One of the activities of the British Caving Library is cataloguing collections of donated caving material from once active cavers, mainly documents in the form of log books and so on, but also an audio archive. Some of this, it is planned, will become accessible online. The BCL also recognises that there are other collections held elsewhere, by other organisations, clubs and so on, and that it would be very useful for researchers to have a readily accessible catalogue for all such material, and not just that held by the BCL.

An embryonic online register of caving collections, may be found here: BCL Registry of Collections

It’s embryonic in that there are a lot of collections out there which have not yet been identified, and the accuracy of some of the information currently provided is suspect. Thus, for example, there is an assumption that the original material made available on the MCRA website is held by the MCRA – which is almost certainly not the case.

Additions and corrections to the register are encouraged so that it can become a genuinely useful resource. An email address is provide on the page.

The BCL would like to know of any collections that have not found a good home where it can become available, urge that a good home is found for it, and let them know where it may be found. The BCL is a willing recipient.

The BCL is administered by the British Cave Research Association.