Dear local authority archivists, in my capacity as Secretary of ACALG, I recently attended a meeting
hosted by CILIP (The Chartered Institute of Library and Information Professionals) to discuss the
effect of the Representation of the People Act on library and archive holdings. As readers of the
listserve are aware, interpretation of the Act by electoral registration officers varies widely. In
order to get some idea of variations across the country I would be very grateful for responses
(off-list - I promise to summarise) to the following questions now that the Act is in force:
1) Are electoral registration officers refusing to supply copies of current electoral registers to
archive repositories?
2) If EROs are supplying copies are repositories being charged? What sort of fees?
3) Are EROs setting rules on photocopying of registers? If so, how far are these being imposed on
superseded registers?
4) Are EROs across the geographical area covered by your repository all doing the same thing or are
some interpreting the Act in different ways?
5) How are local authority archivists (and their lawyers) interpreting the Act themselves in respect
of the acess and copying?
Thanking you all in anticipation!
Elizabeth Hughes
County Archivist
01273 482356
Elizabeth Hughes
County Archivist
01273 482356
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