The British Institute for Libyan and Northern African Studies (BILNAS) maintains a historically significant archive, primarily documenting British archaeological projects in Libya since the early 20th century. These materials are organised by the name of the depositor, such as the ‘Kathleen Kenyon and John Ward-Perkins papers’, which serves as the main access point.

However, contributions from other individuals involved in generating these materials are often harder to identify. Such contributions frequently appear only in informal correspondence or notes, requiring labour-intensive cross-referencing and analysis of archaeological legacy data to uncover their significance.

This project reimagines archival access through a person-centred approach. It seeks to create detailed, interconnected records for underrepresented contributors, including essential but often overlooked individuals, such as site labourers, field technicians and finds specialists. Each person record will encapsulate key details, such as occupation, contributions, achievements, and institutional affiliations. By linking these profiles to specific archival items, the project will illuminate the roles of various contributors, enhancing accessibility and usability in accordance with the FAIR (Findable, Accessible, Interoperable, Reusable) principles.

Through this approach, researchers will be able to trace individual contributions, including those of British, North African, and other participants, to significant overseas archaeological projects. The longitudinal perspective enabled by linked person data will deepen understanding of knowledge production in relation to archaeological projects from the early 20th century onward.

Ultimately, this innovative project seeks to reveal and provide access to the human stories and connections embedded within its archive collections, advancing equity and inclusion within archival practices.

With the support of a Research and Innovation grant from TNA, Shakespeare’s Globe spent 2024 developing new thematic finding aids to its collections, surfacing a diversity that was previously hidden by the catalogue and creating new starting points for thematic research on disability, gender, queerness and race. A newly recruited Inclusion Advisory Panel of those with lived experience across the four areas helped shape the content and how we presented it, with the aim of reaching new audiences once the new research and collections reading room opens in 2025, including asking for a separate timeline resource.

These new finding aids offer a means of researchers sidestepping catalogues that are not intuitive to navigate or very accessible. But they also facilitate thematic research, that catalogues are not designed for, and offer opportunities to share multiple perspectives and possibilities as well as certainties.

In this presentation, the project manager and editor of the new guides will share the journey, introduce some of the format and content, and underline the importance of community consultation. He will also be sharing lessons learned that could benefit others considering revisiting their collections to improve the discoverability of those previously underserved and under-represented.

LSE Library’s archives and special collections have historically focused on the papers of British individuals and organisations working to improve society. While this might suggest a British-centric collection, the reality is more complicated. Our archives contain a diverse range of materials, including those that document marginalised communities—often through a colonial lens. A key challenge we face is how to increase the discoverability of underrepresented collections and connect them with a broad range of researchers who will engage with them in new and innovative ways. This paper will focus on 10 practical, actionable steps that institutions in similar situations can take to uncover diversity and ensure that historically marginalised perspectives and experience are more fully represented in their archive collections.

Focussing on our ongoing strands of work, some of the activities we will discuss will include the establishment of a cross-library peer group dedicated to inclusive cataloguing, revision of catalogue descriptions relating to marginalised histories, proactive collecting in underrepresented areas in our collection, and integrating oral history into the acquisition process to allow more opportunity for personal insights from the depositor to inform how records are catalogued. We will also talk about our development of “living” subject guides, such as our ‘Traces of South Asia’ and ‘Africa and the African Diaspora’ webpages, which has included inviting family historians researching our student records to respond and “add” to the records and collaborating with researchers on public events which showcase their engagement with our collections.