Do your collections cover the whole of Kent?
Our collections cover the majority of the county but Medway has its own archive service, details of which can be found at http://cityark.medway.gov.uk/about/medway_archives. Records covering the area administered by Canterbury City Council are held at Canterbury Cathedral Archives, whose catalogue is available here http://archives.canterbury-cathedral.org/Default.aspx. London Boroughs that were formerly part of Kent including Bromley, Bexley, Greenwich and Lewisham also provide their own archive service.
Does the online catalogue contain all the material in your collections?
At the moment there are just over 600,000 records in the catalogue representing most of the collections. Some collections are fully catalogued and others have only a basic entry and we are working hard to ensure that as much information is added to the catalogues as possible
Once I’ve found something in the catalogue can I get access to an image of it online?
We have around 6000 images from the photographic collections at the Kent History and Library Centre available to look at online via the catalogue and we will be adding more as soon as we can.
What do I need to do if I want to visit Kent History and Library Centre and look at original material in your collections?
You need to get in contact with us to reserve a seat and when you come to visit you will need to bring with you two forms of identification to get your library card enabled to consult archive material. You can also use a County Archives Research Network (CARN) ticket but you will need a library ticket as well. Please click on the following link for more details http://www.kent.gov.uk/leisure-and-community/history-and-heritage/kent-history-and-library-centre/accessing-the-archives
Can I get a copy of material in the collections?
Yes we can normally provide a copy of material unless it might cause any damage to the material being copied. The link above also provides information on our archive copying service
* Please note – you can also buy a camera license and take pictures using your own digital camera providing the material you are interested in can be copied