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Yesterday, as part of The National Archives’ pioneering digital transfer project, the first born-digital records have been transferred from a government department to The National Archives and are available on our online catalogue, Discovery.

This represents a key milestone for how we collect, preserve and present records in a digital format. These are records that have been created originally as digital records such as emails, documents, and spreadsheets. Find out more about digital records.

The records available yesterday were transferred from the Welsh Government and consist of both digital and paper components, known as hybrid records, from the Welsh Language Board relating to the development of the Welsh language policy since 2006 (see WA 11, WA 12 and WA 13). The National Archives also followed the born-digital transfer process and transferred some of our own records (RW 33) which relate to document conservation images and operational processes relating to digital preservation.

In the years ahead, the majority of transfers will be hybrid records. We are working to ensure that we can store and present all types of digital material efficiently, effectively and, importantly, at scale.

Next year will see the first large scale transfers of born-digital records from government departments to The National Archives.