The Researcher as Curator in the Digital Age: Personal Collections and User Needs in Art History

Abstract

Collecting information for research and teaching purposes is a practice followed by scholars across a variety of disciplines. In art history, more specifically, the gathering of research material and the building of personal collections has been a habitual activity that follows the seeking and discovery of information. However, there have been few studies so far examining the collecting behaviour of scholars; thus, there is little information available on how researchers collect and use the gathered material afterwards. Therefore, the aim of the present paper is to focus on the needs art historians have when they create, use and curate their personal research collections. Understanding the key role this standard activity plays in research, as well as the criteria upon which scholars' personal collections are built and managed can bring useful results for the facilitation of the research process in terms of customised digital tools and services for scholars. Finally, this paper is based on research for my current PhD Thesis “Personal Research Collections: examining research practices and user needs in art historical research” conducted at the UCL Centre for Digital Humanities, under the supervision of Prof. Claire Warwick & Mr Simon Mahony.