Welcome to the British Library Allan Sudlow Head of Research Development
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Welcome to the British Library
Allan Sudlow
Head of Research Development
www.bl.uk 2
Housekeeping
@CDPConnect BL-GUEST-CONF
BLgue5T23
www.bl.uk 3
Two Sites,
One British Library.
“We make our intellectual
heritage accessible to
everyone, for research,
inspiration and enjoyment.”
www.bl.uk 5
Research Supports Our Purposes…
www.bl.uk 6
Doctoral students at the BL
• Doctoral Open Days
• Collaborative Doctoral Partnerships
• National and International Collaborations
• EThOS
• PhD Student Placements
• Conferences, Training and Events
Use us as a research
resource every day!
This extends far
beyond our Reading
Rooms….
Asian & African Studies
Business & Intellectual Property
Humanities
Maps & Manuscripts
Newsroom
Rare Books & Music
Science
Social Sciences
Sound & Vision
www.bl.uk 9
www.bl.uk/help/how-to-get-a-reader-pass
www.bl.uk 10
www.youtube.com/user/britishlibrary
www.bl.uk 11
Exploring the Collections
http://youtu.be/MtFuIs_MlRw
Case Study in Social History & Gender Studies
www.bl.uk 12
www.bl.uk 13
Don’t Forget Our Specialist Catalogues…
www.bl.uk 14
sounds.bl.uk
www.bl.uk 15
www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk
www.bl.uk 16
videoserver.bl.uk
www.bl.uk 17
www.webarchive.org.uk
Securing permanent online access to key
UK websites for future generations
https://www.webarchive.org.uk/shine
www.bl.uk 18
Online Access to Specific Content…
www.bl.uk/spare-rib www.bl.uk/manuscripts
Welcome to the British Library
Global Voices in the Archive
PhD Research Symposium 21 March 2016
www.bl.uk 21
Further Information on Using Us
Help for Researchers:
www.bl.uk/reshelp
Chat service:
via explore.bl.uk
Reader Workshops:
www.bl.uk/reader-workshops
@BL_Ref_Services
Emma Jay
18 March 2016
Introduction to The National
Archives
The National Archives … who are we?
Official archive of UK
government
• Records from central
government departments and
courts of law, 974-present day
• We are a government
department reporting to the
Department for Culture, Media
and Sport (DCMS)
• We are the government’s
official publisher – see
http://www.legislation.gov.uk/
The National Archives … who are we? (contd.)
Sector leadership role
• Inherited leadership of
archives in England from
Museum, Libraries and
Archives Council (2011)
• Working with many archive
services, e.g. local authorities,
businesses, museums
• You can find details of 2,000
archives in the UK in
Discovery, our catalogue
http://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/
Archives Inspire, our business plan 2015-2019
Audience-based approach
• Public
• Archives sector
• Government
• Research and academic
• Digital
Research audience
• Students, ECRs, academics,
independent researchers
• Research organisations,
stakeholders and funders
• Interdisciplinary (not just
historians)
Size and scale
• Discovery, our catalogue, contains 32 million record descriptions (22
million at The National Archives, 10 million in other archives)
http://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/
• In 2014-15:
o 640,000 physical records delivered to users in our reading rooms at
Kew
o 200 million records provided to online users (through our online
services and those of our licensed associates)
o UK Government Web Archive accessed by 1 million users per month
http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/webarchive/
It isn’t all parchment and paper
• We’re piloting the ingest of
born-digital material through
our Digital Transfer Project
• We’ve recently completed two
Big Data research projects
funded by the AHRC
• Two of our current CDP
studentships are data-focused
• We’re a partner in a new
project to investigate how
humanities researchers are
engaging with born-digital
material (Ied by the Institute of
Historical Research and
funded by the AHRC)
Image by Chris Shipton
What is an archive anyway?
An archive is a collection of
materials created by a person or
organisation in the course of their
business or their life. They are
preserved because of the
evidence and information they
contain.
• Organised by creator (not by
subject)
• Many formats
• Objects can be archived
• Growth of self-archiving –
shifting boundaries
E 163/24/31 no 9
Navigating the archive sector
Many types of archives
• Geographical remit –
Warwickshire Record Office
• Thematic focus – Bristol
Theatre Archive
• Format specialism – Media
Archive for Central England
• Institutional specialism – M&S,
cathedrals, museums
• Personal – artists, politicians
• Public, private, community
Look for websites and catalogues
… and speak to the archivist!
