Partnerships

Central academic library database

All UK academic library data can now be found in one place thanks to our new cloud-based service Knowledge Base+ (KB+).  Our service has verified lists for 30 publishers covering 12,000 titles, including core journals subscribed to by the academic community.

Our ongoing work with SCONUL revealed that existing university library systems were both ineffective and inefficient, so it’s not surprising that over 50 institutions have already signed up to use and evaluate KB+, which has the potential to save an estimated £4.5 million in staff effort alone.

Access to research information made simple

Data from the seven UK Research Councils is being made available in one location via Gateway to Research, our joint project with Research Councils UK (RCUK).

The service will provide valuable access to research information for everyone, with the potential to maximise the impact of publicly-funded research.

Access to BBC archives for your institution

BBC Northern Ireland television news from 1960s and 1970s is now available to the UK academic community via Chronicle, a website launched in 2012 together with the BBC and British Universities Film and Video Council (BUFVC).

In the same spirit of collaboration, we are now working together to create a unique digital collection of BBC cultural broadcast assets, which we aim to make available online in Autumn 2013 through the Research Education Space.

Working in partnership, working for you

We’re trialling a co-design approach to focus our work and put the needs of you, the academic community, at the heart of our being.  Working together with RLUK, RUGIT, SCONUL and UCISA has enabled us to identify a selection of strategic transformations that could benefit the HE sector.

One such project already creating a buzz (the launch was retweeted 150 times in just one day) is the Summer of Student Innovation where students have the chance to create new technology solutions to improve their student experience.

Working with you to improve digital literacy

We’re working with UK colleges and universities to embed core digital skills into the curriculum.

Our work is helping to promote the use of digital tools in areas such as academic research, personal development planning and showcasing achievements. Our aim is to encourage institutions to form strategies for developing digital literacies for all staff and students in UK further and higher education.