Welcome to the new National Archives online catalogue!

Why a new online catalogue?

We know that archives can seem daunting. With the scale and complexity of our holdings, not to mention the records themselves, it can be difficult to know where or how to start. So we have been working hard to build something new for the online gateway to our holdings, something that is more comprehensible, approachable, intuitive and also more visually engaging. And this is only the beginning, we will be continuing to improve the experience we offer, to add handy and exciting features for our experienced and expert users.

A clearer, brighter look

The first thing we hope you will notice is a brighter, more modern look. We have focused on:

• Clarity: explaining archival terms where we think there may be confusion
• Freshness: using brighter colours and a more spacious layout to make navigation easier
• Accessibility: ensuring that the website meets WCAG 2.2 standards.

With the new design we have aimed to help users move naturally through the online catalogue, whether you’re looking for something specific, or just seeing what we have.

You’ll notice that at the final stage of the journey in accessing a record, we’ll be sending you back into our current online catalogue, Discovery. We are working hard to plug things in in the background so that the whole journey is in the new site and will keep you updated in further release blogs.

Designed with you, for you

This redesign has been shaped by you – our users. We have been collating feedback from the decade plus that our current online catalogue, Discovery, has been live. We have run focus groups and conducted interviews with a wide range of people, from existing users to those who have never heard of us before.

The responses have been invaluable in highlighting what works, what doesn’t, and where we can do better.

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We’ve listened carefully to worries about unfamiliar jargon, about web access needs, about the complexity of how archives are structured. The result is an online catalogue that should not only be more visually appealing, but also more inclusive. We’ve changed the design of our filters, shifted the order of information on record details pages, and added some summaries and notes, all designed to make things easier and smoother at every stage of your research journey.

We’ve also added in subject tags, and added a filter on these. We know that our users come to us with needs that run the gamut from looking for a specific record to wanting to explore a theme or interest. This new online catalogue aims to open up the archive to everyone, with any query.

An ongoing conversation

This is just the beginning. Our online catalogue, and the digital presentation of it, is a living, evolving resource and we are committed to continuous improvement. We will be releasing new features and refinements as we build them and your feedback is crucial to this process.

We invite you to share your thoughts using our online survey, which you will find linked throughout the site. Whether you have suggestions of missing features, notice problems of clarity, find bugs, or just want to tell us about your experience, we want to hear from you.

What’s next?

We are already working on the next phase of development. Upcoming releases will build on what we’ve already done for new users and add new functionality to help our more advanced users. We’ll be looking at how users might browse the online catalogue, how they might want to visualise our records, as well as building a new image viewer for our digitised records, and looking into how we present records that were ‘born digital’ in the modern age of spreadsheets and Word documents.

And, of course, there are the features that we don’t yet know we’ll build, to solve the problems you help us see.

A shared endeavour

The National Archives belongs to everyone. Our online catalogue is both a gateway to the past and a platform for discovery, learning and inspiration. By making the online catalogue clearer and brighter, we hope to open doors to new audiences (in this first release) while still continuing to serve the needs of experienced users (upcoming releases). The existing online catalogue, Discovery, will not be switched off until we have achieved these goals.

We are grateful to everyone who has contributed to this project in the past, including everyone who has sent feedback throughout the life of our current online catalogue service, and we look forward to working with you as we continue to develop and enhance our offering. Your insights and ideas are essential in helping us create a resource that truly reflects the diversity and richness of our nation’s past.

Watch this space

This is an exciting time for The National Archives, we have a new Keeper of the King’s Records and are rolling out a new refreshed website, as well as the new online catalogue. Please explore the new online catalogue, share your feedback and join us on this journey as we build a more accessible, engaging and dynamic resource for all. Watch this space for updates and news about upcoming releases – we can’t wait to show you what is next.