Open Collections

In working towards our 2025 vision, we have dedicated ourselves to making our collections and research more accessible and inclusive. Through a range of initiatives we have co-curated and co-created dynamic collections that serve both our university community and wider society. Our commitment to open research and community partnerships has been at the heart of our efforts, ensuring that knowledge is shared widely and equitably. This page outlines some examples of projects we have developed aligning with the theme of Open Collections.

Open collections are essential democratising access to knowledge. In this age of misinformation, it is essential that research is available to all, free from any barriers to access or usage such as paywalls or restrictive copyright clauses. We at Lancaster University Library are deeply committed to open collections and sharing knowledge as widely and freely as possible, including through sector leading initiatives such as Lancaster Digital Collections and Trailblazers open monographs.

A quote from Elaine Sykes, Head of Open Research Lancaster University Library

Lancaster Digital Collections: Humphry Davy

The Library was a key partner on The Davy Notebooks Project, a four-year AHRC-funded citizen science project to transcribe and annotate the notebooks. A team of researchers, led by Professor Sharon Ruston, worked with a group of over 3600 global volunteers utilising the citizen science platform Zooniverse.

Staff from the Library provided guidance to the project team on images, technical standards and metadata. The Library’s Digital Innovation Team worked with the outputs of the volunteers, and built the images into a searchable archive, complete with transcriptions and annotations, on our Lancaster Digital Collections platform.

Sir Humphry Davy (1778-1829) was perhaps the most famous chemist of the early nineteenth century. Davy is best known for his discovery of several chemical elements (including sodium and potassium), his experiments with nitrous oxide and his invention of the miner’s safety lamp that bore his name. Davy’s notebooks, held at the Royal Institution of Great Britain and Kresen Kernow, contain details of his scientific experiments, poetry, geological observations, travel accounts, and personal philosophy.  

The completed collection features high quality, zoomable images utilising the International Image Operability Framework (IIIIF). IIIF is a global open standard enabling researchers to examine, compare, annotate and share archival material. Lancaster is a member of a global community of libraries and museums using the standard.

The project is an exemplar of the Library’s Towards 2025 vision, embodying our approach to co-curate, co-create and share knowledge, to create dynamic collections and engage as a trusted partner in the research endeavour.

Find out more about the Humphry Davy project

Image of books on a book shelf in the library

Community Collections

The library has developed a number of Community Collections of print books to support its partnership with local community groups.

These collections are curated with the community, and for the community, providing local people, schools and community groups with the opportunity to loan books and other texts from the library.

Our community Collections include:

Glocal Collection: a physical collection curated in collaboration with Lancaster Black History Group to support community research through the Slavery Family Trees Project.

Sanctuary Collection: A collection which originated from connections made during Refugee Week 2022 and has been created in partnership with Global Link Lancaster.

Morecambe Bay Curriculum collection: this includes a range of fiction and non-fiction books for early years and primary aged children. It is mainly focused on the themes of sustainability and the environment.

Find out more about our Community Collections.

Trailblazers

In January 2024 we launched the Trailblazers Open Access Books scheme in partnership with Liverpool University Press, the University of Liverpool and the University of Salford. The scheme provides selected Early Career Researchers with the opportunity to publish a funded Open Access Book who otherwise might not have the chance to do so, and participate in a series of author boot camps to develop their publication skills. The scheme aligns to our library vision ‘to connect, innovate and include’ and to our long-standing commitment to Open Research.

Find out more about Trailblazers

Lancaster University Open Journals

In January 2025, we launched Lancaster University Open Journals, a service managed by the Library for hosting academic open access journals. The service supports a variety of journals and is available for Lancaster University staff to produce journals, conference proceedings and other publications.

We have developed this service to make it possible and easy for colleagues who wish to develop scholar-led open access journals to host their publications and manage their journal workflows on the platform for free. The service removes the need for colleagues to pay expensive annual subscription fees (usually between £1200 to £1500) for hosting services and ensures their long-term preservation without the need to continuously find sources of funding.

Experience of a Journal Editor

Dr Stanley Blue, Editor-in-Chief of the Journal of Practice Theory, discusses how Lancaster University Open Journals has supported their publication

Open Book Futures Project

Led by Lancaster University, the Open Book Futures (OBF) project will develop and support organisations, tools and practices that enable both academics and the wider public to make more and better use of books published on an Open Access basis. Open Access books can be accessed and used online free of charge.

In particular, the project, which is also supported by Lancaster University Library, aims to achieve a step change in how community-owned Open Access book publishing is delivered.

‘We are delighted to be involved in this project and our role within it marks another step on the library’s journey from traditional service provider to research partner.

“This project is particularly exciting as it aligns to our library vision ‘to connect, innovate and include’ and to our long-standing commitment to Open Research. It empowers us to be a sector lead in establishing an innovative but sustainable way of rethinking the scholarly communication landscape and ensuring the visibility and accessibility of long-form scholarship to all.

- Andrew Barker, Director of Library Services

Find out more about the Open Book Futures project

Special Collections and Archives: Collections Discovery

The Library has been opening up our rare book and archive collections for wider audiences. We are providing improved descriptions about our holdings via the OneSearch Collection Discovery pages and the Special Collections and Archive collections page. We have also been providing remote access to our collections through the provision of a Virtual Search Room.