Digitisation with British History Online

British History Online (BHO) is the digital library containing some of the core printed primary and secondary sources for the medieval and early modern history of the British Isles.

This information service aims to support all those interested in the electronic publication of historical resources and, in particular, those planning a digitisation project. These pages detail British History Online's work, staff and unique benefits.

  1. Who we are - our staff, academic support team and advisory board
  2. our digitisation process

Who we are: the British History Online team

Project staff

  • Dr Jane Winters (Head of Publications, IHR)
  • Bruce Tate (Project Manager)
  • Dr Peter Webster (Editorial Controller)
  • Jonathan Blaney (Project Editor)

Academic Support Team

  • Dr Matthew Davies (Director, Centre for Metropolitan History, IHR)
  • Dr Paul Seaward (Director, History of Parliament)
  • Elizabeth Williamson (Architectural Editor, Victoria County History)

 

Why digitise with British History Online?

1. Widening access

The online publication of historical sources opens them up to a large potential audience, both in the UK and abroad. A publication, accessible only in a limited number of specialist libraries, can be made freely available.

British History Online receives page view requests from readers in the UK, North America, Europe, Australasia and elsewhere, and from a wide range of academic, personal and business users.

2. Communicating your resource to the historical community

As part of the IHR, we are already actively and constantly engaged in publicising the site, through conference presentations, paper leaflets, and direct mailing to historians, librarians and archivists all over the world. We are linked to from academic libraries and departments in the UK, North America, Australia and New Zealand and elsewhere, and from the Bibliography of British and Irish History.

In addition, the use of search engines means that many users find their way to resources that they were previously unaware of. Our resources are consistently well listed in search engine results.

3. Making new connections

The site juxtaposes many different but related resources, which opens up many connections between sources that would be more difficult or impossible in a print environment.

Our site structure allows users to browse our resources by place, subject and period. It is also possible to search within and across different sources, allowing many new and unforeseen connections to be made.

4. Preservation of resources

Many important printed resources are in short supply and in a deteriorating physical condition. Digitisation with us helps to preserve these by creating a digital copy of the resource, and lessening the pressure of use on the physical volume. In addition, our project partners receive a copy of the digital resource in a form convenient to them, which may be used for reprinting.

 

How can I be sure of quality?

We at British History Online (BHO) are part of the Institute of Historical Research's Publications section. The IHR has an extensive program of publication, including the journal Historical Research, established since 1923. Other electronic resources in the IHR include Reviews in History and the Bibliography of British and Irish History. The expansion of BHO is very much part of the Institute's strategic planning. 

All of our texts are double-keyed into XML by our outsourcing partner, in line with instructions from our expert editorial team.

Our partner guarantees accuracy of 99.9% and the team routinely test a sample of files to verify that guarantee. Our users consistently tell us that this degree of accuracy is essential in a reliable resource.

The editorial team are responsible for the development and maintenance of all supporting descriptive material and the taxonomies which support browsing. The team includes academic staff from the Victoria County History, the History of Parliament Trust and the Centre for Metropolitan History, as well as from within the IHR and elsewhere. (For more about the team, see Who we are in this section.)

The project team have a proven track record of successful project management. As well as our own project of digitisation, we have successfully completed a number of externally funded projects to date. Project partners have included the London Record Society, and English Heritage (for the Survey of London).

 

What type of content and how much can be digitised?

What type of content?

  1. Sources
    Sources we would consider would be:
    • On medieval and early modern British history.
    • If primary sources, those of a broad significance beyond the purely local.
    • If secondary sources, works of enduring reference, such as calendars of sources or works of compilation and record. BHO would not ordinarily include works of interpretation and synthesis, such as scholarly monographs or periodical literature.
  2. Materials
    We would consider many different types of material, including (but not only) printed texts, datasets and maps.
  3. Formats
    We would consider:
    • physical volumes, with good print quality; or
    • works in any mainstream digital format.
  4. Copyright
    Prospective project partners must be in a position to grant BHO a non-exclusive, perpetual and worldwide license to reproduce the resource.

How much can be digitised?

The project configuration is such that it can be easily scaled up. We are confident that we could cater for most possible digitisation projects.

 

How much support would I receive ?

The Editorial Controller will consult with project partners at the planning stage, to assess the significance of the resource, in order that he might plan its format and presentation.

From then on, project partners will be kept informed of the progress of digitisation, and of the likely publication date. The process need not involve any significant commitment of staff time on the part of the new partner.

 

What would it cost?

Digitisation with British History Online offers the chance to make your resources available to a wide and growing worldwide audience, and in a searchable and browse-able format that opens up new avenues of research. See your resources preserved and disseminated in a robust and reliable resource, with a proven record of project management, and embedded in the IHR, a renowned national centre for historical research.

Contact us for a quotation:

British History Online
Institute of Historical Research
Senate House
Malet Street
LONDON, WC1E 7HU

Email: Peter.Webster@sas.ac.uk