Archives Hub
Discover rich and unique archive collections from over 350 UK institutions.
About Archives Hub
The Archives Hub provides descriptions of thousands of the UK's archive collections. Representing over 350 institutions across the country, the Archives Hub is an effective way to discover unique and often little-known primary sources across all disciplines.
It includes sophisticated searching and filtering options, images and links to digital content, a map of repository locations and descriptions of online theme-based digital collections.
It covers a whole range of repositories, from small specialist archives and museum archives, through to national and university archives. You can discover materials relating to a broad range of subjects, from science and medicine through to literature and the arts and there are daily updates to the content.
Archives Hub cataloguing tool
The Archives Hub provides a cataloguing tool called the EAD Editor for creating and editing descriptions. It creates descriptions in Encoded Archival Description (EAD), which is XML for archives and adheres to international and data quality standards, to ensure interoperability. The descriptions can be submitted directly to the Archives Hub and also used elsewhere.
The tool provides for data validation and incorporates various functions to facilitate the creation of effective archive descriptions.
Find out more about the EAD cataloguing tool.
Archives Hub administrative interface
The CIIM (collections information integration middleware) is an interface where Archives Hub contributors can view and search their own descriptions. They also have the ability to upload, unpublish and re-publish descriptions.
Find out more about the CIIM administrative interface.
Archives Hub repository sites
Archives Hub repository sites mirror most of the functionality of the Archives Hub, so users can search, filter and navigate in the same way as on the Archives Hub, but just for one individual repository.
The sites can be provided to all higher education (HE) institutions free of charge as part of their Jisc membership. We can set these up relatively quickly so, for an HE institution without a fully-functioning search interface, this could be a very valuable service.