E 163/24/31 no 9
Stay in touch
Dr Emma Jay
Research, Grants and Academic Liaison Adviser
@EmmaJay59389817
http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/
Sign up for our research enewsletter
http://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/find-an-archive
http://www.blog.nationalarchives.gov.uk/blog/
Researching Archives
March 2016
Penny Brook Head of India Office Records
Trade, politics, empire, independence 1600-1947
East India Company
1600-1858
Board of Control
1784-1858
India Office
1858-1947
Burma Office
1937-1948
Public records
9 miles of archives
Official publications
Maps
Private Papers
Over 5,000 collections
Court Minutes IOR/B/26 India League campaign
poster
IOR/L/I/1/890
India Office Private
Papers Over 5,000 collections
Mainly 1750-1947, some earlier
War, politics, government
Discovery: history, geography,
culture, antiquities
Private lives
Different people
Different perspectives
Mss Eur A233
What’s in a name?
South Asia
Africa
South East Asia
East Asia
Middle East
Central Asia
Caribbean
Fiji
•
Russia!
1004 results from
searching on ‘Russia’ in
the IOR&PP catalogues
File 1229/1920 Pt 2
Russia: Bolsheviks and
India: Special Bureau of
Information reports
1920-1921
IOR/L/PS/10/887
Understanding archives
Subject guides, themed cataloguing and
digitisation
Staff of the Christian Medical College Hospital,
Vellore c1925-55
Mss Eur F219/14/1
Wallich and Indian Natural History
Botany in British India
India Office Medical Archives
Unexpected discoveries and insights
Preparation is the key to success
• Research the context of your subject – use your imagination
• Research organisations - functions and structure
• Research people – interests, activities, connections
• Online tools such as Google, the Archives Hub
• Websites and publications
Successful research
• Ask archivists for advice about catalogues, guides, online resources
• Give them time to think!
• Research the collection and its context to understand the archive
• Remember the variable content of catalogues – an online search will not
reveal everything
• Browse – for inspiration and serendipity
• Be focussed
• Record references properly - avoid the challenge of finding something
twice!
• Allow plenty of time – blind alleys and palaeographical challenges
• Return the archives in exactly the same condition as when you received
them – ask if you are worried about their condition or order
• Enjoy the archives
• Tell people about archives and how important they are
Questions?
www.bl.uk
Explore Archives and Manuscripts - catalogue
Twitter @untoldlives
http://britishlibrary.typepad.co.uk/untoldlives/
Explore Archives and
Manuscripts
Penny Brook March 2016
Advanced Search
Always click on Details
Use box on right to explore context and contents
Results from clicking on See Contents
Is part of … will give context.
You may need to go up several levels in the hierarchy.
Results from clicking Is part of ….
Results of a Name search on Cornelia Sorabji
Result from clicking on Person Biographies
Links to collections on the right
Dr Richard Dunley
18 March 2016
CDP Training Day
Discovery and archive catalogues
Why use an archive?
1. Archival material is at the heart of some arts and humanities
disciplines.
2. BUT it can also offer opportunities for researchers who would not
always think of using them.
3. For example archives contain a huge range of material culture that is
under exploited.
What is Discovery?
• The catalogue of the collections held by The National Archives.
• ALSO an entry point for searching collections held by over 2500 other
archives across the UK.
• This makes it a great place to start your research.
69
Keyword
Reference
Date
Question
• Can you find which archive holds the map drawn in 1918 by Lawrence
of Arabia (T E Lawrence) showing his journey to Aqaba?
• Conduct an Advanced Search
Searching for material in other archives
• It is often worth starting with Discovery, especially if you do not know
precisely where a collection maybe.
• You can also look for collections of personal papers which may be
spread across a large number of archives. You do this by selecting the
"Record Creator“ tab in Discovery
72
• Using the Record Creator function can you find where you would be
able to see Joseph Mallord William Turner’s lecture notes?
• Search
Question
Other catalogues
• If you find material in another collection always look to see if they have
their own catalogue which might be more detailed.
• Always look to see if the archive has a website and contact details, most
archivists are very happy to help if you ask!
Hints and tips
There are 2 main ways to use a catalogue:
1.To conduct a search using keywords
2.To browse through the hierarchies within the archive structure
Both of these have strengths and weaknesses and to get the most out of
an archive you will need to use both of these techniques.
Weaknesses of catalogues
• They are totally reliant on the quality of the cataloguing and few
archives have the resources to catalogue everything as they would like.
• Most descriptions are inherited and tend to be brief, concrete, not
‘historical’ and the product of piecemeal accumulation.
• Many collections are virtually uncatalogued and you will need other
tools to access them.
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