In 2013 a new research institute or ‘Arts Lab’ was set up at the University of Manchester. The John Rylands Research Institute (JRRI), based in the John Rylands Library, is a unique partnership between the University of Manchester (UofM) Library and the Faculty of Humanities at the university. Its aim is to establish an internationally renowned centre for research that attracts, and supports work by local, national, or international scholars on the library's special collections. By bringing together a multi-disciplinary team of library professionals, humanities scholars, students and scientists, new approaches are being developed within the JRRI to increase and improve our understanding of these collections, in all their richness and diversity. This piece will provide insights into the work of the JRRI and through a specific case study it will demonstrate how some of the works of art in the library are beginning to benefit from the research carried out under its umbrella. However, it is first necessary to explain why these collections merit such intensive investigation.

Established in the late 19th century by Enriqueta Rylands in honour of her husband John, Manchester's most successful cotton magnate, the John Rylands Library, opened to the public in January 1900. In 1972, the formerly independent library merged with the then Manchester University Library. Early acquisitions made by the library established it as a foundation of international importance. The collections contain a wide range of material culture including rare books, manuscripts, maps, and artefacts, as well as extensive collections of visual culture. These comprise, paintings, drawings, sculptures, photographs, textiles, ceramics and prints. The library's archives contain unique material relating to significant collectors; critics and historians of art, which document networks of artistic activity; and significant international artists, sculptors, photographers and print makers. Highlights from these collections, which span millennia, include works of art and objects that link visual and literary cultures from the Ancient Egyptian Book of the dead to recent and contemporary artists’ books; a substantial collection of portraits that depict an array of individuals from a range of cultures and historical periods; and a collection of European visual prints, from the 15th century to the present. Mindful that these collections offer huge potential for discovery and learning, the JRRI has begun the process of unlocking their potential to share with the wider world.

The institute carries out research through a varied programme of fellowships and activities, one of which will be examined here. Visiting research fellowships are targeted at scholars based outside the University of Manchester and are designed to ensure the library's collections benefit from the knowledge of researchers who have international reputations in their given fields. Successful applicants ‘buddy up’ with library experts to explore an area of the collections that is compatible with their knowledge and skills. The collections are then researched, documented, interpreted and made discoverable for academic and public audiences. This approach to research contributes to the distinctiveness of Manchester's brand of scholarship. It is useful to provide an example of how this has worked in relation to a specific project that focused on one of the visual collections.

In 2015, Lisa Pon, Associate Professor of Art History at Southern Methodist University at the Meadows School of the Arts in Dallas, Texas, became a visiting research fellow at the Rylands. She is a specialist in 16th-century Italian art and an expert in the work of the artist Marcantonio Raimondi (c.1480-c.1534). Working closely with Dr. Edward Wouk from Art History at the University of Manchester, and the team in the library (curators, conservators, and imaging specialists), Professor Pon made a detailed examination of an album of Raimondi's prints. This album is one of eight volumes of old master prints that form part of the Spencer collection and was compiled in the 18th century for George John, Earl Spencer (1708-46). It has recently been rediscovered in the library as part of an initiative to better understand the collection of visual prints. So for the first time in the album's history it was subjected to scholarly investigation.

The outputs from Professor Pon's research project are various. In collaboration with Dr. Wouk, and the team in the library, a detailed handlist of the album has been produced and published in The bulletin of the John Rylands Library. These detailed catalogue descriptions have augmented the metadata created for the digital surrogate of the album, now available online via the library's digital image catalogue (Luna) as a ‘turning the pages’ digital object. The research from this project has also fed into the work carried out on a major exhibition of Raimondi's work, ‘Marcantonio Raimondi and Raphael’ (September 2016 until April 2017), curated by Dr. Wouk and David Morris, Head of Collections at The Whitworth. It is the first to consider the work of the artist for 35 years, and the only exhibition ever to be devoted to him in the UK. The album was regarded as a stellar item in the exhibition because of the research done at the institute and it has revealed new ways of approaching Raimondi's work, changing scholarly understanding of the role of artists and printers in the 16th century. The album is now used extensively in collections-based seminars for students and in research seminars and conferences. It is also playing an active part in raising consciousness of the Rylands visual print collections not only with audiences but also with peers across professional networks.

As leaders in institutions become aware of the value that unique and distinctive collections like those in the Rylands bring to scholarship, learning and public engagement, when harnessed through collaborations like the JRRI, ventures like it are set to rise in number and become the norm across our sector.