UK Arts and Humanities Data Service closed 2008 at 12-year median

The Arts and Humanities Data Service — a United Kingdom national service operating five domain centers in archaeology, history, literature/languages/linguistics, performing arts, and visual arts — closed on March 31, 2008, exactly at the 12-year median documented in E-0006. The closure followed a vote by the Arts and Humanities Research Council to discontinue co-funding despite community opposition (S-0036).

The disposition of the holdings was uneven:

• Archaeology and history collections were absorbed by successor services at the University of York and the University of Essex.
• Visual arts collections continued as VADS at the University for the Creative Arts.
• Performing arts collections had no direct successor, and their long-term accessibility has been uneven.

The case is C-0020's discontinuation pattern at the national-service level. National designation, dedicated funding, and explicit preservation mission were each insufficient to prevent closure once the funding decision was made. The 47% no-migration figure from E-0006 is illustrated unevenly here: most collections found a successor, one did not.

The architectural reading: a service that depends on a single funder's continued decision is one decision away from termination, regardless of how mission-critical the service is or how active its user community is.