{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2025,8,2]],"date-time":"2025-08-02T17:57:08Z","timestamp":1754157428932,"version":"3.41.2"},"reference-count":16,"publisher":"Emerald","issue":"4","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2005,12,1]],"date-time":"2005-12-01T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1133395200000},"content-version":"tdm","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/www.emerald.com\/insight\/site-policies"}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":[],"published-print":{"date-parts":[[2005,12,1]]},"abstract":"Purpose<\/jats:title>To review a small specialist repository's strategic and opportunistic approach to utilising collaborative regional and national digital initiatives to increase access. The Birmingham Institute of Art and Design (BIAD) Archives activity is evaluated to determine whether a project\u2010based approach recognises and meets the needs of historians, or in manufacturing a digital semblance, does it in fact mislead historians.<\/jats:p><\/jats:sec>Design\/methodology\/approach<\/jats:title>The context in UK higher education and the archives domain of an emphasis on the digitisation of resources evident in national policies is outlined. Recent studies into the requirements and expectations of academics and historians as users of archives and digital resources are considered. BIAD Archives' creation of a repository web site and participation in national collection level description schemes are examined. The experience of two collaborative digitisation projects, a national subject\u2010based virtual collection and a regional collaborative information literacy initiative, are described and reflected upon.<\/jats:p><\/jats:sec>Findings<\/jats:title>An opportunistic project\u2010based approach does not easily accumulate as a cohesive strategy for increasing access. Collaboration is problematic. It is beneficial in raising profiles and can act as a legitimising agent. It entails compromise, applying an external filter to collections and potentially creating a digital semblance. The proliferation of projects raises concerns of sustainability, invisibility within the deep web and that merely signposting may not satisfy user needs. To address this problem archives as a domain require a more sophisticated understanding of all our different users.<\/jats:p><\/jats:sec>Originality\/value<\/jats:title>Critical reflections on collaborative practice beneficial to archivists and resource managers embarking on digitisation initiatives and to those developing collaborative projects.<\/jats:p><\/jats:sec>","DOI":"10.1108\/00330330510627935","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2007,1,15]],"date-time":"2007-01-15T15:35:38Z","timestamp":1168875338000},"page":"312-323","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":2,"title":["Opportunistic collaboration"],"prefix":"10.1108","volume":"39","author":[{"given":"Sian","family":"Everitt","sequence":"first","affiliation":[]}],"member":"140","reference":[{"key":"key2022031020392312300_b1","unstructured":"AHDS Visual Arts (2003a), \u201cFineart.ac.uk: the national fine art education digital collection\u201d, available at: www.fineart.ac.uk (accessed 17 May 2005)."},{"key":"key2022031020392312300_b2","unstructured":"AHDS Visual Arts (2003b), \u201cThe national fine art education digital collection feasibility study\u201d, available at: http:\/\/vads.ahds.ac.uk\/fineart\/feasibility.html (accessed 17 May 2005)."},{"key":"key2022031020392312300_b3","unstructured":"Archives Task Force (2004), Listening to the Past, Speaking to the Future \u2013 Report of the Archives Task Force, Museums, Libraries and Archives Council, London, available at: www.mla.gov.uk\/documents\/atf_report.pdf (accessed 17 May 2005)."},{"key":"key2022031020392312300_b4","unstructured":"Arnold\u2010Foster, K. and Weeks, J. (2000), Totems and Trifles: Museums and Collections of Higher Education Institutions in the Midlands, West Midlands Regional Museums Council, Bromsgrove."