BBC and British Library to open up archives

Millions of hours of archive video and audio, as well as millions of documents including books, journals, manuscripts and maps will be more easily accessible online in the future.

A memorandum of understanding signed by the BBC and the British Library will see the two organisations work together to make their respective archives more available.

Collaborations on rights management, distribution of archive content, digitisation and storage are key parts of the memorandum.

BBC director general Mark Thompson said: "Unlocking the wealth of content in the British Library and BBC archives is a great opportunity as well as an immense challenge. It is vital we partner, harnessing the power of digital technology, to give the public the access they deserve."

Dame Lynne Brindley, chief executive officer of the British Library, said: "Providing increasing access to our collections using digital technologies is a primary goal of the British Library.

"This partnership not only demonstrates that we are keen to share content for the benefit of today's researchers and the knowledge economy, but also expresses our continued commitment to supporting the government's vision of building a Digital Britain," she continued.

The BBC Archive website already contains a selection of content from the BBC's 80-plus years of its existence.

The British Library site also offers online access to some of its items. However, like the BBC, only a fraction of its vast archive is digitised.


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