The Coalfield Web Materials website is a Lottery funded resource that aims to allow users the freedom to experience the photographic, audio, and video items, currently housed in the South Wales Coalfield Collection at University of Wales Swansea, without the need to travel to the collection. 

Because of time and monetary restrictions it has not been possible to represent the complete collection online. However, the items that are accessible represent the views of users of the collection to be the items of most interest.

Users of the website can move through the collection in four different ways from the site homepage.

1. Requesting to view only those records that can be experienced online.
2. Choosing the 'search' option from the home page, entering search criteria and experiencing the results that are returned. However, please be aware that not all records include objects that can be experienced online.
3. Clicking on the 'themes' option from the home page and navigating through prepared routes designed to highlight areas of particular interest in the collection. 
4. Choosing the 'Learning Paths' option (designed with schools and education professionals in mind). This option directs the user to an area designed by the project's educationdedicated to a particular subject, the first being the 'Spanish Civil War'. A topic plan is provided in addition to a series of directed questions and activities based on rich multimedia sources contained within the South Wales Coalfield Collection. Materials are also available in 'print friendly' format.