In Oxfordshire we are being asked to show the relevance of our services to
ethnic minorities by (inter al) reference to the number of ethnic minority
users who visit the Record Office. This is leaving us with a problem on how
we measure such a thing. To ask everyone who enters the Office to tell us
their ethnic group is potentially insulting, and at best sounds like
something out of the darker days of the European dictatorships - we might
have the best of intentions, but I could understand anyone from a background
which has experienced racial harassment getting very edgy about it. If we
make it voluntary, any statistics will be meaningless. There are even Data
Protection issues involved - for what practical purpose do we need this
information, how are we going to use it, and when are we going to destroy
it?
Has anyone else faced this question, and if so how did they tackle it?
Incidentally, I have suggested that different cultures have different
attitudes towards history, and to expect a culture to conform to the
intellectual justifications behind a record office network is in itself
suspect - you can make available, as we have tried to do by printing
leaflets in various languages, but have to be careful this doesn't spill
into pressurising. Certain self-proclaimed proponents of racial equality
seem to have difficulty with this one.
Carl Boardman
Oxfordshire Record Office
Oxfordshire Record Office is a section of Cultural Services in Oxfordshire
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