National Library of Wales

We were delighted to work with the National Library of Wales for the first time in 2009. Having already worked closely with the National Library of Scotland for a number of years it was an honour to add another one of the great libraries of the world to our client list.

The National Library of Wales has ambitious plans to develop a project to digitise “as much as possible of the printed material published on Wales and the Welsh people”.  The project is a key element of the Library’s Operational Plan to 2011 and a cornerstone of its plans for increasing access to the Collections through digitisation.

The Library identified the need for robust research to assess the potential audiences for the project and appointed Scotinform to conduct the audience research. Our experience and skills working for clients in the libraries, museums and archives sector helped our proposal and we were delighted to be given the opportunity to work on this major project.

Audience research was essential for this project and we worked closely with the Library to ensure that the results provided the necessary evidence, making several visits to Aberystwyth in the process. Specific research objectives were to:

• survey existing online resources of similar content and identify the factors behind the growth of selected resources
• identify the key audience segments for the Theatre of Memory

• assess the most effective methods for engaging these audiences with the Theatre of Memory

• establish audiences’ expectations of online resources, looking at factors such as the subject matter, format and time period

• examine the target audiences’ current use of online resources