As part of the Digital Curation Institute’s Lecture Series 2014, on March 24 guest speaker Caroline Kimbell gave the third DCI lecture 2014.
Abstract (preliminary): The UK National Archives has taken a 25% cut in public funding since 2009. Although some jobs were lost and opening hours reduced from 6 to 5 days per week in 2010, the Archives has not only protected against any further cut-backs, but has grown revenue to the point where 25% of our funding is now generated commercially.
In this talk, Caroline Kimbell, Head of Licensing for the Archives, will explain how the business works, how to adapt (organisationally, culturally and financially) to working with commercial partners in a public-service setting, and the benefits of encouraging new businesses, innovation and competition around unique historic content. She will further discuss the online strategy of the National Archives, crowd-sourcing, and the balance between commercial and non-commercial licensing.
Biography: After degrees at London University and the Shakespeare Institute of Birmingham University, Caroline completed a year’s doctoral research in 17th century theatre history before being appointed Senior Commissioning Editor for an academic publisher producing primary source historical collections. After a spell in the record industry, Caroline became head of commissioning outside the USA for Thomson Gale. There she spearheaded the move from microfilm to digital publishing, and worked on themed collections from the Imperial War Museum, the Wiener Library and many others. She negotiated publishing contracts in 12 countries including China, Russia and South Africa, and has spoken on historical research through digital media at many international conferences.
In 2006, Caroline moved to The National Archives, becoming Head of Licensing in 2008. Here she is responsible for much of the mass digitisation, runs the Licensed Internet Associateships programme and has advised over 50 different organisations on digitisation and commercial partnerships.
The lecture took place at 16:30-17:30 in room 728 (7th floor) at the iSchool, Bissell Building, 140 St. George Street.
Impressions
How did The National Archives of the UK grow revenue to the point where 25% of funding is now generated commercially?
Caroline Kimbell provides a perspective on commercial licensing at her DCI lecture in March 2014.