Dear All



I too read the document recently circulated on the MLAs Action for Archives programme and also have grave concerns. I would support all the concerns that Maria raises but I am also appalled to think that MLA have so misunderstood our profession that they can suggest that it can not only be merged with librarians but then transmuted into a heritage / cultural role.



I always understood that the basic role of an archivist was first and foremost to identify, collate, protect and preserve the records of their employing institution. This role involved a number of legal and administrative skills to ensure that the Institution met its obligations both regulatory and legal to its self, its employees, its customers, its suppliers and where appropriate its stakeholders (to use the modern jargon) or their equivalent. It was only once all these obligations had been met can the access question be truly considered. 



All these roles can only be effectively covered on site and the more remote an archivist becomes from both their archives and the institution which generates them, the more difficult it is to ensure that a proper service is provided. The idea that we can just put it all up on the web and allow unlimited access and download would I am sure run into copyright difficulties if no other legal requirement and also not meet the criteria agreed with private depositors over the last century. It also diminishes the vital role the archivist plays in interpreting and explaining the province / context of the record which is all important if the user is to get the best out of the records they are looking at.



I am all for community engagement, however I see this more as engaging, in my particular case, with first and foremost the creators of the archives to ensure we preserve what accurately reflects the growth and development of the institution I work for. Whilst I am more than happy to receive and incorporate the views of the wider community on what we need to preserve there does have to be a balance struck between these two. 



Whilst like Maria I fail to understand completely what the total privatisation of family history means, I agree with Liz that the material still has be collected and catalogued at a local level and I cannot see a private institution being prepared to take on that very time consuming and expensive role.



Finally I was attracted to the profession by the very specialist and important role which the Archivist performs in this Country. To have the privilege and opportunity to handle and manage the very records and information, out of which history in its widest sense is created, is something not really available to any other profession. I think that we undermine that specialism at our peril and any attempt to merge it into a heritage / cultural role would do just that.



Perhaps as some one who in the next ten years will retire I have a rather old fashioned view of our profession but I would hope that the fundamentals of what we do and how we do it have not and will not change that much now or over the next 20 years



Obviously a very personal view point and one which in no way reflects those of my employer



Cheers



Nigel



Nigel Hardman

Group Archives

DBRS Warehouse

Bootle



Phone : 8812 6501 or 0151 522 6501

Fax    : 8812 6506 or 0151 522 6506

E mail : [log in to unmask] 



  





     



 



-----Original Message-----

From: Archivists, conservators and records managers. [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Maria Sienkiewicz

Sent: 05 June 2007 14:58

To: [log in to unmask]

Subject: MLA's vision for archives



Here in the north west, we have been sent some information on MLA's Action

for Archives Programme.  It includes a question and answer sheet, which

contains the following:

  

Where does MLA see archives be in 20 years time?

*	there will have been mergers and amalgamations - maybe even regional

archives rather than city or county ones, or mergers with libraries and

museums. Some of the big tourist cities may retain local archives but as

part of wider heritage or cultural service offers.

*	all LA archives united as a single service with 130 access points

with single entry to all archives with one ticket or better still ticketless

access. Single brand with clear identity

*	Much more material will be on-line, not just catalogues but

digitised images downloadable to personal devices etc

*	Professional boundaries between archivist, libraries etc will have

broken down and merged; people will train as heritage professionals or

cultural advisers/managers

*	community engagement will ensure archive services are meeting the

needs of all of their users and users will be directly involved in deciding

what is kept

*	Total privatisation of family history, as a leisure interest with a

clear market and brand leaders - Ancestry.uk etc 



I would be really interested to know what people think about this.  As

someone who hopes to still be working in archives in 20 years' time, I find

it rather worrying for a number of reasons:



I have nothing against the theory of mergers, and can see that it will bring

economies of scale.  Indeed, if more records are to be digitised, then

people are more likely to be accessing archives in a variety of ways at a

range of locations.  However, I cannot see how this fits in with Community

Engagement.  I also do not see why a big tourist city should be treated any

differently.  Surely, if anything, such locations would be more suited to a

digital/exhibition approach than somewhere which may not have many tourists,

but which has a large academic audience.  If we are to consider social

inclusion, then socially excluded areas are the least likely to have a

tourist audience, yet would be most in need of the opportunities and

benefits archives can bring to a community.



This solely audience-based perspective also worries me because I feel that

it completely ignores the very core of archives - the importance of

provenance.  While I know that it can be confusing for many ordinary people,

the simple fact is that most archives are located where they are because of

their history - their location is an integral part of the knowledge they

contain.  The re-organisation of county boundaries in 1974, for example, now

means that records for parts of some counties are in a neighbouring county

record office.  We all know how confusing this can be, but it is also part

of the learning and research process for archive users - a process that

surely can only be to their benefit in widening their knowledge and

broadening their skills.  I have always thought that this is one area where

the internet can be of real benefit - as users can now easily search for

many records without any knowledge of their possible location. 



While we have previously discussed on this list the need for changes to our

training, I do not see how we can be merged with librarians - there are too

many areas of specialism, and to ignore that is to devalue both professions.

I would also point out that not all archivists are working in 'heritage'.



Finally, I am completely at a loss as to what the 'total privatisation of

family history' would involve....



Maria Sienkiewicz

Barclays Group Archivist (although all opinions expressed are my own, and

not the Bank's)









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