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Archiver > DEVON > 2005-01 > 1104855636


From: Brian Randell <>
Subject: Progress with on-line archives in the UK
Date: Tue, 4 Jan 2005 16:20:36 +0000


Hi:

From another mailing list:

>This is an exciting time for historical researchers. 2004 has seen
>considerable expansion in on-line archive catalogues, opening up yet
>more little-known sources. A2A [www.a2a.org.uk] now contains 7.3 million
>catalogue entries, in over 86,000 catalogue files, describing archives
>held in 381 record offices, libraries, museums and other repositories
>all over England. With more being added each month, it is a site worth
>revisiting regularly.
>
>More county record offices in England now have their own on-line
>catalogues,
>including: Bedfordshire & Luton, Bristol, Cheshire & Chester, Durham
>County, Essex, Gloucestershire, Greater Manchester, Hampshire, Somerset,
>Surrey, East Riding of Yorkshire and West Yorkshire. It is not clear to
>what extent these catalogues may duplicate what is in A2A, but the Essex
>catalogue and much of the Durham catalogue are not in A2A and it is
>likely that new additions get into the other CRO catalogues first,
>before being added to A2A.
>
>It is pleasing to report great progress in the other countries of the
>British Isles. The Scottish Archives Network (SCAN) site
>[www.scan.org.uk] now includes collection-level descriptions of the
>holdings of 52 Scottish repositories. During the year, the equivalent
>site for Wales, Archives Network Wales [www.archivesnetworkwales.info/]
>was launched, with collection-level descriptions of archive collections
>in 17 Welsh repositories, while two of the Welsh county archives
>services - Ceredigion and Gwynedd -have mounted detailed catalogues on
>their websites. There are also on-line catalogues for the Public Record
>Office of Northern Ireland [www.pronu.gov.uk/index.htm] and the National
>Archives of Ireland [www.nationalarchives.ie/].
>
>The Heritage Lottery Fund is considering an application from The
>National Archives for funding for the 'Linking Arms' project, which will
>provide a single gateway for searching these and all the other archive
>catalogues in the UK. The aim is that this facility will be introduced
>in stages, beginning in late 2006.

Cheers

Brian Randell



--
School of Computing Science, University of Newcastle, Newcastle upon Tyne,
NE1 7RU, UK
EMAIL = PHONE = +44 191 222 7923
FAX = +44 191 222 8232 URL = http://www.cs.ncl.ac.uk/~brian.randell/

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