I’m delighted to see that my thesis has been downloaded 224 times since it was uploaded to the Leicester Research Archive last year. To be fair, a large proportion of those downloads will have been made by me (I use it as my go-to copy) but I am stunned and really quite flattered that so many people have considered it worth a look. Contrast that with the old adage about the PhD thesis: that only you, your supervisors and examiners will ever read it. No longer true.

Internet publishing means you can easily disseminate your research to a potentially global audience; something that was unachievable (and unimaginable) before the advent of the Internet. I cannot begin to imagine being a researcher in a pre-WWW era. How would I have faired without Google Books and JSTOR, and online collection databases? Miserably, I expect. Ignore the detractors; technology doesn’t dumb-us-down. It opens up myriad new opportunities and possibilities.

Anyway, all the above is a long-winded way to getting to the main point of this post: that the Leicester Research Archive provides free and unrestricted access to publications written by University of Leicester staff and research students, including 187 book chapters, presentations, papers, reports and theses from the School of Museum Studies.  It’s an invaluable resource for any Museology students out there. Enjoy!