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Dr Rose Roberto

From October 2019 until December 2023, Rose had two roles at Bishop Grosseteste University – she was the Teaching Resources Collection Librarian and a part-time lecturer for the School of Humanities, lecturing on history and heritage related courses. Her current research broadly examines the intersection of visual culture and educational publishing, and the hidden histories related to class, gender, and race imbedded in the material culture of the transnational book trade during the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. Prior to undertaking her PhD, Rose was a librarian and archivist at various cultural and scientific institutions in the USA and the UK for over a decade. As BGU’s subject librarian for Initial Teacher Training, TESOL and Children's Literature, she is responsible for the Teaching Resources Collection (TRC), a self-contained collection within BGU Library which houses specialist materials for trainee teachers and those working or intending to work in education, as well as those studying children’s literature.

Rose maintained the Children’s Literature Collection, which has been developed over the past 50 years. It contains a comprehensive and unique representation of work by classic and contemporary writers of children’s books. Rose worked with the RKEU, Literature and Literacies (LiLi) to facilitate the students and staff of BGU's use of the TRC, and their broader knowledge of Children’s Literature. With Dr Amy Webster she co-edited The Four Corners.

Along with Dr Sheine Pert, she was also a founding member of Telling it Like it is Teaching Resource Group (TILIIs) which engages in discussion, debate, and sharing of useful education resources in the BGU Library to address the long-standing corrosive effects of inequality, and the legacies of other Post-Colonial issues on our contemporary society.

Since 2019 up to 2023, Rose had been responsible for designing and lecturing on a number of undergraduate and postgraduate modules including:

BA (Hons) History
HIS 404 — British Libraries, Museums and Archives: A History of Collecting, 1600-2000
HIS 406 – History of Identity: Sexuality, Class, Race and Gender
HIS 506 – People and Places: Researching Local History
HIS 508 – Creative Destruction: The Atlantic World in the 17th and 18th Centuries
HIS 602 – Crime, Justice and Punishment: 1750-1950
HIS 604 – The Sun Never Set & Blood Never Dried: The British Empire in the Long Nineteenth Century
HIS 606 — The Cold War and the Space Age

MA Heritage Education, Archaeology and Heritage
HED 702 — Heritage Learning

Rose’s research broadly examined the intersection of visual culture and educational publishing, and the hidden histories related to class, gender, and race imbedded in the material culture of the transnational book trade during the nineteenth and twentieth centuries.

Rose completed her PhD at the University of Reading in 2019. Her PhD thesis is entitled: `Democratising Knowledge and Visualising Progress: illustrations in Chambers’s Encyclopaedia, 1859-1892’. <https://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.781235>

Roberto, R. ``J.B. Lippincott”; ``Nation, The”; ``New Masses, The” and the ``Saturday Evening Post” IN Encyclopedia of the Harlem Renaissance. Eds. Patton, V. & Dreher, K. New York: Facts on File. Forthcoming 2023.

Roberto, R. and Alexiou, A. Eds. Women in Print: Design and Identities, Volume 1 Oxford: Peter Lang Ltd 2022.

Roberto, R. 'Working Women: Female Contributors to Chambers’s Encyclopaedia' IN Archer-Parré, C., Hinks, J, and Moog, C. Eds. Women in Print: Production, Distribution and Consumption, Volume 2. Oxford: Peter Lang Ltd, 2022

Roberto, R. `‘(Re)Assembling Reference Books and Recycling Images: The Wood Engravings of the W. & R. Chambers Firm ‘ IN Circulation and Control: Artistic Culture and Intellectual Property in the Nineteenth Century. Eds. Slauter, W. and Delamaire S. Cambridge: Open Book Publishers. October 2021.

Roberto, R. “The evolution of image making industries and the mid- to late-Victorian press” IN Edinburgh History of the British and Irish Press, Volume 2: Expansion and Evolution, 1800-1900 Ed. Finkelstein, D. Edinburgh: University of Edinburgh Press, 2020.

