At BOA, we are always striving to improve our digital platform, especially in terms of accessibility and usability.
This is why we have been working to ensure that all of our primary source collections can be explored via the Universal Viewer (UV). This is a rich, embeddable interface that supports IIIF images, audio, and video, as well as non-IIIF 3D and PDF viewing experiences.
Significantly, the UV offers the “deep zoom” feature, allowing users to examine key details in a document without lowering the quality of the image. Any handwritten script in a document likewise benefits from Handwritten Text Recognition (HTR), delivering a significant increase in terms of usability and search term accuracy. Our website also allows you to perform a bulk download of the HTR files for the collection that you are exploring.
We are delighted to report that all of our 128 primary source collections are now UV-enabled! This is a real milestone for us, one that we are proud to have reached and which, most importantly, will benefit our users.
You can explore our full range of collections on our website.
We’d also like to take this opportunity to highlight that you can avail of free 30-day institutional trials of our collections. If you would like to request a trial, please contact us at info@britishonlinearchives.com. Alternatively, you can request trials by visiting collection landing pages on our website.