New Discovery at The National Archives

The National Archive’s (TNA's) new online catalogue, Discovery, is live in Beta mode and will replace its current Catalogue completely by 31 March 2012, when all of Discovery’s features will become available. TNA says Discovery will make it easier for everyone to search and use its collections, from first-time users to experienced researchers.

DocumentsOnline is also to be replaced, by a digital document delivery service feature in Discovery that will be available from 31 March. This should make it easier for users to search for records and order digitised copies, if available, all in one place.

TNA plans to continue to develop new features and functionality for Discovery in the future, in order to better integrate its online services and collections.

Research guidance

TNA has also made some changes to its Records website (www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/records) to help users find the guidance they need more easily. You can now find all TNA’s online research guidance through its new research guidance A-Z (nationalarchives.gov.uk/records/atoz) and its research tools pages on looking for a person, place and subject.

Media player

Also new is TNA's Archives Media Player - the new multimedia hub bringing together all of its audio and video content in one place.

TNA's podcasts are very popular, and as its back catalogue continues to grow, the existing Podcasts page has become increasingly unwieldy and difficult to search.

The Archives Media Player provides a quick and effective search function by media type, title, key word or author. Categories are easily navigable from the media player’s home page and there are options to rate individual podcasts for other users and to post comments.