The essential set of working guidelines appropriate to all HERs, large and small, and for all staff, volunteers and students involved in managing, running, using or supporting an HER.#

These guidelines have been developed to assist those who manage, work in and use Historic Environment Records (HERs). They provide an introduction to the HERs and the services that they provide, set out agreed guidelines for working practices, support the delivery of training information and advice, and provide a guide to all aspects of HER management, working practices, standards, systems and services.

This edition constitutes a major revision and expansion from the first edition to include recent developments and to cover Wales and Scotland as well as England with numerous case studies. It is available free to view on line at www.ifp-plus.info. The publication is the result of a collaboration between English Heritage, Historic Scotland, the Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments of Scotland (RCAHMS), the Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments of Wales (RCAHMW), the Association of Local Government Archaeological Officers UK (ALGAO UK) and the Archaeology Data Service (ADS).

This online manual for HERs is available as both standard web pages (html) and split into sections as Adobe PDF documents for you to freely download and printout for use in your HER.

We hope that you find the guidelines useful and welcome feedback on the contents.