Culture on Campus - opening up the University of Stirling's archives and art collections

This capital investment project aims to significantly upgrade the reprographic technologies of the University of Stirling's archival and art collections. To update and broaden the University's reprographic capabilities this application makes the case for the supply and installation of the Zeutschel A1 ScanStudio system. This major enhancement in reprographic provision will provide the capabilities to fully exploit the research potential of the University collections and make additional content available to a range of stakeholders through its new 'Culture on Campus' website.

Added value to the investment in the suit of reprographic technologies will be created through a regional 'digitisation hub' for heritage services in the Forth Valley area. The equipment will be made available to libraries, archives, museums, and the creative community in the region in order to open up their collections. In reciprocation, the partnership with local cultural organisations will create new opportunities for academics and researchers at the University of Stirling and beyond to develop projects focusing on significant collections held in the Forth Valley region.

The investment therefore relates to the University's increasingly central role in the heart of Scotland, placing it in a position to capitalise on new research and innovation opportunities in partnership with businesses, national and local government agencies, the cultural and heritage sector and third sector organisations. The preservation efforts of the University Archives and Art Collection form part of a renewed energy to drive forward a joined-up approach to build resilient and sustainable digital assets for future generations.

The University Archives provide advice and assistance to academic staff and researchers on how to make effective use of our unique archival and art collections, helping them connect the university's thematic approach to research projects and wider knowledge exchange activities. The present provision of reprographic equipment available to the University collections prevents full engagement with, and access to, the resources it holds.

The deficiency in reprographic technologies makes the improvement of core equipment and capability a key priority for the service. The main objectives for investment in the reprographic technologies are: 1) To replace outdated technologies with a high-specification single system of digital scanning and photography;

2) Increasing the technological capacity for the archive and art collections to digitise oversized documents, manuscripts and art works; 3) To boost research and innovation capability based on the archival and art collections;

4) Develop the position of the University of Stirling as a 'digitisation hub' for the cultural and heritage sector in the Forth Valley region. The main outcomes this investment will have on research capacity are:

1) To drive forward a joined-up approach to build resilient and sustainable digital assets for future research projects;

2) To widen access to the expanded range of University collections online for staff, students, external researchers and partners;

3) To encourage and secure future deposits to the archives and art collections based on improved capacity for digitisation;

4) To provide new training and skills development opportunities in the digital humanities for staff, students and partners. The main impacts the investment will have for the cultural and heritage sectors are: 1) The creation of a new 'digitisation hub' to secure the preservation of collections held in the Forth Valley region;

2) To provide new opportunities for collaboration and partnerships between libraries, archives, museums and the cultural sector with academic researchers; 3) To use new digital assets to inspire new creative impetus for artists and art curation in the Forth Valley region.