ADS is a world leader in promoting good practice in the use of digital data in archaeology and providing technical advice to the research community. As such ADS staff are encouraged to contribute to a wide variety of publications to publicise ADS activities and share our experience.

Over our first thirty years the ADS has won many awards for our work on preserving and disseminating digital data. In 2012 we won the Digital Preservation Coalition’s Decennial award for the most important contribution to digital preservation AND a British Archaeological Award for Innovation.

A final public version was released in early 2019. Since that point the Library interface has been redeveloped twice to better suit modern accessibility needs and general ADS website look and feel!

Phase 1 of the project focussed on research and user needs including: 🌟Enhancing the uploading unpublished fieldwork reports to the ADS 🌟Ensure that items in the library are freely accessible, searchable, linkable 🌟Extend the Library and integrate with the BIAB database

The Library was built 2016-2019 as part of Phase 2 of the HERALD project. HERALD was the name given to the works undertaken by the ADS and funded by Historic England as part of its HIAS programme to improve public access to historic environment data.

Digital preservation is at the heart of what we do, and it wouldn’t be possible without our amazing collections and archives team. From archiving collections big and small to raising awareness of the ADS as well as providing critical advice to depositors.

We deliver online and in person bespoke training to research organisations and practitioners in data management and digital archiving. We also have several training videos on our YouTube channel, as well as data management, access, and reuse guides on our website.

Developed by the ADS and partners since 1996, The Guides to Good Practice have been produced in a number of formats. Produced by our amazing standards team, the Guides provide information on the best way to create, manage, and document digital data to enable preservation, access, and reuse.

From highlighting featured collections on our website and participating in the Festival of Archaeology, to connecting with new audiences at conferences across the UK and providing training and guidance, we want to help as many people as possible get the most from the data we hold.

From highlighting featured collections on our website and participating in the Festival of Archaeology, to connecting with new audiences at conferences across the UK and providing training and guidance, we want to help as many people as possible get the most from the data we hold.

🎉 The 30th anniversary of the ADS is growing closer, and we are counting down the days with our final highlight of ADS life. This week we are focusing on our teams and achievements across our services, starting with outreach. 🎉