During the 2019/2020 Autumn & Spring terms, we held an 
Institute of Coding funded trial at Birkbeck, University of 
London, of a new one-year part-time Master’s level 
Postgraduate Certificate framework in computing aimed at 
information professionals working in the cultural heritage 
sector.  
 
From deploying simple scripts for everyday tasks, to 
developing tools for analysing collections data, the British 
Library and The National Archives are exploring different 
ways to meet demand for such skills, arising particularly 
from colleagues in curatorial and collections based roles. 
 
This trial explored a model whereby cultural heritage 
professionals could gain crucial computational skills, 
immediately relevant to their roles, while earning a formal 
qualification in computer science, with the express support 
of their institution.  

Nora McGregor, Digital Curator, British Library, digitalresearch@bl.uk  
 www.bl.uk/projects/computingculturalheritage  

Outcomes 
 Final student projects and coursework have been 

submitted, with results expected end of June 2020.  
 A full evaluation of the trial is currently in progress, and 

will be published alongside the framework in a project 
report due early 2021.  

 Birkbeck University  of London has moved ahead with 
the launch of Applied Data Science Postgraduate 
Certificate this Autumn 2020/2021, leveraging the 
same framework developed in the trial while 
expanding it to include information professionals from 
a range of domains.  

Computing for Cultural 
Heritage 

Work-based project module 
Students completed this module over 10 weeks working 
independently at their institution. Each student 
developed their project proposal with the input and 
approval of their manager, the aim being for projects to 
directly benefit the individual’s current role and/or needs 
of the home institution. This also allowed for time to be 
negotiated on an individual basis for projects to be 
completed during work hours. 
 
Details of projects undertaken will be included, with 
student permission, in the final report, as well as on the 
project website. The following two examples give a good 
sense of the type of projects undertaken with the 
opportunity: 
 
 Automated text extraction from colonial-era maps 

of eastern Africa 
 Distant reading descriptions and grouping topics 

from General Board of Health and Home Office, 
Local Government Act Office: Correspondence 

Acknowledgments 
Many thanks to the entire cohort for participating in the trial, and to Jo Pugh, of The National Archives for supporting. 
Generous funding provided by the Institute of Coding and special thanks to the project team at Birkbeck University 
including Stelios Sotiriadis, Mark Levene, Martin Harris, and Peter Wood. 

Demystifying Computing with Python 
Two 3hr lecture/lab sessions were held one day a week 
9:00-16:00, over the course of five weeks at Birkbeck 
University. Managers were asked to consider attendance 
of their staff at these lectures to be part of a normal 
working day, rather than taken as special leave or 
holiday. 
  
In this module, the lecturer aimed to incorporate datasets 
and contextual references from the cultural heritage 
sector where possible into the general python computing 
lessons and lectures. 

The trial 
A cohort of 20 staff from British Library (12) and The 
National Archives in the UK (8), were selected through a 
formal application process at each institution (a total of 26 
and 10 applications received respectively). Students 
undertook two newly designed modules at Birkbeck 
University: 
 
 Demystifying Computing with Python 
 Work-based project: Digital project design and 

development  
 
A final module, Analytic Tools for Information Professionals, 
is currently under development and will be launched as part 
of the full Applied Data Science Postgraduate Certificate. 

http://www.dcs.bbk.ac.uk/study/postgraduate/pgcert-in-applied-data-science/
http://www.dcs.bbk.ac.uk/study/postgraduate/pgcert-in-applied-data-science/
http://www.dcs.bbk.ac.uk/study/modules/work-based-project-for-information-professionals/
http://www.bl.uk/projects/computingculturalheritage
https://blogs.bl.uk/magnificentmaps/2020/05/automated-text-extraction-from-colonial-era-maps-of-eastern-africa.html
https://blogs.bl.uk/magnificentmaps/2020/05/automated-text-extraction-from-colonial-era-maps-of-eastern-africa.html
https://twitter.com/Dentiloquy/status/1255540076815110146?s=20
https://twitter.com/Dentiloquy/status/1255540076815110146?s=20
https://twitter.com/Dentiloquy/status/1255540076815110146?s=20
http://www.dcs.bbk.ac.uk/study/modules/demystifying-computing-with-python/
http://www.dcs.bbk.ac.uk/study/modules/analytic-tools-for-information-professionals/
http://www.dcs.bbk.ac.uk/study/postgraduate/pgcert-in-applied-data-science/