[citation needed] It was founded in 1995 as Archives Council Wales and was renamed to Archives and Records Council Wales (ARCW) in 2004.
[citation needed] The archives are described at collection level only, although the ultimate intention is to allow for searching at item level.
In July 2009, after a major refurbishment funded by CyMAL: Museums Archives and Libraries Wales, it was relaunched as Archives Wales, or Archifau Cymru in the Welsh language.
The URL is Archives.Wales or archifau.cymru [citation needed] Archives Wales forms part of the UK National Archives Network, a series of online catalogues which together cover local authority, HE and specialist archive repositories in all parts of the UK.
[citation needed] The other key parts of the network are: A2A (Access to Archives, collections in English local record offices), AIM25 (Archives in the M25 area), The Archives Hub (Archives of UK HE and FE institutions), SCAN (Scottish Archives Network)