Dear All,

Posting on a Sunday night - hope you're all impressed!  I have got a  
glass of wine right here though...

Maria raises an interesting question as I have noticed public sector  
offices being run on more of a business model in recent years -  eg.  
increasing targets, business plans, gershon savings, income  
generation and corporate image to name a few. Not to mention  
responsibility for balancing budgets and making cuts when employers  
deem it necessary. This should theoretically make it easier to move  
between sectors although I must admit I have never tried. I wonder if  
the issue might be perceived differences in approach (and, at risk of  
opening up an old can of worms, salary) rather than an actual gap in  
experience or training that could prove problematic. One issue may be  
a difficulty in demonstrating parity of experience across the  
sectors: is an experienced business archivist ready to run a city or  
county office, or would they need to build up particular skills at a  
lower level?

The emphasis on access and inclusion is an obvious difference, but  
are we not just serving different types of customer: the public  
sector archivist necessarily facing outward, the company archivist  
inward? In essence we are both proving our worth through use of the  
material in our care. I would say that if such a split is taking  
place then it is not a good thing. The sectors can learn a lot from  
each other and enforced specialisation at an early stage may make  
archives as a career less attractive. In addition, archivists are a  
numerically small group and increased divisions make training  
provision and remit of a professional body much harder so I would be  
keener to focus on our similarities rather than differences.

I have confined my posting to archive roles between sectors rather  
than records management, which may be a whole different question ...

Jenny Moran
Northamptonshire Record Office, but posting in a private capacity

Some of us here in the business sector (and I do not claim to speak for
everyone) feel that the division between public sector archivists and  
those
in the private sector is widening.  We suspect this is because of the
funding now available to public sector colleagues and the emphasis that
funding often places on access and inclusion.  Additionally, public  
sector
archives are increasingly being placed within the heritage/library  
sector of
their organisations, while private sector archives are more likely to be
found reporting to the Company Secretary, in what could be seen as  
the more
traditional role of archives.

I am not claiming that one is better than the other, but I am  
interested to
know what others think.
Do you agree, and what are your thoughts on why this is happening?
Do you think it's a good or bad thing?
Can you see a time when the profession is completely divided, with  
people
finding it difficult to move from one sector to the other?