The Sussex Harvard Information Bank (SHIB) is the core research resource of the Harvard Sussex Program (HSP).
It is based on materials collected by Julian Perry Robinson from the 1960s until his death in 2020. These were added to through his collaboration with Matthew Meselson which led to the creation of HSP and by collaboration with a wide network of contributors who provided a diverse selection of inputs.
SHIB is far more than simply an archive of papers. It was designed to be a resource through which information could be rapidly retrieved. To achieve this, a bespoke thematic coding system was developed which became known as the “SHIB fine structure”. The developing organizational structure of SHIB followed the research priorities of HSP as they changed over time while maintaining files on core subjects.
While UK copyright rules allowed for Julian to hold copies of a range of materials within the paper-based version of SHIB, they do not allow for digitized versions of copyrighted materials to be shared online. Therefore, the online version of SHIB is essentially a catalogue of holdings. Links to online copies of documents hosted by the copyright holders have been provided in many cases within the catalogue. Efforts to make a searchable version of those parts of SHIB that are either public domain or for which copyright clearance can be confirmed are underway and are likely to be the subject of future funding applications.
The easiest ways to access the SHIB catalogue for those not familiar with the SHIB fine structure is to use the following pages:
- SHIB outline — which leads users from the higher levels of SHIB coding down to the detailed levels via a step-by-step process
- Information by country — which lists relevant files relating to each country
A third page which helps users navigate the holdings by themes is currently at a much earlier stage of development.
A further page looking at the various ways of navigating the holdings is also available.