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A meeting in one of our conference rooms

A meeting in one of our conference rooms

Catalogue improvement programme

2006-07 Update: Projects and priorities

This update summarises The National Archives' cataloguing programme: our key projects and priorities. We would like to encourage a wide range of catalogue users to send their suggestions for catalogue enhancements, whether to individual entries or for major projects.

Since the launch of the Catalogue in March 2001, we have focused on a variety of catalogue data improvement projects. Our approach to this work is twofold: proactive and reactive. We welcome suggestions for catalogue improvement projects by email to the Catalogue mailbox or via our contact form. We made 449 individual catalogue amendments that were raised by users in 2005-2006 alone. Improvement work has to be carefully planned as it impacts on the quality of information available to help users across all areas of research. With over 10 million brief record descriptions on the online Catalogue our main concerns are to enrich description and improve usability.

Work is prioritised through The National Archives' Cataloguing Panel. This is a cross departmental panel composed of representatives principally concerned with cataloguing matters. The Panel assesses proposals for major cataloguing projects, assigning priorities where necessary and reviews progress. The overall aim is to improve access to public records.

Proposals are evaluated and then scored according to the following criteria:

  1. Creation of new data for undescribed records
  2. Social Inclusion (to improve access or reach new audiences)
  3. Documented user need
  4. Reduction of the need to use additional finding aids, such as paper cards or reference works
  5. Freedom of Information: to enable The National Archives to respond to Freedom of Information enquiries, Environmental Information Regulations requests and Data Subject requests
  6. The improvement of access to digitised records
  7. Record safety

Projects are also given a higher priority if they involve popular record series, (we analyse patterns of document ordering and catalogue usage) or those series which it is thought would be popular if they were well described and easily accessible.

Searching for data created through the cataloguing programme

Cataloguing projects make available new record descriptions that can be searched or browsed online using the Catalogue. To find the new data, catalogue users are advised to either:

  • Type the record series reference (which appears in the list below) in the 'Department or Series code' box when using the Search the catalogue screen
  • Type the record series reference (which appears in the list below) in the 'Browse from reference' box that appears on the Browse screen.

Major cataloguing projects completed in 2005-2006

  • Retrospective conversion of internal indexes to War Cabinet memoranda, 1939-1941 and minutes 1939-1946; Chief of Staff Committee minutes, 1939-1946; and War Cabinet and Cabinet Joint Planning Committee records, 1939-1947 (CAB 67, CAB 79, CAB 80, CAB 84)
  • Cabinet Office, Defence and Oversea Policy Committees and Sub-committees, minutes and papers, 1964-1974: retrospective conversion of internal indexes (CAB 148).
  • Admiralty correspondence, 1660-1976: restructuring of catalogue and provision of subseries descriptions (ADM 1).
  • Provision of detailed information on Lay and Clerical taxation records (England and Wales), c.1190-c.1690 (E 179)
  • Company of Royal Adventurers of England Trading with Africa and successors: enhanced descriptions for 44 subseries (T 70)
  • Foreign Office: Private Office Papers of Sir Anthony Eden, Earl of Avon, Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, 1935-1946: elimination of obscure abbreviations, enabling searching (FO 954)
  • Reports of the Committee on the Treatment of British Prisoners of War: addition of names of individuals (WO 161/95-100)
  • First World War Soldiers Documents: mis-sorted service records (WO 363)
  • War Office, Directorate of Military Operations and Intelligence and Directorate of Military Intelligence, Prisoners of War files: expansion of 6 subsubseries and 167 descriptions for volumes/files relating to interrogation reports of enemy prisoners of war, 1941-1945 (WO 208)
  • Recommendations for honours and awards for gallant and distinguished service for the North West Europe Theatre of War (WO 373)
  • Ministry of Transport and successors, Railway Divisions: correspondence and papers, 1840-1966: cataloguing of 943 pieces (boxes/files) (MT 6).
  • The provision of fuller information about maps and plans, including Inland Revenue Valuation Office Field Books and OS Tithe Survey Boundary Maps (IR 58, ZOS 6)
  • Admiralty: Ships´ Logs: Provision of ships´ names for 5,000 entries (ADM 53).
  • Court of Chancery: Master Blunt's Documents (C 124).
  • Metropolitan Police:  Addition of date of birth information for 1,300 Alien´s Registration Cards (MEPO 35).
  • The provision of fuller information about maps and plans: Inland Revenue Valuation Office Record Plans (IR 121/1 - IR 135/9).

