G.1 Organisations

ACAO

Association of County Archaeological Officers.

ADAO

Association of District Archaeological Officers.

ADS

Archaeology Data Service: provides services for the AHDS relating to digital resources that are created as a product of archaeological research, in collaboration with national and local agencies.

AGI

Association for Geographical Information.

AHDS

Arts and Humanities Data Service: funded by the academic community to collect, catalogue and preserve digital data and distribute these for use in teaching and research.

ALGAO UK

Association of Local Government Archaeological Officers.

ANSI

American National Standards Institute.

ARIA

Association of Regional and Island Archaeologists. ARIA represented the most senior archaeologists employed by or for local planning authorities in Scotland , but in 2006 merged with colleagues from England and Wales to form ALGAO UK.

ASLIB

Association for Information Management: promotes best practice in management of information resources.

ATF

Archaeology Training Forum.

BECTA

British Education Communications and Training Agency.

BGS

British Geological Survey

BIAB

British and Irish Archaeological Bibliography: an annual indexed list of archaeological publications for Great Britain and Ireland maintained by the CBA, with funding from national heritage agencies and others.

BTCV

British Trust for Conservation Volunteers.

Cadw

Cadw (Welsh for ‘to keep’) is the historic environment division within the Welsh Assembly Government with responsibility for protecting, conserving and promoting an appreciation of the historic environment of Wales.

CBA

Council for British Archaeology.

CCN

Countryside Character Network.

CHNTO

Cultural Heritage National Training Organisation, formerly the MTI.

CIDOC

Comitte International pour la Documentation, Conseil International des Musees: the Documentation Committee of the International Council of Museums.

COSLA

Convention of Scottish Local Authorities. COSLA is the representative voice of Scottish local government and also acts as the employer’s association on behalf of all Scottish Councils.

CREE

Contextual Resource Evaluation Environment consortium.

CSA

Council for Scottish Archaeology. The CSA is a voluntary membership organisation that works to secure the archaeological heritage of Scotland for its people through education, promotion and support.

CUCAP

Cambridge University Collection of Aerial Photrographs maintained by the Landscape Modelling Unit (formerly Cambridge University Committee on Aerial Photography): a body which has been involved in undertaking aerial-photographic surveys for archaeological and environmental research and management and which holds an important collection of air photographs.

CyMAL

Museums Archives and Libraries Wales.

DCLG

Department for Communities and Local Governement.

DCMS

Department for Culture, Media and Sport.

DEFRA

Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs. DEFRA was created in June 2001 from the then Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food (MAFF) and from the environmental and countryside business areas of the then Department of the Environment, Transport and the Regions (DETR).

DETR

Department of Environment, Transport and the Regions.

DoE

Department of the Environment.

EAC

Europae Archaeologiae Consilium

EEA

European Economic Area: includes all member states of the European Union plus some countries with associated status.

EEC

European Economic Community.

ENGAGE

National Association for Gallery Education.

ESRI

GIS and mapping software supplier which produces the Arc suit of products.

EU

European Union.

English Heritage (EH)

(The Historic Buildings and Monuments Commission): the statutory body which achieves, enables and promotes conservation of the historic environment in England.

English Nature

The statutory body which achieves, enables and promotes nature conservation in England.

exeGesIS SDM Ltd

A commercial company which specialises in desktop mapping and text database solutions for conservation, environmental and local government organisations including the HER application HBSMR.

FISH

Forum on Information Standards in Heritage (formerly FISHEN): a working party established to decide on terminology and develop wordlists and thesauri to be used in association with the MIDAS units of information.

FWAG

Farming and Wildlife Advisory Group.

GEM

Group for Education in Museums.

HECAS

Historic Environment Advisory Council for Scotland.

HEAVS

Historic Environment Advsroy Council for Scotland. The Council provides independent strategic advice to Scottish Ministers on issues affecting the historic environment.

HEIRNET

Historic Environment Information Resources Network: a consortium of UK bodies hosted by the CBA seeking to co-ordinate inter-operability between information systems relating to the historic environment.

HER Forum

Historic Environment Records Forum, co-ordinated by English Heritage and ALGAO (and formerly named SMR Forum), is a discussion forum for HER professionals. Discussions are held through an e-mail discussion list and twice-yearly meetings. Its Newsletter HER News is now part of the Heritage Gateway.

Historic Scotland

Historic Scotland is an Agency within the Scottish Executive Education Department and is directly responsible to Scottish Ministers for safeguarding the nation’s built heritage, and promoting its understandjng and enjoyment.

