SHIB

Begun in the 1960s, the Sussex Harvard Information Bank on Chemical and Biological Warfare (SHIB) is the product of HSP’s concerted and continuing effort to acquire up-to-date information about CBW and to make that information available not only to HSP staff and associates but also to the wider community.

SHIB exists in order to facilitate and empower policy-orientated research in the field of CBW disarmament, technology governance and associated international regime formation and implementation. The secrecies and sensitivities associated with CBW have always restricted the amount and nature of information available for such research and so the design and content of SHIB are meant as countermeasures. This objective directs the emphases in SHIB’s holdings and in the way in which the holdings are organised.

SHIB is a living archive, in the sense that its structure is always being developed so as to suit the changing requirements of researchers in the field. Its holdings are constantly growing, though they already number many hundreds of thousands, and comprise of a wide variety of source types including books, newspaper and journal articles, deposited personal papers, state papers and parliamentary reports, scientific papers, specialist reviews, transcripts, English-language translations, correspondence, videos and photographs etc. A particular emphasis for SHIB is placed on the acquisition of up-to-date political information and a network of correspondents and collaborating literature-scanners worldwide ensures that the monitoring is broad in its international coverage. To enhance access and usefulness of the holdings, HSP maintains three searchable electronic databases to register and record certain categories of information in SHIB.

Truly a unique collection, SHIB has been described as the world largest open access of archive on CBW matters. SHIB is open to anyone who can demonstrate a worthwhile need for access to what it contains. As SHIB holdings are chiefly held at Sussex, requests for supervised access should be made by contacting the director of HSP Sussex.