Annual Report 2024–25

Digital innovation shapes all our services, spaces and experiences across the Libraries and Galleries. Here, we spotlight projects that turn digital ambition into tangible benefits for education, research and global engagement. 

Advancing with AI responsibly 

We have developed AI Principles to support AI adoption and experimentation in library services responsibly and thoughtfully. 

To support students we published new guidance on AI and academic skills. 

Digital capabilities 

Our Digital Capabilities Programme includes new sessions on podcasting and Gen AI and assessment, supporting the University’s Student Education strategy and Capabilities Framework. 

• 46 embedded sessions across seven faculties 
• 444 students attended co-curricular digital capabilities sessions 
• 654 engagements with the Jisc Discovery Tool

Device docking increases student productivity 

More docking stations are now available throughout library sites, in collaboration with IT Services. Students can dock their own laptops into large-screen monitors to create a multi-screen system, increasing ease of use and productivity. 

Simple scan out with Sentry 

Our new Libraries’ Sentry App now allows users to borrow books by scanning their in-app barcode at our self-issue machines, removing barriers to accessing our services. 

Lean Library 

Lean Library is a browser plug-in tool that makes it easy to discover our subscribed and open access articles when browsing the internet. This year we have connected 5,313 active users to: 

• 1,294 open access resources 
• 3,088 subscribed-to articles 
• 1,437 of our ebooks 
• 470 of our print books.

Embracing IIIF for digital scholarship 

Digital images of our open cultural collections are now available in high quality with deep zoom. Providing images in the interoperable IIIF format creates new possibilities for collaborative and cross-institutional research and digital exhibitions. 

IIIF (International Image Interoperability Framework) is a set of open standards that that provide optimal online presentation of digital objects. 

New Minerva resource supports IIIF adoption 

A new Minerva resource showcases how IIIF functionalities can be embedded into teaching, created with the support of the Digital Education Service and IIIF Engagement Intern. 

Successful pilot sessions with colleagues and students from the Faculty of Arts, Humanities and Culture sparked significant interest and ideas on how to develop digital humanities support. We will expand on this with guidelines, training sessions and case studies. 

Actively serving the IIIF global community 

We are delighted to serve on the IIIF Consortium Executive Committee with: 

• Universities of Cornell, Harvard and Yale 
• British Library 
• National Gallery of Art. 

We hosted this year’s IIIF Annual Conference in June, welcoming over 200 attendees from around the world. 

Increasing online access to our collections with DLIP 

We successfully delivered Phase 1 of the Digital Library Infrastructure Project (DLIP), and work has started on Phase 2 planning. Phase 1 outcomes included advances in open content, which is now: 

• available using IIIF via the Cultural Collections website 
• securely stored in a new cloud storage preservation system. 

Phase 2 of DLIP will enable more collections to be digitally available, provide online exhibitions and storytelling using digital objects and launch a refreshed website.