Purpose – Collection development in a post-subject librarian age needs to be done differently; utilising data, metadata, analytical tools and automation more fully may offer new possibilities. The purpose of this paper is to report and evaluate an exploratory project into new techniques for collection development at the University of Manchester Library. Design/methodology/approach – The project employed a cross-team approach where a relatively large number of staff tried some innovative and experimental approaches to individual aspects of a large and complex task in a large, research-intensive university library. The overriding aim was to exploit data to support decision making and to push automation as far as possible. Findings – The quality of (meta)data remains a huge hindrance to data-driven approaches. A proper understanding of usage data is an urgent but intractable issue. Human input and relationships are still important. Data are nothing without analysis, and many librarians currently lack the data fluency to work confidently in a world of dynamic content curation. Practical implications – Librarians need both to re-skill and to change their self-identification and the philosophy that underlies it if they are to achieve confident, data fluency. Originality/value – The University of Manchester Library was one of the first libraries in the UK to make a thoroughgoing structural change from subject-based to functional teams. This paper will be of value to other libraries moving in this direction, and to those looking to make more use of data-driven decision making in collections management.

The purpose of this study is to explore how an interdisciplinary approach can benefit Quaker Studies. The paper applies conceptual Metaphor Theory to help explicate aspects of theology in 17th century Quaker writings. It uses a combination of close reading supported by a corpus of related texts to analyse the writing of 4 key figures from the first decade of the movement. Metaphor analysis finds that orientational schemas of UP-DOWN and IN-OUT are essential structural elements in the theological thought of all 4 writers, along with more complex metaphors of BUILDINGS. Quaker writers make novel extensions to and recombinations of Biblical metaphors around Light and Stones, as well as using aspects of the theory of Elements. Such analysis can help explicate nuances of theological meaning-making. The evaluation of DOWN IS GOOD and UP IS BAD—except in specific circumstances—is distinctively Quaker, and embodied metaphors of divine immanence in humans indicate a ‘flipped’ soteriology which is distanced from the Christ event.