HLF

Heritage Lottery Fund.

lcomos

International Council on Monuments and Sites: the international body responsible for preparing reports on sites proposed for inclusion on the World Heritage list for consideration by the World Heritage Committee.

IFA

Institute of Field Archaeologists: is the professional organisation for archaeologists in the United Kingdom. It promotes professional standards and ethics for conserving, managing, understanding and promoting enjoyment of heritage.

IGGI

Inter Governmental Group on Geographic Information.

IHBC

Institute of Historic Building Conservation. IHBC is the professional institute which represents conservation professionals in the public and private sectors in the United Kingdom and Ireland. The Institute exists to establish the highest standards of conservation practice to support the effective protection and enhancement of the historic environment.

liP

Investors in People: the national standard for investing in all employees. It was drawn up after research into the UK's most successful organisations found common factors in their success: good communication, effective planning, and valuing every member of staff.

ISO

International Standards Organisation.

LaMIS

Land Management Information Service.

LGA

Local Government Association. The LGA promotes the interests of English and Welsh local authorities. It aims to put local councils at the heart of the drive to improve public services and to work with government to ensure that the policy, legislative and financial context in which they operate supports that objective.

LGMB

Local Government Management Board.

LSC

Learning and Skills Council.The LSC is responsible for funding and planning education and training for over 16-year-olds in England

mda

A UK-wide organisation which supports the development and application of cultural information-management standards for museums and similar organisations (formerly the Museums Documentation Association).

MAFF

Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food.

MGC

Museums and Galleries Commission: the national body with responsibility for promoting standards in museums.  The MGC was replaced by MLAC and then renamed Resource: The Council for Museums, Archives and Libraries in April 2000.

MLA

Museums, Libraries and Archives Council: established to replace the former MGC on 1 April 2000 and immediately renamed Resource: The Council for Museums, Archives and Libraries, The name Resouce has since been droPped in favour of MLA. MLA is the strategic body working with and for museums, archives and libraries, tapping the potential for collaboration between them. The organisation replaces the Museums and Galleries Commission (MGC) and the Library and Information Commission (LIC) and now includes archives within its portfolio.

MOD

Ministry of Defence.

MSC

Manpower Services Commission: a government agency which funded programmes with the aim of giving work experience to people who had been unemployed for long periods of time.  Many local government organisations ran MSC-funded schemes to capture information into SMRs.

MTI

Museums Training Institute, later CHNTO.

Natural England

Natural England brings together English Nature, the Countryside Agency and the Rural Development Service.

NISO

National Information Standards Organisation.

NMGW

National Museums and Galleries of Wales.

NMRE

National Monuments Record (England): an information resource for England's historic environment established by the RCHME and now maintained by English Heritage.  The NMR contains major collections of aerial photographs, ground photographs of buildings and archaeological monuments, plans, sketches and drawings and databases of monuments, events and archives.

NMRS

National Monuments Record for Scotland.

NMRW

National Monuments Record (Wales)

NOF

New Opportunities Fund: one of the agencies established by the Government to distribute funds from the National Lottery.

NoSAS

North of Scotland Archaeological Service.

ODPM

Office of the Deputy Prime Minister, see DCLG

OS

Ordnance Survey.

OS Archaeology Division

The division of the Ordnance Survey, established by O G S Crawford in the 1930s, which identified and recorded archaeological sites and monuments for inclusion on Ordnance Survey maps.

OUCA

Oxford University Committee for Archaeology

Portable Antiquities Scheme (PAS)

Established by the DCMS with the British Museum to promote the recording of archaeological objects found by metal-detector users and others.

Public Record Office

The national organisation responsible for curating archive collections that include national government papers.

RAF

Royal Air Force: the RAF has been engaged in aerial photography and other remote-sensing techniques since its inception.  In the ten years after World War II, the RAF undertook routine aerial-survey programmes to produce vertical photographs for use by the OS in mapmaking.

RCHME

Royal Commission on the Historical Monuments of England: the national body established by Royal Warrant in 1908 to compile a record of ancient and historical monuments in England and make recommendations concerning their preservation.  In 1999, the RCHME was merged with English Heritage.

RCAHMS

Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments of Scotland.

RCAHMW

Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments of Wales.

RDA

Regional Development Agency.

Resource

Resource: The Council for Museums, Archives and Libraries: established as MLAC in April 2000 and later launched with a new name. This national body replaces the former MGC and takes on national responsibilities for libraries and archives. a second name change has since occurred and the organisation is now known as MLA. 

