About DCDC

When and where

DCDC25 will be a fully-hybrid event, held at Durham University and via the hybrid-conferencing platform Pheedloop on 29 – 31 July, 2025.

The in-person programme will take place in the Teaching and Learning Centre at Durham University (Durham, DH1 3LS).

Take a look at the venue floor plans (PDF)

Online and hybrid elements will take place in the event platform Pheedloop. The conference will be accessible via your web browser or a mobile application.

Find out more about Pheedloop
Read about the Pheedloop Go! mobile app

A portrait crop of a map of Durham, capturing Durham station at the top, which is just above the city centre. Towards the bottom of the image are Durham University buildings, including the Teaching and Learning Centre. A dark purple rectangle surrounds the Teaching and Learning Centre, with 'DCDC25' and an arrow pointing to it, indicating that the conference is being held at the Teaching and Learning Centre.

In Durham

Durham University’s unique cultural attractions include Durham Castle, the Oriental Museum, the Botanic Garden, Historic Libraries at Palace Green, Museum of Archaeology and our World Heritage Site Visitor Centre. All are within walking distance of the DCDC conference venue.

University Library and Collections care for more than 100,000 objects and artworks, over 70,000 books published before 1850, and around 5km of archives, medieval manuscripts, maps, prints and photographs. We hold 4 Designated Collections: the Egyptian and Chinese collections at the Oriental Museum, the Sudan Archive and Cosin’s Library.

The Story

The Story offers a gateway to the history of County Durham and its people. Bringing together diverse collections of records (including Durham County Record Office) and objects for the first time, The Story charts thousands of years of everyday life in the county.

Visitors can explore history from a new perspective with free permanent and temporary exhibitions or research their own stories in state-of-the-art research facilities. New stories are created as people get married or register birth or deaths.

View across a green lawn to a large historic brick building, which has a modern glass building to the right of it, which is just under half the width. A large tree is in the foreground on the left. The sky is blue, with long wispy clouds.

DCDC: A history

DCDC is an international, cross-sectoral conference, hosted each year by The National Archives (UK), the British Library and Jisc. Founded in 2013, it brings together delegates from the gallery, library, archive, and museum sectors and the academic community (GLAMA) with the key aim of promoting cross-sector collaboration and knowledge sharing between communities. The physical and virtual meetings attract over 500 delegates from across the UK and around the world. By keeping the conference fees at a modest level and providing a range of bursaries, we have seen representation of colleagues from a wide variety of career stages and backgrounds.

Our commitment

Foundational to DCDC is the belief that our sectors thrive on innovation and creativity, and this is achieved through collaborating with each other. As such, the DCDC partners are committed to programming a conference that seeks to meet the diverse needs and priorities that are emerging across the Galleries, Libraries, Archives, Museums and Academic (GLAMA) sector.

We are also committed to ensuring that the DCDC conference series provides an accessible, inclusive, engaging, and productive experience for all its delegates – a conference that fosters connection and community, supporting development for the sector and our delegates alike.

Contact us

If you have any questions regarding the Discovering Collections, Discovering Communities conference, you can contact organisers via the following email address: DCDC@nationalarchives.gov.uk.

For those looking to sponsor the upcoming DCDC25 event, please contact DCDC@nationalarchives.gov.uk.

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British Library

Jisc

The National Archives