Museum of the Jewellery Quarter tour
Venue: Museum of the Jewellery Quarter, 75-80 Vyse St, Birmingham B18 6HA

The Museum of the Jewellery Quarter is built around a perfectly preserved jewellery workshop offering a unique glimpse of working life in Birmingham’s famous Jewellery Quarter. When the proprietors of the Smith & Pepper jewellery manufacturing firm retired in 1981 they simply ceased trading and locked the door, unaware they would be leaving a time capsule for future generations. Today the factory is a remarkable museum, which tells the story of the Jewellery Quarter and Birmingham’s renowned jewellery and metalworking heritage.

Places:15
Cost: £10 plus VAT and Eventbrite fees. Refunds will not be possible after 1 October.

Speaking of Shakespeare – and the Modern City
Venue: Library of Birmingham 

Tom Epps, Cultural Partnerships Manager, Library of Birmingham

Ewan Fernie, Director of the ‘Everything to Everybody’ Project, University of Birmingham

The University of Birmingham and Birmingham City Council are collaborating on a £1 million plan to revive and reanimate the city’s almost-forgotten Birmingham Shakespeare Memorial Library. It was the first great Shakespeare Library in the world and remains the oldest and largest Shakespeare collection in any public library. From its inception, the collection was part of a radical effort to unlock establishment culture for all citizens. Taking inspiration from this, the ‘Everything to Everybody’ Project seeks to share Birmingham’s Shakespeare heritage with everyone in the changed circumstances and with the new technologies available in twenty-first-century Birmingham. The Speaking of Shakespeare workshop will explore some of the key opportunities and challenges of bringing community voices to online catalogues and other digital documents. Using the ‘Everything to Everybody’ Project and its extensive community engagement programme as a case study, it will invite all participants to share priorities, experience and recommended practice.

Places: 30

Removing the Barriers: Open Access at Birmingham Museums Trust
Venue: Museum Collection Centre, 25 Dollman Street, Nechells, Birmingham, B7 4RQ

Linda Spurdle, Digital Development Manager, Museum Collection Centre

Nadine Lees, Digital Media and Rights Officer, Museum Collection Centre

This workshop will focus on the decision by Birmingham Museums Trust to make images of its out of copyright collections freely available under a Creative Commons CC0 waiver. It will look at the arguments for and against open access, including issues around income generation and the fear of losing authority over art works. We will also look at the response and impact since BMT made this move in 2018. There will be an opportunity to work together to explore institutional barriers to open access and how these might be overcome.

The workshop will be followed by a tour of the Museum Collection Centre, a 1.5 hectare site that holds 80 per cent of Birmingham Museums’ collections. Among the thousands of objects stored here are steam engines, sculptures, an entire collection of Austin, Rover and MG motor cars and even a red phone box.

Places: 30

Integra Lab, Birmingham City University
Venue: Integra Lab, Birmingham City University, Royal Birmingham Conservatoire

Details to follow

Kick off your DCDC19 experience the right way by joining us at the welcome social, being held at Ikon Gallery on the evening of 12 November. We’re proud that DCDC19 brings together collections professionals and supporters from across the different sectors and the social is a perfect opportunity for delegates, both new and returning, to meet the DCDC community over wines and canapes.

We’ll be facilitating a casual networking activity that will help delegates arrange themselves into informal groups for more networking over dinner after the social.

Address:  Ikon Gallery, 1 Oozells Square, Brindleyplace, Birmingham, B1 2HS

Introduction to DCDC19 by Jeff James, Chief Executive and Keeper, The National Archives

Keynote presentation:

Tonya Nelson Director of Arts Technology and Innovation, Arts Council England

P1. Developing digital platforms:: TBC

P2. Digital inclusion :: TBC

Funders Marketplace: Funding innovation in the digital age :: TBC

1:1 surgery sessions, offering delegates a timed opportunity to pitch potential projects and share ideas for enhancing and strengthening collections across the country and beyond. 1:1 sessions need to be pre-booked.

Keynote presentation:

Liz Jolly, Chief Librarian, The British Library

P3. The digital workforce: navigating the skills shift :: TBC

P4. The power of storytelling :: TBC

W1. Digitisation for digital scholarship workshop :: TBC

P5. Value and the digital archive :: TBC

P6. Immersive experiences :: TBC

W2. Digital Scholarship and the modern research library :: TBC

Conference delegates are warmly invited to join us at the conference dinner, to be held at the Library of Birmingham, located in the heart of Birmingham city centre.

The dinner will feature a three-course meal with wine, and is an excellent opportunity for you to connect with fellow delegates and reflect on the day’s discussions.

Welcome to returning and new delegates by David Prosser, Executive Director, RLUK

Keynote TBC

P7. Digital engagement :: TBC

P8. Digital transformation: organisations and practices :: TBC

W3. Transcription in the age of machines: a workshop :: TBC

Details to follow

P9. A sustainable future: is digital the solution? :: TBC

P10. Changing formats, evolving practice :: TBC

P11. Enabling digital scholarship :: TBC

P12. Digital collections: measuring impact :: TBC

P13. Blockchain: the future for collections? :: TBC