Minister visits Scran: 31 July 2001

Scran was today visited by Nigel Griffiths MP, Minister for Small Business at the Department of Trade and Industry.

Nigel had first visited Scran in May 1998, when the website received its 150,000th hit, and was interested to note that nowadays, Scran processes over 200,000 hits every week.

Nigel tried a number of searches on the million-record resource base. He was impressed by the stunning images of National Parks in the USA produced by his search on John Muir. He also noted with approval, what he called the "digital repatriation" of cultural icons like the "Roy Map", which till now had only been available to researchers. He then explored the Scran shop, an increasingly popular way for users to buy CD-ROMs and Resource Packs online.

In conclusion, Nigel said:

"The use of New Technology in the exploitation of cultural resources is an important source of new business opportunities for small and medium enterprises, not only in the fields of education and tourism, but increasingly in the emerging creative industries which will be a major source of growth in the European economy.

I think Scran is an inspirational enterprise. It is an all-too-rare example of a multi-million pound high-tech project, delivering on its promises, on schedule and within budget. In the process, Scran has developed into a small business that looks as if it will be able to sustain itself into the future, without compromising its mission of giving ordinary people access to the best of digital culture."