Oxford University Bodleian Library's futureArch project (02008-02011)

Oxford University's Bodleian Library is creating an electronic records and archives management system for born-digital materials called BEAM (Bodleian Electronic Archives and Manuscripts). In addition to information on the BEAM Web site, a related project, futureArch (Future Archives), offers a blog of its activities, which deal with curating a traditional and digital archives.

BEAM was preceded by the PARADIGM (Personal Archives Accessible in Digital Media) project, a joint effort of Oxford and Mancester universities, which ran between 2005-2007 and produced "Best-practice guidelines in the form of a workbook on issues relating to the archiving of personal papers in digital form...."

According to the first post on the futureArch blog (July 2, 02008), the futureArch project

"will see us move the curation of born-digital archives and manuscripts from a series of small projects to a sustainable activity integrated with other aspects of the Library's operations. When futureArch concludes, in just over three years time, we aim to have embedded the curation of born-digital archives and manuscripts into the way we do things."