Food Research and Digital Scholarship 2020 Archive Survey

This survey closed on the 14th of March 2020. (Extended from the 8th of March 2020, due to industrial action)

Thanks to the 45 archives that took part.

Food has become an increasingly popular subject of study due to its inherently multidisciplinary nature. However, due to this wide appeal, there is not one specific group of users who use one specific set of texts, archives etc. Many cultural institutions (museums, libraries etc.) have large collections relating to food, some of which, are now fully or partially digitised, and are accessible to the global research community. However, we do not know if researchers are currently using digitised collections, let alone which collections or types of materials should be given digitization priority.

In 2019 the AHRC US-UK Food Digital Scholarship Network ran a "Community Survey" that asked what (and how) food scholars are currently using analogue and digital material, and how US and UK libraries and archives can better support food researchers through digitisation and activities.

This is a follow up survey directed at curators and digitisation teams in cultural institutions. It should only take 10-20 minutes of your time. The purpose of this survey is to understand the scope of food related collections, the barriers to digitizing (or continuing to digitize) collections, and your current ambitions.

A copy of all the questions can be found at this website (http://bit.ly/37Mh6ZB) if you wish to collect all the information before hand.

Please note, when we say "cultural institution" in this survey, we are referring to multiple organisations that store and collect information for research use such as museums, libraries, and archives etc.

Project contact details for further information:

Lead Researcher for the University of Sheffield: Christian Reynolds (c.reynolds@sheffield.ac.uk), Mail: C2, Geography and Planning Building, Winter Street, University of Sheffield, S3 7ND, Sheffield, United Kingdom