UCL LIBRARY SERVICES Embedding Special Collections in taught courses at UCL Dr Tabitha Tuckett Rare-Books Librarian; Promotion And Outreach UCL Special Collections To consult the collections:

UCL LIBRARY SERVICES Contents History of Special Collections and taught courses at UCL How are collections used? With what impact? Developments to embed Special Collections in taught courses 2 © UCL Special Collections

UCL LIBRARY SERVICES Special Collections, teaching and learning at UCL A university collection Over 0.5 million items, many acquired specifically to support teaching & research Department formed in 1968 to strengthen this support Rebranded in 2002 to acknowledge increased demand Core business for Special Collections Teaching from original material trains good researchers And motivates public engagement 3

UCL LIBRARY SERVICES 4 © UCL Special Collections

UCL LIBRARY SERVICES How are Special Collections used in taught courses? 52 classes and lectures taught or supported, In all three schools: SLASH (Arts & Humanities, Laws, Social & Historical Sciences, SEES) BEAMS (Built Environment, Engineering, Mathematical & Physical Sciences) SLMS (Life & Medical Sciences) Individual sessions within the module timetable Undergraduate and postgraduate 5

UCL LIBRARY SERVICES Three approaches: 1 Lecturer selects material and teaches. We handle and supervise the material. Suitable if: a)Items have already been identified eg from previous year b)Accurate references are available to retrieve items c)No additional knowledge of the items is needed eg English Law (PG and UG); History of Migration (UG) 6

UCL LIBRARY SERVICES Three approaches: 2 We teach or present, and select and supervise material. Suitable if: a)Session can take advantage of library staffs specialist knowledge and teaching experience in the subject b)Development of the session requires knowledge of material across a wide range of Special Collections 7 Staff expertise Fred Bearmanbook history, preservation, conservation Gill Furlongarchive management, collection history Tabitha Tucketthistorical bibliography, Early Modern studies, Classics, research skills Staff expertise Fred Bearmanbook history, preservation, conservation Gill Furlongarchive management, collection history Tabitha Tucketthistorical bibliography, Early Modern studies, Classics, research skills

UCL LIBRARY SERVICES Three approaches: 3 Material is selected and session developed and presented jointly. Suitable if: a)Using Special Collections for the first time, or developing a new module, a new teaching approach, or identifying new material to use in teaching b)Lecturer and librarian bring complementary expertise eg Physics UG; French UG Most successful for embedding material in teaching, but staff intensive 8

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UCL LIBRARY SERVICES Transcript of interview with tutor about using collections in teaching: All the feedback Ive had from the students … has been so positive, and it helps them find new avenues for their own research and it feeds into what were doing at UCL now: there are more interdisciplinary degrees I noticed at the time how reluctant students were to actually touch the books Yes, they were very reverential! Partly thats testament to the fact that they recognise the value of these objects, but also it reveals that they dont have much experience working with them, so I think thats why its particularly valuable to have a forum where they can actually get close to these objects, we can bring in experts to talk about them 10

UCL LIBRARY SERVICES Whats the impact? 11 © UCL Special Collections

UCL LIBRARY SERVICES Whats the impact? Feedback collected from students and tutors, then evaluated: 1.Teaches fundamental research skills for all subjects that require physically handling material, from History to Science And Technology What we have How to access it How to handle it How to read it How to date, interpret and understand it How to cite it professionally 12

UCL LIBRARY SERVICES Some feedback from tutors and students: An indispensable part of the students early training to be able to move forward with their own researches. (tutor) We had a session with UCL Special collections looking at some primary sources which was really invaluable in contextualising some of the information. (student) Actually seeing the texts in question lends reality to theoretical ideas. (student) We're all used to seeing and reading cases as law students, but it's hard to imagine what the historical texts looked like and what information they contained. It would have been nice if this could have been better integrated into the course, rather than a one-off session. (student) 13

UCL LIBRARY SERVICES Whats the impact? 2.Promotes awareness of Special Collections riches, which leads directly to research on the material 14

UCL LIBRARY SERVICES Whats the impact? 3.Builds on research into the benefits of object-based learning, and brings best practice to Library Services Having original documents in the seminar gave students a new dimension of learning … (almost all of them for the first time) (tutor) Students benefit enormously from seeing medieval textuality in the skin. (tutor) A Chinese student was especially interested by viewing and handling early European books, something she felt was a unique experience for her in UCL and the UK, as she would not have access to similar resources in China. (tutor) What have you enjoyed? Being able to touch the books Interaction with the real manuscripts Being able to touch and read through the manuscripts (students) 15

UCL LIBRARY SERVICES 16 Future developments © UCL Special Collections

UCL LIBRARY SERVICES Future developments Ease temporary logistical hurdles Venue (Science Library 416 when possible) Timetabling (online booking form coming soon) Catalogue visibility Retrieval (REF COLLECTION B / REF COLLECTION K) Briefings for subject librarians and academic staff Work with departments on syllabus development History, BASc Acknowledge our growing teaching reputation outside UCL Join up teaching initiatives with research and public engagement proposals 17

UCL LIBRARY SERVICES Leading the way in teaching with Special Collections 18 To find out more about UCL Special Collections, visit All ppts from today are available at