Keeping connected with the BECC online catalogue

By Frances Davies, Documentation Assistant, British Empire & Commonwealth Collection

Back in 2021 we launched a new British Empire & Commonwealth Collection (BECC) online catalogue – it acts as the gateway and first-port-of-call to find out what this unique collection holds. Our goal is to reach and engage global audiences, so it is important to get this online resource right. Consulting with our users regularly is one way to achieve this. Recently we ran a survey to gather more data around this – particularly from those with a geographical connection to empire in some way.  

It was important for us to investigate how easy the website is to find out there in cyber space, along with views on the quality of object information and whether there are objects which need showcasing a bit more. We were also eager to find out if the content warning we have on our homepage is appropriate – particularly as the subject matter and content of the collection i.e. empire, is such a sensitive and challenging one.  

The results of the survey have given us much food for thought. Overall survey respondents thought the website was a useful resource but (as with most things!) there is always room for improvement. Some of the main findings included: 

• The collection needs better promotion and be easier to find

• There are gaps around certain colonial histories

• Object descriptions and records need to include more detail (particularly around provenance and context)

• More object photos needed

• Clearer guidance for searching on a mixed collection like this which contains objects and archives

• Need for more voices and diverse perspectives.

Next steps 

We received some really helpful and insightful feedback from our survey participants who were honest and candid about ways we needed to improve the catalogue. We’ve taken these views onboard and written up a report of recommendations based on these. The recommendations will help inform our work on the website over the next few years. Some improvements are a bit easier to tackle than others so we have divided the work into changes which can be made in the short term (6-12 months) and longer term (12 month +).  

We have already started work to take better photos by investing in some new equipment in order to set up a photography studio in our store. The museum’s Digitisation Officer will be providing us with training and providing expertise on how we can take quality photos – often a task tricky to achieved in light controlled storage environments which are quite dark! 

We look forward to introducing many of the other recommendations soon too.

If you have any comments/improvement suggestions for our online catalogue British Empire & Commonwealth Collection (bristol.gov.uk) do let us know [email protected]