John Rylands Library Rylands Research Institute was relaunched in 2014 as a collaboration between the University of Manchester's Faculty of Humanities and the John Rylands Library. The mission of the Institute is to open up the Library's Special Collections to innovative and multidisciplinary research, in partnership with researchers in Manchester and across the globe. In September 2016, Hannah Barker, Professor of British History, took up the role as Director of the John Rylands Research Institute She succeeded Prof. Peter Pormann who had been appointed Director of the John Rylands Research Institute in 2013. Mrs Rylands established a board of trustees to hold the
John Rylands Library the intellectual and artistic history of mankind. The western window contains "Theology" from Moses to Schleiermacher; the eastern "Literature and Art" (including philosophy). The portrait statues of John and Enriqueta Rylands in white marble, in the reading room, were sculpted by John Cassidy who also executed the allegorical group of 'Theology, Science and Art' in the vestibule. Aside from the main library and reading room with gallery above, the design incorporated Bible and map rooms on the first floor, and conference (lecture) and committee rooms on the ground floor, part of which was intended to be a lending library but