The British Library joins us as a new partner in the delivery and organisation of the Discovering Collections: Discovering Communities conference series. 

The Discovering Collections: Discovering Communities (DCDC) series is one of the largest cross-cultural sector conferences in the UK and sees archivists, librarians, heritage professionals, and academics exploring ways of enhancing cross-sector collaboration between professional communities.  

Founding DCDC partner, Research Libraries UK (RLUK), is stepping back from the formal partnership to focus on other priorities, but will continue to give its support and advice informally.

Neil Grindley, director of content and discovery at Jisc, said:

“We are delighted to welcome the British Library to DCDC and look forward together to evolving and growing DCDC, drawing on the strengths of the three partners. In particular, we welcome the British Library’s strengths in research, presentation and engagement and its global visibility, which will help us reach  new audiences and networks.”

 Dr Valerie Johnson, director of research and collections for the National Archives, said:

“We want to thank RLUK for everything it has done to build DCDC since the first conference back in 2013:  building the DCDC reputation and brand, navigating successfully through the huge challenges posed by COVID and setting us on such a positive course even as they step back. The DCDC principles of collaboration and inclusion, breaking new ground and sharing best practice will continue strongly.”

Liz Jolly, chief librarian at the British Library, said:

“We are excited to join this ground-breaking and interdisciplinary initiative, which is doing so much to promote knowledge sharing and collaboration across diverse sectors. We share our partners’ commitment to the core DCDC principles of collaboration and inclusion and look forward to fostering new collaborations in the library sector through the wider DCDC network.”

David Prosser, executive director, RLUK said:

“It has been a privilege to nurture the DCDC conference series to its current status and we are proud of our association with it. We look forward to seeing it go from strength to strength with its new leading partners and we wish them every success.”

Attracting more than 400 delegates each year, the DCDC conferences bring together speakers and delegates from across the UK, Europe, and internationally, to explore a range of issues, from the impact of collections to digital transformation. Jisc began sponsoring DCDC in 2016 and did so for the 2017 and 2018 conferences. It became an organising partner  in 2019.

Dates and formats for the next event in the series will be announced by the partners in due course. For any enquiries regarding DCDC, please contact research@nationalarchives.gov.uk