The UK Central Government Web Archive is a selective collection of UK Government websites, archived from August 2003, which has been developed by the National Archives of the United Kingdom, using the services of the Internet Archive. [...]
A recent study suggested that there are currently approximately 2,500 separate UK Government websites. This project is being undertaken as part of the ongoing development of a web archiving strategy by the National Archives. 51 websites have been carefully chosen as a representative sample of the entire UK Government web domain, and have been selected in accordance with criteria designed to reflect the overall functions of government. A number of departments and agencies were then chosen which are representative of each of these functions. This provides a broad cross-section across UK Central Government.

The websites are harvested at varying intervals, to provide the flexibility to respond to changing circumstances. Initially, 10 websites are harvested every week, and the remaining 41 are harvested every six months.

The Internet Archive will also be supplying copies of the websites collected to the National Archives, for long-term preservation by our Digital Preservation Department.
Source: website Public Record Office

Tabularia. Sources écrites de la Normandie médiévale (Tabularia. Written Sources of Medieval Normandy) is an online journal which is freely accessible on the CRAHM website hosted by the University of Caen network.

Tabularia aims at studying the medieval written sources of Normandy. It was launched in order to give instant access to available information on the topic. This journal also aims at fostering a debate around the proposed dossiers by allowing exchanges to take place between readers and authors. Ultimately, it also devotes much space to the circulation and publication of written documentary sources, whether published or unpublished. The scientific validity of the information content is guaranteed by the presence of an editorial board and by cross-reading of submitted contributions.
Articles are in French or English.

Documents of Essex England Data Set (DEEDS) was founded in 1975 by Professor Michael Gervers to create a database of information culled from medieval English property exchange documents which would be of interest to social and economic historians. [...]
Very few English documents issued before 1300 were securely dated. We are on the verge of developing a revolutionary method for dating the tens of thousands of medieval charters which still exist in English repositories and which have not been fully exploited because of their uncertain chronology. [...] (website)
The project website contains a few articles in full-text, but the newest article is from 1998. The website does'nt mention the book "Dating undated medieval charters" (2000) [Contents], the papers of a 1999 Budapest conference (reviewed in German by Jürgen Römer, in: Das Mittelalter 7 (2002) H. 1, S. 192-194). See Manfred Thaller's review in The Medieval Review.

Durham University Library is offering a fine picture collection of medieval seals. It is highly recommended to consult also the handlist with exhaustive descriptions and lots of pictures!

Sample entry:
3691 n.d.
Bilvelt, Hermann
Description: Oval. Above in an upper canopied niche is Our Lady nimbed and robed, holding a sceptre in her right hand and the child Christ on her left arm. Beneath is St George on horseback spearing the dragon. Below is a shield of arms, a cock.

Size: 73 x 22 mm.
Inscription: S' HERMANI D'BILEVELT . DECRE ... DOCT' SACRI PALI AP'CI CAR' AVDITOR'. note
2.1.Arch.Dunelm.18
[with picture and additional information:]
Styled Hermannus de Bilvelt decrettorum doctor praepositus ecclesiae St. Andree Inningen (?) domini Papae capellanus, etc. Bilvelt is probably Bielefeld in Westphalia. The seal is impressed on a facing of red wax deeply sunk in a cup of white wax.

David Dillard writes "Standards for Archival Description: A Handbook, from The Society of American Archivists is a full text monograph online that is available at no cost to the reader at the above website. A significant part of the coverage of this book is of interest and value to the general library user in general collections as well as of importance in archival practice. The section covering subject headings would be a prime example of this."
Via http://www.lisnews.com

WASHINGTON, Aug. 12 /U.S. Newswire/ -- Archivist of the United States John W. Carlin and United States Public Printer Bruce R. James announced today an agreement whereby the Government Printing Office (GPO) and the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) will ensure the documents you see today on GPO Access ( http://www.gpoaccess.gov ), the GPO web site that provides free online public access to more than 250,000 Federal Government titles, will remain available permanently.
"GPO is committed to providing permanent public access to the online versions of the most important Government publications. That is why we are honored that NARA has recognized our commitment to making thisinformation available today and to preserving it for future generations by making us an archival affiliate," said Public Printer James. Archivist Carlin said "Preserving the essential evidence of our Government's
work is a serious responsibility and we feel confident that working together with GPO will enable us to ensure that these records will continue to be available for all to use."
[Yahoo News via Open Access News/SPARC Open Access Newsletter]

W.J. McLean notified the ARCAN-L mailing list of his provocative article, The Impact of Bill C-36 on the Archival Public Domain, that summarizes the impact of Canada’s Bill C-36 around works by a selected group of author-creators on which copyright will be extended if the bill is passed this fall.

Read more in the Ten Thousand Year Blog.

Excerpt from McLean's article:

With Bill C-36, Canadian Heritage plans to extend the term of copyright in "works" whose "authors" died between 1930 and 1948. While "work" and "author" in the Copyright Act imply literary efforts for which the author had expected commercial remuneration during his or her lifetime, the Copyright Act, in fact, operates on everything ever committed to paper, for long after the author is dead. Every document, in every archive in Canada, is "protected" by copyright.

Prior to 1998, copyright in unpublished "works" was perpetual. That's right, forever! Recognizing the impossibility and idiocy of that rule, Parliament changed it in 1998. "Works" whose authors died before 1949 would become public domain at the end of 2003, freeing up millions of archival documents for unfettered use, including translation, publication, and digitization. "Works" whose authors died in or after 1949 will not become public domain until at least the end of 2048.

-citat-
Library Journal Academic Newswire (TM)
The Publishing Report for August 28, 2003
I HAVE A DEAL: KING FAMILY TO AUCTION OFF MLK DOCUMENTS
The archive of U.S. civil rights leader Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. is being offered for sale through auction house Sotheby's for an estimated $30 million. The artifacts, which include a draft of King's landmark "I Have a Dream" speech, range from 1948 through until his death in 1968. News of the sale comes on the heels of the King family's failed bid to sell the archive for $20 million to the Library of Congress in 1999. That deal was proposed by Rep. James Clyburn (D-SC), who, after meeting with the King family, introduced legislation that would have funded the purchase (see LJ Academic Newswire 11/2/99). The plan was ultimately abandoned after lawmakers balked at paying such a price for the collection. LC rarely pays for collections and some lawmakers voiced concern over setting such a costly precedent. In addition, scholars questioned what separating the papers from the King Center in Atlanta means for King scholarship. No deadline has been set for the sale, but press reports indicate that the King family is looking for a buyer that would exhibit the materials and keep the collection intact. With a price tag of $30 million, however, it is virtually unfathomable that a research library could afford to take the collection.
-/citat-
Quelle: siehe a_i_d

The Ten Thousand Year Blog written by the Canadian archivist David Mattison (see our entry from February) has a new URL.