Eleven years ago (a time I prefer to forget) I worked for a year as a PR
Account Executive for a consultancy which dealt with, among other
organisations, Cambridge University Vet School, Geest Bananas and an IVF
Clinic. On the day I had to write a press release entitled 'The British
Housewife Loves Her Bananas!!!', I decided to become an archivist instead.
>From my experience, I can say that this post would need to be - at the very
least - a half-time job (no, I'm not volunteering). And it would have to be
filled by someone with PR experience. Helen is quite correct when she says
that the key activities of a PR Officer would have to be building up
relationships with the media and identifying opportunities. This is a slow
process and much more time consuming than writing the odd press release.
There would also need to be a substantial budget to cope with entertaining
hacks and raising awareness.
I expect that the Society of Archivists cannot afford such a post, and I
wonder if a better approach might be either:
1. To build up relationships with exsiting press offices in the major
national archives, MLAC, DCMS etc and feed off their experience
2. To provide training for archivists in basic PR activities so that each
one of us is better equipped to respond when an issue like this arises.
Caroline
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Caroline Shenton
Assistant Clerk of the Records
The Parliamentary Archives
House of Lords Record Office
Palace of Westminster
London SW1A OPW
[log in to unmask]
http://www.parliament.uk
+44 (0)171 219 5318 (tel)
+44 (0)171 219 2570 (fax)
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