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ALGAO’s 2001-6 Strategy includes facilitating access to HERs through partnership links.
The development of a national network of the information held in local HERs/SMRs has been one of the most important objectives of ALGAO (and English Heritage) since the mid 1990s. In particular, the vision of a national network put forward by Glen Foard and Steve Catney (Northants and Lincs. HERs respectively) made others in local government and English Heritage aware of the potential long-term advantages of having a digital, national network of HERs. These advantages included the ability to search regionally and nationally, much broader public access to HER information and the full integration of fieldwork reports (including grey literature) into HERs. This vision was eventually translated into the strategic objectives of the landmark documents Unlocking the Past for the New Millennium (1998) and Local Records – National Resource: An ALGAO Strategy for Sites and Monuments Records (2001).
Since the beginning of the ‘new millennium’, a number of initiatives have begun to ‘unlock the past’ and provide some of the elements of the national network of the Foard/Catney vision. These include OASIS and the digital grey literature project, the current work of the Heritage Protection Reform and a number of specific projects carried out under HLF and the Aggregates Levy.
One of the most important aspects of the ‘vision’ was the creation of a single portal/gateway from which HER information could be accessed. However, until 2003, technical and resource issues/problems had prevented the proper development of this concept. In 2002/3 a series of problem solving/brainstorming meetings took place between EH, ALGAO and other key partners to produce a strategy for a single national point of access for the heritage data held by EH and ALGAO members. From these ground-breaking sessions the beginnings of the Heritage Gateway concept emerged, which has subsequently been developed as full business case by English Heritage.
It is therefore very gratifying for ALGAO to see – and be part of - the launch of the Heritage Gateway over 10 years after the Foard/Catney vision was first put forward. In terms of that wider/earlier vision for a full national, accessible network, it only represents the first step, but it is of course the most important – and most difficult - step.
Two outputs of the launched Heritage Gateway that are especially important for ALGAO – and which are important first steps for the longer-term strategy – are the new definitive ‘clickable’ map of HERs in England and the examples of HERs’ education and outreach projects. The production of the map has been less than straightforward, since the structure of local authorities (and consequently HERs) at the national level is complex and variable between regions and rural/urban areas. Its launch is therefore an important achievement. The education/outreach project examples are also important for ALGAO - and HERs. Although much good work is being carried out by HERs in these areas, the profile of HERs nationally for education/outreach is not as high as it should be and we have not been good in the past at sharing good and best practice. Hopefully these interesting and exciting projects will provide the basis for many more initiatives across the country.
Stewart Bryant
ALGAO Chair
28 April 2006
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