The John Rylands Research Institute

NATURE: (Peter E. Pormann).

Productive interaction between the arts and sciences is at the heart of the John Rylands Research Institute at the University of Manchester, UK. Founded in April 2013, the institute (which I direct with associate director and head of special collections Rachel Beckett) now has a staff of more than two dozen. It brings together scientists, conservators, curators, digital-imaging specialists and humanities scholars to unravel, reveal and realize the research potential of the University of Manchester Library's special collections. These run from clay tablets to e-mail archives. Highlights include Greek, Coptic and Arabic papyri, medieval Hebrew and Persian manuscripts and early-modern printed books — such as one of the world's finest collections of volumes printed by Renaissance humanist Aldus Manutius. The institute was established in response to the rise of digital humanities, a field that enables the study of books and manuscripts in ways that were unimaginable a generation ago.

An interesting report on the work of the John Rylands Research Institute, on which more here, here, and here. But you need a personal or institutional subscription to Nature to read the whole article.