> ## Content Index
> Fetch the complete content index at: https://www.lorcandempsey.net/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover other available public pages before exploring further.

# Never mind the quality, feel the width
- URL: https://www.lorcandempsey.net/never-mind-the-quality-feel-the-width/
- Published: 2005-08-22T00:59:27.000Z
- Updated: 2020-10-28T21:04:11.000Z
- Author: Lorcan Dempsey
- Tags: Institutions

[![flight.jpg](https://www.lorcandempsey.net/content/images/wordpress/lorcan/flight.jpg)](https://www.library.manchester.ac.uk/?ref=lorcandempsey.net)What should an excellent research library look like in 2015? Indeed, what would it mean to be a ‘top 20’ research library. The answer is not straightforward, but it is something that one library has been asked to think about.  
[The University of Manchester](https://www.manchester.ac.uk/?ref=lorcandempsey.net) is a new creation, built from the predecessor institutions Victoria University of Manchester and UMIST. I recently heard Bill Simpson, Director of the John Rylands University Library, speak about how they went about bringing together the libraries of these institutions \[[ppt](https://liber.ub.rug.nl/presentations/Simpson.ppt?ref=lorcandempsey.net)\].  
The University [climbed](https://education.guardian.co.uk/higher/worldwide/story/0,9959,1551437,00.html?ref=lorcandempsey.net) from 78 to 53 on the Shanghai Jiao Tong 2005 [ranking](https://ed.sjtu.edu.cn/ranking.htm?ref=lorcandempsey.net) of universities following this change. Manchester has declared a strategic goal of being a top 20 university by 2015.  
This poses an interesting question for the library. What does it mean to be an excellent research library in 2015? This is a specific question, couched in terms set by the University. However, it nicely poses a critical question for all research libraries as their services, and the requirements placed on them by users, change. As it becomes increasingly unrealistic to measure the quality of a library by the size of its stock, so does it become more interesting to ask what metrics *are* useful. And once one asks that, then one is asking what *is* a research library.  
Image via [library website](https://rylibweb.man.ac.uk/spcoll/appeal.html?ref=lorcandempsey.net).