},{"key":"key2022031020392312300_b5","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Cameron, F. (2001), \u201cWorld of museums, wired collections \u2013 the next generation\u201d, Museum Management and Curatorship, Vol. 19 No. 3, pp. 309\u201015.","DOI":"10.1016\/S0260-4779(01)00052-8"},{"key":"key2022031020392312300_b6","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Duff, W. and Johnson, C. (2002), \u201cAccidentally found on purpose: information\u2010seeking behavior of historians in archives\u201d, Library Quarterly, Vol. 72 No. 4, pp. 472\u2010500.","DOI":"10.1086\/lq.72.4.40039793"},{"key":"key2022031020392312300_b16","unstructured":"Gaskin, A.J. (1927), \u201cWhen a Poor Man Came in Sight, Gathering Winter Fuel\u201d, illustration to Good King Wenceslas, woodcut on paper tissue, BIAD School of Art Archive."},{"key":"key2022031020392312300_b7","unstructured":"Geser, G. (2004), \u201cResource discovery \u2013 position paper: putting the user first\u201d, in Geser, G. and Pereira, J. (Eds), DigiCULT Thematic Issue 6 \u2013 Resource Discovery Technologies for the Heritage Sector, DigiCULT, Salzburg, pp. 7\u201012, available at: www.digicult.info\/downloads\/html\/1089281141\/1089281141.html (accessed 17 May 2005)."},{"key":"key2022031020392312300_b9","unstructured":"Hart, L. (2003), WMHEA\u2010LG Chrysalis Project Proposal, available at: www.chrysalisinfo.org.uk\/project_docs.htm (accessed 17 May 2005)."},{"key":"key2022031020392312300_b11","unstructured":"Mulhearn, D. (2003), \u201cUniversity challenge\u201d, Museums Journal, Vol. 104 No. 5, pp. 32\u20105."},{"key":"key2022031020392312300_b12","unstructured":"Pereira, J. (2004), \u201cIntroduction and overview\u201d, in Geser, G. and Pereira, J. (Eds), DigiCULT Thematic Issue 6 \u2013 Resource Discovery Technologies for the Heritage Sector, DigiCULT, Salzburg, pp. 5\u20106, available at: www.digicult.info\/downloads\/html\/1089281141\/1089281141.html (accessed 17 May 2005)."},{"key":"key2022031020392312300_b13","unstructured":"UCE (The University of Central England in Birmingham) (1999), The Educational Character and Mission of the University, available at: www.fia.uce.ac.uk\/fiagov.htm (accessed 17 May 2005)."},{"key":"key2022031020392312300_b14","unstructured":"University Museums Group UK (UMG) (2004), University Museums in the United Kingdom: A National Resource for the 21st Century, UMG, Norwich."},{"key":"key2022031020392312300_b15","unstructured":"Zorich, D.M. (1997), \u201cBeyond bitslag: integrating museum resources and the internet\u201d, in Jones\u2010Gormil, K. (Ed.), The Wired Museum, American Association of Museums, Washington, DC, pp. 171\u2010202."},{"key":"key2022031020392312300_frd1","unstructured":"Geser, G. and Pereira, J. (Eds) (2004), DigiCULT Thematic Issue 6 \u2013 Resource Discovery Technologies for the Heritage Sector, DigiCULT, Salzburg, available at: www.digicult.info\/downloads\/html\/1089281141\/1089281141.html (accessed 17 May 2005)."},{"key":"key2022031020392312300_frd2","unstructured":"Jones\u2010Gormil, K. (Ed.) (1997), The Wired Museum, American Association of Museums, Washington, DC."}],"container-title":["Program"],"original-title":[],"language":"en","link":[{"URL":"https:\/\/www.emerald.com\/insight\/content\/doi\/10.1108\/00330330510627935\/full\/xml","content-type":"application\/xml","content-version":"vor","intended-application":"text-mining"},{"URL":"https:\/\/www.emerald.com\/insight\/content\/doi\/10.1108\/00330330510627935\/full\/html","content-type":"unspecified","content-version":"vor","intended-application":"similarity-checking"}],"deposited":{"date-parts":[[2025,7,24]],"date-time":"2025-07-24T23:55:13Z","timestamp":1753401313000},"score":1,"resource":{"primary":{"URL":"http:\/\/www.emerald.com\/dta\/article\/39\/4\/312-323\/333185"}},"subtitle":["Unlocking the archives of the Birmingham Institute of Art and Design"],"editor":[{"given":"Ian","family":"Anderson","sequence":"first","affiliation":[]}],"short-title":[],"issued":{"date-parts":[[2005,12,1]]},"references-count":16,"journal-issue":{"issue":"4","published-print":{"date-parts":[[2005,12,1]]}},"alternative-id":["10.1108\/00330330510627935"],"URL":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1108\/00330330510627935","relation":{},"ISSN":["0033-0337"],"issn-type":[{"type":"print","value":"0033-0337"}],"subject":[],"published":{"date-parts":[[2005,12,1]]}}}