ARCHway - gateway to resource sharing in archaeology

ARCHway was a two year project which ran from 29 March 2000 to 30 April 2002. It was funded by the Research Support Libraries Programme (RSLP) and managed by the University of York Library. The project involved eighteen university libraries as full partners and a number of associate partners.

ARCHway was an investigative project and its outcomes depended largely on the views of archaeology academics.

Its main aims were:

• To discover if access to journals and related materials for archaeology researchers could be improved.

• To assess whether the collection management policies of partner libraries for archaeology are adequate.

• To evaluate how effectively document delivery and Table of Contents services met the needs of academics.

• To demonstrate how serials information could be shared via a web-based journal locator.

The project has produced two exciting new resources for archaeologists:

• The ARCHway Archaeology Journal Locator, which provides information about almost 2 500 archaeology journals and links to the libraries which hold them.

• An article citation database, which also displays Tables of Contents, for 14 key UK archaeology titles.

Specific research that was undertaken during the course of the project included:

• A survey of academics usage of journals and document delivery services. Indications were that journals are vital resources but that academics usage of document delivery services was low.

• Surveys of partner libraries’ collection development policies, access policies and document delivery services.

• Mapping the research interests of academics and the taught courses available in each department. This work highlighted the variety of interests within each department which reflected the strengths of each institutions’ library collection.

• Geographical mapping of the library resources used by academics outside their home institution. This exercise highlighted the major impact that existing specialist collections have on the research of archaeologists across the country.

• Testing the archaeology coverage of document delivery and table of content services against a random selection of journal titles. A key finding here was that the coverage is generally poor.

• A beta version of the web-based journal locator was created and underwent extensive testing with academics and librarians.

• An extensive literature search.

Over the life of the Project the Project Team has:

• Met with academics from the partner universities to gather valuable information which fed directly into the project’s final outcomes.

• Produced a web-based journal locator and developed a strategy for its continuation after the project.

• Compiled a database of article citations for 13 key UK archaeology journals.

• Produced an evaluation of existing document delivery services.

• Produced a final report outlining strategies for ongoing work in the area.

ARCHway partner libraries

• University of Birmingham

• Bournemouth University

• University of Bristol

• University of Cambridge (Haddon Library of Archaeology and Anthropology)

• University of Durham

• University of Edinburgh

• University of Exeter

• University of Glasgow

• Institute of Archaeology (University College London)

• University of Leicester

• University of Liverpool

• University of London

• University of Manchester (John Rylands University Library)

• University of Newcastle

• University of Reading

• University of Sheffield

• University of Southampton

• University of York

Associated institutions

• Archaeology Data Service

• Belfast, Queen’s University of

• British and Irish Archaeological Bibliography

• British Library Document Supply Centre

• University of Cardiff

• Council for British Archaeology

• Institute of Classical Studies

• National Museums of Scotland

• Society of Antiquaries

The whole project was assisted by a Project User Group, which comprised a representative from each of the eighteen partner libraries. The project was managed by the following staff in the J.B.Morrell Library at the University of York:

Chris Ellwood, Project Director

Gordon Bower, Project Manager

Catherine Whiskin, Project Assistant

Project website

http://www.york.ac.uk/archway

The web address for the Archaeology Journal Locator and the Article Citation Database is:

http://ads.ahds.ac.uk/catalogue/ARCHway.html

Content: Gill Davenport
Last updated 2 July 2002