Connecting Audiences to Collections
In a four-year collaboration with State Library NSW, Lumos helped extend the reach of collections, exhibitions, learning services and community stories beyond the walls of the Library.
SLNSW holds a rich collection of photographs, maps, letters, paintings, audio recordings, books, objects and digital content. Lumos worked with the Library to create more ways into that material, so audiences could discover, explore and engage with its stories before, during and after a visit.
The opportunity was to strengthen the connection between audiences, stories and Library resources. This meant improving collection discovery, extending curated exhibition stories online, linking experiences back to the wider collection and creating spaces where people could learn, contribute and respond creatively.
Extending cultural value through digital experiences
Lumos worked with SLNSW to shape the purpose of each experience: who it was for, what value it needed to carry and how it could connect audiences back to the Library’s collections, exhibitions, learning resources or community stories.
For exhibition and collection work, this meant translating rich physical and curatorial material into online experiences that could extend access without losing the tone, context or intent of the original work. We created ways for people to browse, orient themselves, explore images, listen to audio guidance, move into collection items and learning resources, and respond creatively.
Across the work, we helped SLNSW connect material that often lived in different places, giving audiences more purposeful ways to move between stories, objects, resources and activities.
Discovery, Connection and Contribution
Throughout the project, three patterns emerged: discovery, connection, and contribution.
Opening new ways to find a collection
The SLNSW Collection Experience focused on a single discovery interface for the Library’s collections. Lumos helped shape the experience around how people searched, browsed and made sense of collection material, from researchers with specific needs to people exploring curated content for the first time.
Working with subject matter experts, stakeholders and users, the work prioritised journeys, features and navigation patterns that supported discovery across millions of files, collection hierarchies, digitised artefacts and high-resolution images.
Extending the experience beyond the visit
Lumos translated exhibition and gallery experiences into digital formats that extended access while preserving the tone and purpose of the original work.
This included touchscreen kiosks for the Photographic Galleries, an online experience for Imagine: The Wonder of Picture Books, and a digital exhibition for Sydney Elders that retained the intimacy, visual tone and circular storytelling of the physical installation.
Bringing community voices to the foreground
Across a series of collection experiences, Lumos helped bring diverse community voices and histories to the foreground, creating digital spaces where people could see themselves represented, contribute their own stories and respond creatively to the Library’s collections.
The Australian Greek Archives, for example, created space for oral histories, community stories and collection material, while inviting Greek Australian communities to contribute photos, memories and stories. Atlas Club brought SLNSW’s creative clubs into a single online space, connecting art, writing and reading activities with the Library’s collections.
Extending collection value through connected experiences
A connected body of work across collections, exhibitions, learning services and community archives
Improved pathways into rich collection material
Online exhibition experiences that extended access and lifespan
Collection stories that continued beyond the exhibition
Creative learning beyond the Library walls
Community archives that preserved memories, invited contribution and carried culture forward
Extending the cultural, educational and community value of SLNSW’s collections beyond the walls of the Library.