Roberto, R. “Illustrating Animals and Visualising Natural History in Chambers’s Encyclopædias” In Comforting Creatures. Cahiers victoriens et édouardiens 88 (automne 2018).

Parsons. E., and Roberto., R. Eds. Art Researchers' Guide to Liverpool and Merseyside. London: Art Libraries Society, UK & Ireland, 2017.

Carey, L., Chapman, K., Godfrey, J., Keelan P., Roberto, R. Eds.Art Researchers' Guide to Cardiff and South Wales. London: Art Libraries Society, UK & Ireland, 2015.

Burgess, J., Margiliano, E. and Roberto, R. Eds. Art Researchers Guide to Manchester and Salford. London: Art Libraries Society, UK & Ireland, 2014.

Fitzpatrick, O., and Roberto, R. Eds. Art Researchers' Guide to Dublin. London: Art Libraries Society, UK & Ireland, 2013.

Eldon K. and Roberto R., Eds. Art Researchers' Guide to Edinburgh. London: Art Libraries Society, UK & Ireland, 2012.

Roberto, R. Roberto, R. “Basic copyright resources for UK archives and special libraries,” in Art Libraries Journal, 37, (2), 2012.

Roberto, R., Ed. Art Researchers' Guide to Leeds. London: Art Libraries Society, UK & Ireland, 2011.

Roberto, R. & Robinson, R. “Incorporating Image Databases into Teaching and Learning” IN Handbook of Art and Design Librarianship. 1st edition. Eds. Glassman, P. & Gluibizzi. A. London: Facet Publishing, 2010.

Roberto, R. “British Slave Trade Legacies: Technology Intersecting Culture,” in Journal of the Society of Archivists, 29, (2), Oct 2008.

Roberto, R. & Abbott, S. “Structuring Interdepartmental Collaboration in E-Learning Design, Delivery, and Support” IN E-Learning and Business Plans: National and International Case Studies. Eds. Norlin, E.M. & Travis. T.A. Plymouth: Scarecrow Press, 2008.

Roberto, R. “A Critical Look at Online Exhibitions and Online Collections: When Creating One Resource is more Effective than the Other,” DESIDOC: The Journal of Library & IT, Vol. 28, (4), Jul 2008.

Fellowship, Higher Education Academy, 2021

BGU Foundation Fund Award, 2021

Willison Trust History of the Book Award, 2020-2021

Research Publication Grant, 2020, Design History Society

Clark Library short-term Fellowship, 2019-2020, University of California, Los Angeles

Research Funding Award, 2015, 2017, 2020, British Association for Victorian Studies

Barry Bloomfield Award, 2019, The Bibliographic Society

Andrew W. Mellon Foundation Short-Term Fellowship, 2017- 2018, Joint award from the Library Company of Philadelphia & Historical Society for Pennsylvania

Research Grant, 2018-2019, The Scottish Society Art History

Project Grant, 2018, British Society for History of Science

Research Exhibition Grant, 2017, Design History Society

AHRC Collaborative Doctoral Studentship, 2014-2017, University of Reading & National Museums Scotland

Research Grants, 2015 - 2017, 2020 Catherine Mackichan Trust

Minor Grants, 2015 and 2016, Bibliographical Society

Research Grant, 2016, Royal Historical Society

Travel Grant, 2015, Royal Historical Society

ProQuest Research Award, 2011, ARLIS UK & Ireland

AMARC Travel Grant, 2008, Association for Manuscripts and Archives in Research

International Travel Grant, 2008, Society of Archivists, UK

Harold T. Pinkett Minority Scholarship, 2001, Society of American Archivists

Black History Month Programme Team, 2021, 2022

History of Printed Image Network (HoPIN), Steering Group

Art Libraries Society, UK/Ireland, Equity Steering Group; Global Majority Scholarship selection committee