No comments to add. Seems a good summary to me.
Margaret Harrison
Jordanhill Library
Jacqueline Seargeant wrote:
> Dear All,
>
> Suzette has had very few responses regarding
> SUSCAGs report to the HMC 'archives at the millennium', so
> if you still haven't got round to sharing your views on the
> future, now is your chance. What follows is a summary
> compiled by Suzette, of points suggested, including issues
> raised at the last SUSCAG meeting. We would welcome any
> feedback to this draft before it is sent off to Chris
> Kitching at the end of the month. Has anything vital been
> missed? Should anything in particular be emphasised?
> Please air all comments on the discussion list.
>
> Jacqui Seargeant
> Secretary, SUSCAG
> ---------------------------------------
>
> 12 November 1998
>
> Archives at the Millennium
>
> Dear Mr Kitching,
>
> On behalf of SUSCAG I am writing with comments about the above
> consultation document. I apologise for the delay in our response,
> but as the Secretary has explained this was unavoidable. Thank you
> for granting us an extension.
>
> First of all may I express the appreciation of SUSCAG that there is a
> lottery mapping exercise commissioned by the HMC, PRO and SRO. This
> development is very much welcomed by the group.
>
> Secondly, SUSCAG is very pleased to note that there will soon be an
> opening of a local office for Scotland, to be situated in Edinburgh.
> This will be very helpful.
>
> There is some concern about the apparent contradiction between the
> HMC’s desire to have a strategic plan to use lottery funding for the
> UK heritage sector and the low level of recurrent funding which seems
> to be given to special collections and archives holdings in HEIs.
> The tremendous boost given to these collections in the last few
> years by the distribution of funding under the Follett initiative has
> served to raise awareness of the strength of these collections for
> researchers and to improve access greatly. User expectations have
> therefore been increased and developments in IT have
> also improved online access to these collections.
>
> Another concern arises from the increase in project-based work and
> its impact on and correlation with core institutional staff. Such
> staff must have the time to ensure a degree of continuity, which is
> necessary for adherence to locally devised and national
> standards so that the work of the projects can be successfully
> integrated, and this is often not possible, given other pressures.
>
> The diversity and richness of the material held in archives and
> special collections in UK HEIs is described in the recent JISC
> publication Accessing our Cultural Heritage and the SUSCAG
> publication Ensuring Scotland’s Cultural Heritage, which covers
> only Scotland of course. In the new HMC framework there are calls to
> increase both education and access. SUSCAG hopes that in the future
> it will be successful in bidding for lottery funding, in order to
> enable these institutions to offer greater access to the wider
> education community, as these collections become more widely known
> about and appreciated.
>
> Yours sincerely,
>
> Suzette Bell
> SHEFC Project Manager, on behalf of SUSCAG
>
> ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
> Jacqueline M Seargeant
> Archivist
>
> University Archive
> Corporate Communications
> Heriot-Watt University
> Edinburgh EH14 4AS
>
> Tel: 0131 451 3638
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