Archives: The National Archives of the UK catalogs government websites

The National Archives of the UK is making the archived websites of central government departments more readily available to researchers by incorporating descriptions of websites into the Catalogue. The new Catalogue entries include hyperlinks to the relevant UK Government Web Archive pages. 

A user searching the Catalogue for 'British Geological Survey', for example, will find an entry for the British Geological Survey website (crawled from 1998) next to entries for paper files.

Archiving websites is part of a solution to provide continuing access to government's online documents. The National Archives began harvesting websites in 2003. Over 1,000 websites are now available through the main online Catalogue, with more being continually added. Examples of recently accessioned websites are: 10 Downing Street - Tony Blair Archive, British Embassy Tel Aviv, UK in China, Cabinet Office Online Archive, and the War Pensions Committee website.

The National Archives understands that government websites are now the prime means by which government reaches people, often in a direct and personal manner.