archives

Northern Ireland Official Publications Archive

The Northern Ireland Official Publications Archive (NIOPA) is hosted by Queen's University Belfast. The library at Queen’s is a depository for printed official publications and, since 2015, has focused on the creation of a digital archive of Northern Ireland official publications covering current and previous ministerial departments, independent bodies and other organisations. There’s a description of each department along with their associated agencies and a list of the publications collected. Full text documents are presented in PDF.

National Archives Research Guides: Criminals Courts and Prisons

National Archives staff have produced a number of research guides to assist archive users with their research. The guides are organised by subject and this guide focuses on finding historical material relating to the criminal justice system including court records, coroners’ inquests, wills, divorce and war crimes. The individual guides have information on the materials and how they can be searched. They also point to records that are available online.

National Archives Research Guides: Records for Current Legal Purposes

National Archives staff have produced a number of research guides to assist archive users with their research. The guides are organised by subject and this guide focuses on finding records that may be useful for legal purposes including birth, marriage and death certificates, changes of name and British citizenship. The individual guides have information on the materials and how they can be searched. They also point to records that are available online.

UK Web Archive

The UK Web Archive aims to give permanent online access to key UK websites for future generations by preserving ‘snapshots’ of websites over time. The project is jointly provided by the British Library in partnership with the National Library of Wales, JISC and the Wellcome Library. It is possible to search the archive or to browse by category. The category titled ‘Government, Law and Politics’ includes the sub-categories ‘Law and Legal System’ and ‘Crime, Criminology, Police and Prisons.’

Latin American Government Documents Archive

The Latin American Government Documents Archive (LAGDA) is one of several resources managed by the Latin American Web Archiving Project, which is based at the University of Texas Libraries. Its aim is to preserve and make available archives of websites from the governments of 18 Latin American countries. The archived sites include documents and video and audio recordings. The records available start in 2005-6 and the project is ongoing. The materials can be selected from a list according to jurisdiction and government department and can also be searched by keywords.

National Archives

The National Archives is the UK government’s official public archive, a repository of documents going back more than 1000 years. Its website includes Discovery, a catalogue of its holdings with more than 20 million descriptions of records created by central government and the courts of England and Wales. Some of the records in the The National Archives have been digitised and may be downloaded from the site, for a fee. Archived government webpages are also available, free of charge. The website provides a large collection of research guides, several of which are on legal topics.

Archivo Histórico

The Historical Archive is part of the Oficina Española de Patentes y Marcas (OEPM) site, an official government site in Spain which handles patents, trademarks and related issues. The Archive has been maintained and developed as a joint project with the Universidad Autonóma de Madrid since 1999. It includes searchable databases covering the history of privileges (1826-1878), patent applications (1878-1966) and trade marks (1865-1910). For each database, guidance is given regarding background, search strategy and fields available.

Consiglio Grande e Generale

The Great and General Council of the Republic of San Marino webpages. Includes searchable archives of legislation and meetings of the council. Also contains information regarding structure, history and current activity of the governmental body of San Marino. Please note this website is only available in Italian.

Historical Archives of the European Union

Website of the Historical Archives of the European Union, which is based at the European University Institute in Italy. It consists substantially of bibliographic references to official documents produced by the major EU/EC institutions, including: the European Economic Community, the European Coal and Steel Community, the European Atomic Energy Community, the Council of Ministers, the European Commission and the European Parliament. Despite its name, however, it also covers archives relating to non-EU/EC bodies and archives acquired from individuals.

Preserving born-digital legal materials - where to start?

Online article dealing with the preservation of digital legal materials written by Sarah Rhodes who is the digital collections librarian at the Georgetown Law Library in Washington, D.C. and a project coordinator for The Chesapeake Project Legal Information Archive. The article was published on LLRX.com in February 2010. The author looks at the issues surrounding the selection of materials to be preserved, the software requirements, the standards and protocols for digital preservation software and services and financial considerations.

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