The Kew office of The National Archives holds 149 kilometres of records. The physical retrieval and replacement of documents is carried out by the Archive Production Services (APS) department. In 2002, a total of 535,000 document requisitions were actioned for the public, The National Archives staff and government service. We spoke to Peter from the APS department.

Can you tell us how documents arrive in the reading room?

We have a computer system called DORIS (Document Ordering Reader Information System). When a reader orders a document on a terminal, a print out of the order comes out on the floor the document is held on. The print out gives the reader's name and location, e.g. which seat in the Reading Room he or she is sitting at, the document reference and where exactly on that floor the document is located.

A staff member takes the printout to where the document is located, and separates it in two. One half, called the ticket, is left on the shelf to indicate that the document has been removed by a member of APS staff and to whom and where it is being delivered.

The other half, or the slip, is then scanned with a bar code reader that is attached to a computer to say that it has left the floor. The slip is then scanned again when the document arrives at the counter in the reading room, and again when the reader collects the document. The slip is 'cleared' when a reader hands back a document, and the ticket is 'cleared' when the document is put back on the shelf.

This is how DORIS constantly monitors the location of a document. Documents have to be produced within agreed business and corporate plan targets. For example, on a weekday, 90% of documents ordered by the public have to be ready within 30 minutes.

Could you tell us a little about your own job and what you do?

I am called the Training Coordinator for APS and part of my job is to organise internal training for the APS staff - care of documents, manual handling, DORIS etc. and working with the Training department to put on other courses, e.g. supervisory ones. As well as this I am the APS representative on the Keeper's (chief executive) "Investors in People" champions group.

But I also have a role in acting as an interface between my department and others such as the Information and Communications Technology, Records Management and e-Access (electronic access) departments. This would be to raise any issues about the document ordering system, DORIS or the catalogue of public records, known as The Catalogue. As well as this I am a member of the DORIS/Catalogue Development Team.

Have you ever done any family research of your own here at the National Archives?

Yes, I have done research for several friends of mine. An interesting example is the case of a letter that a friend of mine owned which was written by an ancestor of his called Robert Holbrook.

I traced Robert Holbrook using the records here at The National Archives and found that he is mentioned in naval records. It seems that Robert Holbrook joined the ship 'the Orion' in 1805 as the ship's boy. The Orion fought in the Battle of Trafalgar having joined the main fleet off Cadiz in August of 1805. Surprisingly he was not the only young boy onboard; there was another ship's boy, eleven-year-old Thomas Tatler.

What's the most interesting or rare document you have handled at the National Archives?

I suppose the rarest document I have handled is the Domesday Book. For me the most interesting document I have come across would be either a map of Epping Forest from the 1890's that measures 15ft long, or the notebook that belonged to Lord Alfred Douglas (named on the cover as H B Douglas) while in prison in 1924, containing the original text of "In Excelsis" in pencil.

Who are the main customers APS deal with?

All sorts of different people come here but we do also have several distinct groups of customer too.

Firstly, lots of professional researchers come here – they are hired to conduct research. Lots of academics and PhD students use The National Archives too; often these are historians looking into a specific historical niche. We also see lots of first-timers conducting research into their own family history. Lastly, the papers of the foreign office are popular with foreign researchers who want to understand the British perspective on certain historical events.

How are records protected from physical erosion?

The Kew office holds 149 kilometres of records (14 kilometres of maps and 135 kilometres of other documents) on fixed and mobile racking in 16 repositories. So it is not an inconsiderable task! Temperature and humidity are the main erosive threats to old documents and so these are carefully monitored and kept to a minimum. Light has to be carefully controlled too so documents are kept in darkness, this explains the fortress like appearance of the Kew building. A special fire control system constantly samples air particles to test for the presence of smoke particles to warn us instantly if a fire breaks out.