Becoming a contributor

Contributions are welcomed from institutions in all UK sectors who hold collections of value to education and research, and contributing to the Hub is free.

Find out more about the benefits of contributing.
View our collecting policy.
Find out about submitting Online Resources for exhibitions and other online resources relating to archives in addition to standard archival collection descriptions.

Step by Step Guide to Contributing

  • Email us to let us know you would like to contribute. If you are happy to go ahead we will send you our welcome email that includes a request for some information: your repository name, email address, web address, information about opening hours, whether you have disabled access and your Archon code. We ask for this information so that we can create a repository entry for you. You can also provide a logo at this stage if you wish to. 
  • Once we have created a basic repository entry, you can access the repository description via our Contributors' Console and update the entry as and when you wish.   
  • It is worth applying for an Archon code if you do not already have one.

Ways to contribute

  • We will ask you if you want to contribute via
    • Our cataloguing tool (the EAD Editor), which is included within our Contributor Console. 
    • Export from an archival management system (this could be via an API if you have one, or just by exporting files and then uploding them to our system)
    • Spreadsheet upload
  • If you want to use our cataloguing interface, we will give you a login so that you can get access straight away.
  • If you would like to export, we will ask which system you are using and discuss the options with you. We cannot take exports from all systems, but we have export routines for many popular systems. If you choose to go ahead we may ask for a small number of exports to start with, so that we can see if there are any data issues that need to be addressed.
  • If you want to provide spreadsheets we will direct you to our Guide, and our tutorials. If you already have a spreadsheet template, we can look at that and give you feedback on any changes you might need to make.

Data requirements

  • You may like to have a look at the Archives Hub data requirements, to see how they compare with your catalogue. The issues that tend to require your input are missing fields, particularly at the top level of a description (overall collection description).
  • Another farily common issue is non-unique identifiers (references), which are required for every section of a description. You would need to revise these if you have duplicates.

Further information

  • We will ask you if you want to be on our mailing lists, and we'll set up reports to provide you with stats on page views of your descriptions.
  • We will ask you if you want to contribute to Archives Portal Europe, and if so, send you their Metadata Agreement, which you will need to sign. We will then set up the harvest so that they receive your descriptions automatically.
  • We will give you a login for our system, which is called the CIIM ('sim'). You will only really need this if you are uploading descriptions yourself, but you can use it to view what is on the Hub, download XML copies, and instantly un-publish and re-publish descriptions.