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 library on a larger scale. Champneys presented plans to Mrs Rylands within a week of gaining the commission. Thereafter frequent disagreements arose and Mrs Rylands selected decorative elements, window glass and statues against his wishes. Champneys was given the honour of speaking about the library at a general meeting of the Royal Institute of British Architects and was awarded a Royal Gold Medal in 1912. The library was granted listed building status on 25 January 1952, which was upgraded to Grade I on 6 June 1994. The core of the library's collection was formed around 40,000 books, including many rarities,