The Author of the ARTS Scheme

Dr Nick Barratt is the designer of the ARTS scheme. He obtained a PhD in history from King's College London in 1996, editing the 1225 Exchequer pipe roll and several Exchequer receipt rolls from the 1220s when The National Archives maintained a site at Chancery Lane. On joining The National Archives at Kew later the same year as a reader adviser, this first-hand research experience proved instrumental in developing the Academic Induction scheme, which Dr Barratt designed to instruct new postgraduates in the skills required to begin research at The National Archives. He quickly extended the scheme to include undergraduates, and moved it outside Kew to regional 'host' universities that offered sessions to students from all universities within a defined area.

From 1997, Dr Barratt moved to the BBC on a temporary secondment, acting as a specialist archive researcher for a number of programmes. During this period, he visited a wide range of county record offices; national institutions such as the Family Records Centre, National Library of Wales, the National Archives of Scotland, the National Library of Scotland and the British Library (including the India Office Library); private archives (such as Harewood House, Chatsworth and West Dean); and a variety of other institutions such as the Wellcome Institute, Westminster Abbey Muniments Room and the Bodleian Library.

Dr Barratt has also first hand experience of students' requirements, having taught at Roehampton in 1999. He presented a paper on the future of academic research at the International Medieval Congress, Leeds in 2000 and thereafter began examining the possibility of developing online tutorials. On leaving The National Archives in November 2000 to undertake more detailed research for the BBC, Dr Barratt has finally been able to write a more comprehensive package that draws upon the full range of his experience of both research and students' requirements at the widest range of archives.

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