biab provides information about articles and books on the archaeology of Britain and Ireland, updated throughout the year with over 1,000 new references per annum (see here for coverage information).

We are supported by all the major national bodies from UK and Ireland (see here).

biab is the latest in a long line of bibliographic services for British and Irish archaeology provided by the CBA. biab maintain the entire archive of these services - over 100,000 references to publication from 1940 onwards. To that dataset we have added records from earlier bibliographies, containing records from as far back as 1695AD, details of which can be found here. This database of nearly 200,000 references - updated with new information throughout the year - is biab online.

We have made best use of the information structures inherent in the hard-copy data as well as utilising the functionality of the digital system. Details of information structures and standards can be found in these pages.

The main ones are the classification system, in use since 1969, and the chronological framework.

The classification system can be used to search for material from BAA, BAB and biab using the biab search. Users are advised that hard-copy information structures were introduced by Cherry Lavell in 1969 and apply to data from BAA, BAB and biab - over 50,000 records.

biab online is committed to the use of appropriate data standards.