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I don’t think searchroom size should be dictated by the number of people expected to use it at any one time but by the size that is needed to produce safely one or two of those big maps that someone has to see the original of. We will, I hope, still be about protecting the original documents from harm and making them available when necessary and you cannot look at a large estate map in a tiny cupboard of a searchroom even if you only have to get one searcher and one member of staff in there with it.
Of course if the service doesn’t have any large items then it is reasonable to have a searchroom appropriate to the numbers expected to use it. As for the server rooms I think that will depend on how services tackle the storage and back up of their digital files, and at the moment it doesn’t look as if many will be doing that on site at the archive building – many of us don’t now I suspect.
Pretty much everyone brings their own device already but whether the digital files will be such that they can be delivered to personal devices over wifi or will need to be delivered in a locked down system so that the data can be controlled or via a nice big screen so that people can see the detail on the map will depend on the data presumably.
Will there be enough staff to do any exhibitions digital or analogue? My vote would then be definitely for analogue people seem to engage far more with that (quite right too) and it helps them understand the issues of format, size and so on that are lost in the digital environment. Recently I have had lots of people mention to me the 1815 map of part of Bedfordshire on analogue display at the British Library – so many that I had to make a trip to see it myself so I knew what they were on about – I doubt it would have had the same impact if it had been digital especially to the girl who was with someone else and rather bored when suddenly she noticed she was standing next to a map showing her home town, which changed her whole attitude to the visit.
The only thing I will say about the last of Elizabeth’s suggestions is that if that is what our paymasters find to be the most cost effective then whether we think it is a good idea or not it may, eventually, be. However, if our physical service can better meet the needs of the paymasters, such as supporting memory sessions or inspiring the vulnerable, and cost them less then the physical has a future.
Regards
Pamela Birch
Service Manager (Archives Records)
Bedfordshire Archives & Records Service
800 years of history, 100 years of service.
Open: Mon 9.15am-7pm, Tues, Wed & Fri 9am-5pm. If you wish to visit please contact us (01234 228833 or [log in to unmask]<mailto:[log in to unmask]>) to make a booking. Closed Thursday.
Tel: 01234 228908 (direct line) 01234 228833 (main office)
www.bedfordshire.gov.uk/archive Twitter @BedsArchives
From: Archivists, conservators and records managers. [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Elizabeth Oxborrow-Cowan
Sent: 26 February 2016 06:47
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Friday question - how to design a physical service for a digital era?
Dear Colleagues
A question that is perplexing me is how to design the modern archive building. Over the next ten to twenty years there will be the emergence of services which have digital service delivery and collections as a key (if not the primary) element in their operations. How should this influence building design? Small search rooms and large server rooms? Computer terminals throughout or facilities that assume everyone will bring their own device? Digital exhibition and interaction facilities replacing the analogue? Scrap the physical service and make it all online (I await the howls of outrage…) ?Your thoughts as ever are very welcome.
Happy Friday
Elizabeth
Elizabeth Oxborrow-Cowan MSc, RMARA
Director and Consultant Archivist
Elizabeth Oxborrow-Cowan Associates Ltd
+44 (0)1939 234289/ +44 (0)7719 609894
www.elizabethoc.co.uk<http://www.elizabethoc.co.uk>
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