Projects funded by the National Lottery Heritage Fund are now guided by the Digital Guidance for Projects. This guidance relates to digital resources created with grant funding to help people access, engage with and learn about heritage. NLHF projects are now guided by three requirements for digital outputs; that eac is available, open and accessible. Current guidelines require that digital data produced by NLHF grants must be: 

• available – for five to twenty years from the project completion date
• open – licensed for use by others under the Creative Commons ‘Attribution 4.0 International (CC-BY4.0) or under a Public Domain Dedication, unless we formally agree exceptions for specific works
• accessible – websites to meet at least W3C Double ‘AA’ accessibility standard

The ADS has extensive experience participating in NLHF funded projects and archiving datasets resulting from these and other NLHF projects. The ADS offers a range of services that may be of use for NLHF grantees:

• We archive digital data that records or interprets things in the historic environment. Our collections are wide ranging from databases of World War 2 defensive structures recorded by volunteers to the Heathrow Terminal 5 Excavation Archive undertaken by a number of commercial archaeology units. 
• We maintain digital data in the long term (over 25 years). The ADS is one of the few accredited digital archives for archaeology and historic environment data in the UK. 
• We provide advice and guidance on the use of appropriate standards in creating and archiving digital resources, with a focus on data reuse in the historic environment sector. All our help and guidance is freely available online.

The ADS can offer advice and assistance on draft plans for NHLF applicants intending to submit research data to the ADS. Please email our Collections Team for more information.