New study on Web Archives: how do you use them?

The UK Web Archiving Consortium and The National Archives are pleased to announce a study into how archived websites are collected and made available to users. The study is funded by the Joint Information Systems Committee. Culturally significant websites are collected and archived for researchers, historians and the public. We are keen to hear from you with your views on collecting and future access. Do you used archived websites in your research? Are you considering using them?

The study aims to:
• Investigate how UK web archives are delivered to users now, and how they might be delivered in the future
• Define the long-term historical and research value of online content in the UK
• Look at different organisations that collect web archives, and their interests

Please contact researchandcollect@nationalarchives.gsi.gov.uk if you would like to take part in surveys or discussions. The time commitment will be a couple of emails and a 30 minute telephone interview.

The study will run until late June 2009, and the results will be published on The National Archives and UK Web Archiving Consortium websites in August 2009.