations.

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Lucinda May, Open Research Manager

What happens when a group of Library staff with minimal formal training in agile methods decides to overhaul an entire website? A lot of learning, a few daunting moments – and ultimately a website that truly works for its users.

In this session, we'll share how our cross-functional team of enthusiastic amateurs embraced agile principles to design and build a new web presence. With sprints, stand-ups, retrospectives, and a strong sense of purpose, we navigated shifting priorities, built new skills, and discovered better ways of working together.

Whether you're agile-curious, managing a digital project, or looking for ideas to energise your team, our story offers insights, mistakes, and successes from a real-world experience, which we hope will reassure and inspire you!

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Carlene Barton, eLearning Technologist

Gabba Sutcliffe de Oliveira, Teaching, Learning and Students Intern

Amin Hussain, Head of Digital Service Innovation

Martin O'Dwyer, Digital Support Services Manager

This is a collaborative workshop exploring what digital capabilities are and why they are important for individuals, teams and the Library. The session will explore key themes and generate outcomes and an action plan to help inform the work of the Digital Oversight group in supporting the development of Library staff, students and researchers. 

In the session we will introduce staff to the JISC Digital Capabilities framework that staff will be asked to complete this year as part of their PDRs.  Attendees will work in groups to explore specific themes of the framework including, Digital Creation, Data literacy, Artificial Intelligence, Collaboration and Wellbeing. 

Each group will discuss what the themes look like to them and their teams, their strengths and development areas. They will then produce broad learning outcomes and start to generate ideas & an action plan of how, as a Library, we can support each other to develop these skills.

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Susana Sanchez-Gonzalez, Reader Services Co-ordinator

Attendees will meet Susana Sanchez-Gonzalez in the Atrium to start. Please note that this sessions requires attendees to 'race' to the Research Room and back as part of the competition. Both the Atrium and Research Room have step-free access, but we encourage you to take the travelling time that you need, if you sign up to this event. If you have any concerns, please contact the conference team to discuss.

About the session

Ready to dive into the world of Special Collections? Race across the catalogue is a fast, fun, and slightly chaotic challenge where your research skills are the key to victory. In teams of three, you’ll receive a mysterious question and a list of five books from Special Collections. Your mission? Track down the answer, fast.

Here’s how it works:

• Figure out which book might hold the answer to your question
• Using your phone or another device, find the book in the library catalogue
• Submit a booking form
• Wait for approval from the Research Room team
• Head into the Research Room to hunt down the answer
• Return the book and race back to be the first team to give the answer

With only 15 places available (five teams total), this challenge is all about speed, strategy, and teamwork. It’s a fun, hands-on way to explore the Library collections whilst getting a real taste of the joys and tribulations of using a special collections research room! There will be prizes too. Chocolate-based. Most likely.