New cataloguing projects to be commenced in 2006-2007

  • Home Office Correspondence 18th-20th centuries (HO 33, HO 40, HO 41, HO 42, HO 43, HO 52, HO 64 HO 79).
  • Registrar General of Shipping and Seamen Agreements and Crew Lists: Identification of ships´ names within the sample records held by The National Archives (BT 99).
  • Hearth Tax Exemption Certificates for Norfolk and parts of Wales and Middlesex (179/335 - E 179/338).
  • Chancery: Enhancement of descriptions and arrangement of records in C11 and C12.
  • Chancery: Creation of individual entries for records currently unsorted; Master Tinney's Documents in C 124.
  • Slavery Indexing Project: identification of appropriate terminology relating to slavery and abolition for inclusion in the Subjects, places and prominent people search facility.  These new search terms will help users to identify records that are particularly relevant to the subject.
  • Improvement of descriptions for photographic collections in CN 2 and CN 3.

On going, long term cataloguing projects

Unless otherwise stated, these projects involve the provision of searchable descriptions through the creation of new data or the improvement of existing descriptions. The list below states the areas of the catalogue being enhanced:

  • Admiralty Continuous Service Engagement Books, 1853-1872 (ADM 139/1 - ADM 139/20).
  • Admiralty: Provision of descriptions at item level for Officers´ Service Records, 1756-1954 (ADM 196).
  • Your Caribbean Heritage': Colonial Office correspondence relating to the West Indies. (CO record series).
  • Colonial Office general correspondence: provision of descriptions for 335 volumes (CO 323).
  • Travel to the UK: Board of Trade, Commercial and Statistical Department, inwards passenger lists (BT 26).
  • Board of Trade, Registrar General of Shipping and Seamen, Seamen's Pouches, 1913-1972 (BT 372) and Merchant Seamen, Special Operations Records, 1944-1945 (BT 391).
  • Court of Chancery, Six Clerks Office, c.1272-1790 (C 4).
  • Pleadings of the Six Clerks Office of the Court of Chancery, 1800-1842 (C 13).
  • Court of Chancery, Clerks of Records and Writs Office, Pleadings, 1853-1860: retrospective conversion of supplementary finding aids and entry of titles of suits at item level for 21,192 suits (C 15).
  • Records of the Court of Common Pleas which dealt with property and debt cases, for the reigns Henry III to Charles II (CP 52).
  • Palatinate of Lancaster. Chancery Court: Pleadings, Bills (PL 6).
  • Court of Requests, Pleadings: retrospective conversion of nineteenth-century finding aids for 13,400 flat parchment sheets (REQ 2/1-136).
  • Ancient correspondence of Chancery and Exchequer, Henry II-Henry VIII (SC 1).
  • Ancient Petitions, Henry III - James I (SC 8).
  • State Foreign papers on military expeditions, 1695-1763 (SP 87).
  • Records of the Court of the Star Chamber, generated in the course of judicial proceedings in government prosecutions, heard before the King's Council sitting in the Star of Chamber in the Palace of Westminster, c1485-c1625. (STAC 10).
  • Judge's records on individual criminal cases, 1784-1829 (HO 47).
  • Home Office criminal petitions, 1819-1854 (HO 17).
  • Home Office, records and correspondence of various commissions (HO 73).
  • Poor Law Commission correspondence relating to Southwell and Manchester Poor Law Union detailed cataloguing (MH 12).
  • Correspondence of Poor Law School Districts and the London School Board (MH 27).
  • Foreign Office Correspondence, 1906-1913 (FO 367, FO 368, FO 369, FO 371, FO 372).
  • High Court of Admiralty: Prize. Provision of descriptions for intercepted papers from American, Dutch, French and Spanish vessels, (HCA 30, HCA 32).
  • War Office Second World War diaries (WO 166 - WO 176).
  • Royal Hospital, Chelsea,: Discharge Documents of Pensioners: Certificates of service and related correspondence from 1782, to make individual names retrievable (WO 121).
  • Headquarters papers of the British Army: detailed re-listing (WO 28).
  • Copyright registration forms relating to photographs, paintings and drawings (COPY 1).
  • The enhancement of place name information in the Catalogue.

Data adequacy small projects 2005-2006

The small scale catalogue improvements described below are carried out to improve searchability of descriptions and usability of the online catalogue. We carry out this type of remedial work to tackle problem areas of the Catalogue, when reported by both users and staff. Data adequacy enhancements started soon after the launch of the Catalogue in 2000 but are being publicised for the first time in 2006.