RNIB

Royal National Institute for the Blind

RNID

Royal National Institute for the Deaf

SCAUM

Standing Conference of Archaeological Unit Managers.

SCONUL

Society of College, National and University Libraries

SDD

Scottish Development Department

SMR

Sites and Monuments Record.

SMR Forum (Scotland)

A forum formed in order to implement the recommendations of the Baker Report (1999) in Scotland’s 18 SMRs.

U3A

University of the Third Age

UNESCO

United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation: a specialised agency of the UN which works to preserve our cultural heritage, bringing together those who can help all nations set the course towards co-operation, development and peace.

WAG

Welsh Assembly Government.

WAT

Welsh Archaeological Trusts.

WI

Womens Institute.

WoSAS

West of Scotland Archaeological Service.

XML UK

United Kingdom Forum for Structured Information Standards

YAC

Young Archaeologists Club.

G.2  Projects and information resources

AIP

Archaeological Investigations Project: an English Heritage funded project which monitors archaeological fieldwork generated through planning advice as a result of PPG 16.

Archive

‘The documents created or received and accumulated by a person or organisation in the course of the conduct of affairs and preserved because of their long-term value’ (International Council on Archives).

ARENA

Archaeological Records of Europe Network Access: a project to search for archaeological sites and monuments from six European countries: UK, Denmark, Norway, Iceland, Romania and Poland. The UK is represented in the project by the ADS.

ASPIRE

Archaeological Standard Protocol for the Integrated Reporting of Events (Scotland)

BAR

British Archaeological Reports.

BAR

Buildings at Risk.

CANMAP

A map enabled query system for Canmore.

Canmore

Canmore is the name given to the RCAHMS database. It contains details of c.250,000 archaeological sites, monuments, buildings and maritime sites in Scotland, together with an index to the drawings, manuscripts and photogrphs ion the NMRS collections. Images of some of the photographs or drawings in the collection are also available in Canmore. Searches can be made on name, location, site type or collection, or by using the Canmore mapping service, CANMAP.

CARN (Wales)

Core Archaeological Record Index. CARN is being developed as the public entry point to the Extended National Database for Wales, a national information resource for archaeology and architecture compiled by archaeological organisations across Wales.

CIS

Countryside Information System

Coflein

Coflein is the online databse for the National Monuments Record of Wales (NMRW) – the national collection of information about the historic environment of Wales. The name is derived from the Welsh cof (memory) and lein (line)

CORINE

Land cover data.

DOB

CBA's Defence of Britain project.

EAB

Environmental Archaeology Bibliography.

ELC

European Landscape Convention

ELS

Entrry Level Agri-Environment Scheme

END

Extended National Database for Wales

Environmental record

Records of the natural environment.

Environmental Stewardship

Includes Entry-level Scheme (ELS) and Higher Level Scheme (HLS) in England, Tir Cynnal and Tir Gofal (in Wales) and Rural Stewardhsip Scheme in Scotland. Environmental Stewardship schemes are agri-environment schemes which provide funding to farmers and other land managers who deliver effective environmental management on their land.

ESA

Environmentaly Sensitive Area.

Excavation Index

English Heritage's record of archaeological interventions in England maintained by the NMR

HBR

Historic Buildings Records: a name used for local-authority records providing an information-management tool for both listed buildings and other buildings of local and regional historical interest.

HELM

Historic Environment – Local Management./ HELM provides accessible information, training and guidance to decision makers in local authoritirs, regional agencies and national organisations whose actions affect the historic environment. Working with key partners, HELM aims to provide the tools to manage change in the historic environment with increased skill and confidence. English Heritage promotes the need for properly resourced and actively consulted historic environment departments, conservation officers, archaeologists and historic environment records. More than 40% of local authorities have now appointed historic environment champions to provide leadership on heritage issues.

HER

Historic Environment Record: a name used for records which provide an information-management tool for both archaeology and historic buildings.

HER News

Former newsletter of the HER Forum, published twice a year by English Heritage now part of the Heritage Gateway.

Heritage Gateway

English Heritage is currently co-ordinating a project in partnership with ALGAO and the IHBC to build a ‘Heritage Gateway’ This will act as a portal to the resources of English Heritage including the new Heritage Protection Reform (HPR) Register of Historic Sites and Buildings of England (RHSBE), the National Monuments Record (NMRE) and local authority Historic Environment Records (HERs) and the wider sector (including national and thematic recording projects) by facilitating distributed searches to provide a rich and diverse experience to users wishing to explore England’s archaeological and architectural heritage.