BOPCRIS - unlocking key government publications

18th, 19th and 20th Century British Official Publications constitute an immense body of material on the development of British society. They are the most detailed printed primary sources for the study of an extensive range of topics in the social sciences and humanities, providing fundamental information on social, economic and political issues of their day. They offer access to a wealth of grey literature including statistics embedded in reports; maps; local studies material; material related to the history of medicine and public health; law; technology-based industry and the advancement of science. BOPCRIS (British Official Publications Collaborative Reader Information Service, see: http://www.bopcris.ac.uk/) aims to demonstrate how shared problems (under-utilisation of 18th, 19th and 20th Century British Official Publications Collections, with users often unaware of, or unable to access easily, research material buried in these collections) can be addressed by major collections working in partnership. The consortium consists of:

• Lead Institution: Ford Collection of British Official Publications, Hartley Library, University of Southampton

• Bibliographic content advisory partner: The British Library

• Content research partners: Brotherton Library, University of Leeds; Cambridge University Library; Edinburgh University Library; Ford Collection of British Official Publications, University of Southampton; Glasgow University Library; Newcastle University Library; Queen’s University Belfast Library; University of London Library, Senate House; University of Wales Aberystwyth Library; Warwick University Library

• Web technology support partner: Institute of Learning and Research Technologies (ILRT), at the University of Bristol

• Digitisation partners: JISC Higher Education Digitisation Service; Centre for Data Digitisation and Analysis, Queen’s University Belfast

Elements of the BOPCRIS distributed national resource

• BOPCRIS (1833-1983) aims to save users wasting valuable time and effort finding relevant 19th and 20th century British Official Publications by providing a Web-based bibliographic database focusing on around 16,500 key documents, selected for inclusion in the internationally known hard-copy Ford Select Lists and Breviates. Funding was awarded in July 1999 and the project will be completed by the end of July 2002.

• BOPCRIS (1801-1832, 1984-95) focuses on around 1,400 documents selected for inclusion in Hansard’s Catalogue and Breviate of Parliamentary Papers, whilst BOPCRIS (1984-1995) focuses on 3,600 documents for this period based on selection criteria used by the Fords.

• BOPCRIS (1688-1800) A Web database of 1,800 references to key 18th Century House of Commons Journals from the period 1688-1800, selected for inclusion in Grace Ford’s, Select List of Commons Journals, 1688 - 1800, BOPCRIS (1688-1800). This British Library Co-operation and Partnership Programme project started in Summer 2000, and was completed in Winter 2001.

• A national mapping of collection strengths. July - December 2001

• Full-text digitisation. July 2001 - July 2002 (and beyond through related projects). BOPCRIS is developing a full-text digital library of key documents selected for inclusion in the Web catalogue, with the catalogue enabling people navigate their way around the digital library. The “high-volume, low-cost” imaging and OCR techniques developed during the RSLP pilot-study have formed the basis for successful bids for further expansion of the BOPCRIS full-text digital library work, under the New Opportunities Fund Digitisation Programme (£450,000 to digitise up to 750,000 pages of 1801-1995 material) and the Arts and Humanities Research Board Resource Enhancement Scheme (£285,000 to digitise up to 355,000 pages of British Parliamentary Papers relating to Ireland, 1801-1922).

Contact Details

Project website

http://www.bopcris.ac.uk/

Content: Gill Davenport
Last updated 3 July 2002