National Bell Register

Among bell ringers and bell historians in the UK, there has been from time to time discussion of the establishment of a National Bell Register (or database). The primary intent is that it should be a repository of information about each known bell in the UK which is (or could be) hung in a tower. There has been a pilot project about what items of information might be included in such a database. But actual establishment has not yet occurred because of questions such as cost, ownership, access, and (perhaps most important of all) quality control.

The same questions would need to be addressed when discussing the establishment of a National Bell Register in other countries, or indeed for an International Bell Register.

This page is intended to provide a place for collecting ideas about how answer those questions, as well as to raise and answer any other questions that may be relevant to such a project.

Some points to be addressed:

1. Why is a National Bell Register needed?
2. Who (or what) might be an appropriate owner/maintainer of the database?
3. How can information be acquired for such a database?
4. How should information about bells be organized?
5. What is the difference between maintaining the database as a whole and maintaining the information content of the database?
6. What kinds of analysis and/or reporting functions should the database have?
7. What differences, if any (other than the obvious geographic one), should be expected between the national bell registers of different countries, or between national registers and an international register?

If you have a potentially useful opinion on any of these points, or a point to add to this list, you're invited to edit this page.

Links

A National Bell Register, compiled by George Dawson