The Making Britain Database launched in September 2010. It houses an annotated bibliography of selected materials relating to South Asian artists, writers, activists and organizations in Britain during the period 1870 to 1950. Britain has had a migrant South Asian population for over 350 years, since its early trading encounters with India. But the perception that a homogeneous British culture only began to diversify after the Second World War persists, and research into the South Asian diaspora in Britain has focused predominantly on this later, post-independence period. [read more]

Moving Manchester (formerly 'Mediating Marginalities') has spent the past four years (2006-2010) investigating the ways in which the experience of migration has impacted upon contemporary writing in the city and, by extension, the ways in which these multicultural publications and performances have impacted upon the urban population's view of itself as well as the wider perception of Manchester as a British city. [read more]

The research is intended to develop and deepen our understanding of the significance of particular items in the libraries' holdings and the histories of the various individual collections that make up those holdings. This work will provide the basis for a major exhibition to be held at the National Library. [read more]