News and Views

Published Date
November 2, 2020

UPDATE: SPECIAL COLLECTIONS AND READING ROOM TO REMAIN OPEN

Following the latest Government regulations in response to the coronavirus pandemic, The Museum of English Rural Life (MERL) will close…

The Special Collections reading room
Published Date
October 30, 2020

Archival Heroism: How Digital Access to Archives Saved my PhD during Lockdown

Written by Christopher Adams, a LAHP-funded PhD candidate at the Institute of English Studies, School of Advanced Study, University of…

Published Date
October 4, 2020

Giovanni Battista Piranesi and the glory of Rome

by Fiona Melhuish, UMASCS Librarian Hidden away in our collections store, amongst the rows of archive boxes, are the oversize…

Published Date
September 22, 2020

#StillSpecial: Virtual Reading Room launch

Come on in! We are delighted to announce the launch of our Virtual Reading Room. When COVID-19 put a temporary…

Screenshot from Google Arts & Culture
Published Date
September 8, 2020

#StillSpecial: Google Arts & Culture launch

Written by UMASCS Librarian, Claire Clough  We have some exciting news to share with you – we have become the newest member…

Published Date
September 8, 2020

New “testbed” for digital archives funded by a National Archives grant

  Throughout 2020 we have continued to find innovate ways to enable access to collections. This week our service has…

Published Date
August 24, 2020

Update: Bookings now open for the Special Collections Reading Room

  We are very pleased to announce that we are now able to take bookings for readers to access our…

Published Date
August 12, 2020

Update: Re-opening of Special Collections Service Reading Room

  We are looking forward to welcoming researchers back to The MERL and the University of Reading Special Collections reading…

Published Date
July 28, 2020

Update: Teaching with Collections

Today, we are publishing details of the many options available for University of Reading staff who wish to teach with…