Using the Archives Hub

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Using the Archives Hub

• Amanda Hill
• University of Manchester

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How it began

• Pilot project, 1999-2000
• Describing archives in 15 universities
• 3,000 collections were described

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Where we are now

• Over 60 institutions involved
• More than 13,700 archives described and indexed
• Constantly evolving in response to user needs

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A note from our sponsors

• Funded by the Joint Information Systems Committee
  (JISC)
• Overseen by the Consortium of University Research
  Libraries (CURL)
• Development work undertaken at University of
  Liverpool
• Service hosted and maintained by MIMAS at the
  University of Manchester

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Whats on the Archives Hub?

• Archives you might expect
• Records of universities themselves
• Research papers of university staff
• Records of university clubs and organisations
• Papers of former students

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And ones you might not

• Family and estate collections
• Business archives (local and national)
• Trade union archives (local and national)

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What do the descriptions contain?

• A link to the institutions contact details (from
  the reference number)
• Information about
• the size of the archive
• the creator(s) of the archive
• the contents
• any access conditions/restrictions
• Index terms with links to other similar archives

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Guided tour
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Search options summary

• Quicksearch available from most pages within
  the site
• Advanced search allows more specific searches,
  e.g. on titles of collections, particular index
  terms
• Browse searches subject finder and index
  browsing

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Facts Figures

• Around 500 searches logged each day on the
  service (and rising)
• 25 of users are from the UK academic sector
• 10 of searches originate overseas

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Search log, June 2003

• Victorian underworld
• midwifery manuals
• composite aircraft design
• ultrasonic wool
• carl marks
• major car crashes aurora colorado
• topsy and tim

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Contact details

• Email
• amanda.hill_at_man.ac.uk
• archiveshub_at_mimas.ac.uk
• Tel
• [phone]
• Web
• www.archiveshub.ac.uk