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Dear all
Thank you to the people who responded to my post about setting up a user
group and especially to the person who provided a summary of their own
survey of this issue last summer.
Several offices used their Friends organisations, or a committee of the
Friends, to give feedback on the record office's performance and to suggest
improvements. Some offices had set up separate User Groups, unrelated to
their Friends or similar organisation. In most cases the user groups did
work well but one of the problems seemed to be ensuring regular attendance
to the meetings. Some offices suggested the provision of incentives such as
talks, travel expenses, or lunch.
The method of selecting people to serve on the group differed from voluntary
self-selection to deliberate selection of representative from bodies such as
local and family history organisations. It was also stressed by several
people that meeting needed to be structured and lead by the office to ensure
that all the areas of the service that you want feedback on are covered. It
was also important to make it clear that any decisions regarding the service
rested with the record office staff.
One of the most interesting groups I heard about was the London Archive
Users Forum. This group is independent and gives support to all London
archives without being tied to one office. Perhaps there might be scope for
other regionally based User Groups?
For the moment Worcestershire Record Office is not planning to set up a
separate User Group but is considering other ways of generating user
feedback.
Joanna Terry (Miss)
Archivist (Customer Services & Outreach)
Worcestershire Library & History Centre
Trinity Street
Worcester
WR1 2PW
Tel: 01905 765921
Fax: 01905 765925
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http://www.worcestershire.gov.uk/records
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