Scotland Online

SCA are in the process of exploring the potential for the establishment of a union catalogue of Scotland’s archive catalogues. Building on the success of the Scottish Archives Network (SCAN), the two organisations are working closely together to create a fully integrated catalogue provisionally called Scotland Online.

Scotland Online will provide a nationwide online resource (union catalogue) and discovery tool that provides a dynamic and comprehensive means of accessing Scotland’s archive catalogues. Scotland Online will become the first port of call for anyone looking to engage with Scottish archive collections, providing an inviting and user-friendly portal that will bring all information about collections together in one place, draw links and parallels between them and invite users to explore and contribute to various collections by relevant themes and topics. The project will improve the level of archive information available to current and potential users, improve the level of access to archive collections, and provide more opportunities for engagement both physically and virtually with archives.

Throughout the summer of 2018, SCA conducted consultation workshops with both archive and record management professionals, and archive users. These were well attended and provided invaluable insight into what is wanted in a catalogue. There are a number of technical specifications to now consider, as well as ensuring that the project is sustainable in the long-term. These factors are currently informing the next stage of investigation.