I click on the link to the digital object but it does not work

Help Troubleshooting I click on the link to the digital object but it does not work

When you click on the link to the digital object (whether by clicking on the thumbnail’s preview under “Digital Object” or on the default icon) sometimes you can end up on a blank page, or on the homepage of the holding institution.

This is because when you click on these links, you are leaving Archives Portal Europe to land on the webspace of the institution holding the documents, including their digital versions; sometimes the institutions update or make changes to their URLs, and it takes a while before they are re-connected to Archives Portal Europe.

You can still find the digital object (if it hasn’t been removed altogether by the holding institution), however, by searching for it on their website, using the information given to you in the left-hand side column of the finding aid page in Archives Portal Europe, which illustrate where that document is within the archive. Other information you can use are the title of the object and the reference code.


AN EXAMPLE

You want to find this image from the repository of the University of Brighton Designer Archives, but when you click on the thumbnail, you get an error page.

  1. Google the name of the institution: University of Brighton Designer Archives- in this case, the link is broken because they have a new website! https://blogs.brighton.ac.uk/brightondesignarchives/
  2. On the home page, they have a “Browse our archives” button, which lists all of their collections. Look at the grey column on the left of the finding aid in APE (see pic above), which gives you the name or title of the collection: it is in the DESIGN COUNCIL ARCHIVE.
  3. Click on this title in the list provided on the University of Brighton Designer Archives’ homepage. It will take you to the description page of this collection, which includes a “Browse this archive button”.
  4. Click on it to reach the Archives Hub portal, where the archive is hosted. All you need to do from here is to follow the location as indicated in the grey column on Archives Portal Europe (see pic above): DESIGN COUNCIL ARCHIVE > LONDON DESIGN CENTRE > DESIGN COUNCIL POSTERS > “Christmas List” (the title of our document) There are two with the same name! Check the finding aid in APE again for the reference code, below the title: GB/1837/DES/DCA/10/1/160 - this is the one you were looking for !