commercial companies, businesses, charities and religious institutions. The University of Manches- Exploiting special ter was founded as Owens College in 1851. The printed book collection of Richard Copley Christie collections: using (with its strength in Italian Renaissance books) together with that of Edward Freeman (rich in digital methods material on European medieval history) formed the main foundation for the college library in the to enhance 1890s. Strengths in special holdings relating to medicine and science reflect the research orienta- their research tion of the university over the twentieth century. Similarly, the special collections of the former and learning UMIST library focus on the history of science and potential technology. RESO ur CE DISCOVE R Y Stella Butler One of our core functions is to provide access to Deputy University Librarian, these resources for as many researchers as we pos- John Rylands University Library, The sibly can. First of all, and most basically, we need University of Manchester to tell our potential readers what we have that is Tel: 0161 275 3751 available to them. Increasingly our readers regard E-mail:
[email protected] the internet rather than the physical library as the source of all collection descriptions. If a record In this article I review how the expanding digital describing a book, manuscript or archive is not environment is impacting on special collections easily found, preferably through a Google search, within academic libraries by exploring some then for many readers that resource simply does examples of digital projects within the John not exist. Rylands University Library of the University of Manchester (JRUL) and also elsewhere.