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Colleagues At the recent SUSCAG meeting it was agreed that the Group should respond to the consultation document: Resource's archives agenda. Arnott Wilson volunteered to draft a response on behalf of the Group, and this is reproduced below. The consultation document can be found at http://www.resource.gov.uk/information/archive01.html. It is a short document, only 12 pages long. The consultation exercise ends on 1 July 2001, so I would appreciate any comments on the paper and on Arnott's response by the latest - midday on Friday 29 June 2001. Thank you Graeme S. Forbes Head of Resource Management & Development Napier University Learning Information Services Sighthill Court Edinburgh EH11 4BN Tel: +44 131 455 3558 Fax: +44 131 455 3566 email: [log in to unmask] SUSCAG RESPONSE TO RESOURCE'S ARCHIVES AGENDA The Scottish Universities Special Collections and Archives Group (SUSCAG) exists to foster closer co-operation between University Archives and Special Collections' departments and to consider issues of common concern. It is an independent group not affiliated to any other archives body in Scotland or the United Kingdom. As it is expected that detailed responses to the Resource consultation paper will be submitted by the Society of Archivists, Scotland, and other bodies representative of the archives community, this response confines itself to brief general comments only. At paragraph 2.5 of the consultation paper it is noted that, "the exact geographical scope of Resource's archives remit remains to be resolved through discussions with the devolved administrations in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland". Notwithstanding the structural difficulties occasioned by differing placement of archives reponsibilities within UK and Scottish government departments, SUSCAG would urge that a concordat with the Archives profession in Scotland be agreed as soon as possible. Given the rapid pace of development in the English Regional Archive Councils, there is legitimate concern that Scottish repositories risk falling further behind their English counterparts if there is no funding mechanism which allows Resource to disburse funds to aid the development of Scottish archives. The report, "An Archival Account of Scotland" published in February 2000 highlighted the very poor state of provision for archives in Scotland including those repositories based in the universities. The provision of an Archives Development Officer, as in the English Regional Archive Councils would have been a most welcome start to addressing some of the report's findings, but until some means of channelling resources can be established it will not be possible to make real strategic progress. The second point is also related to financial provision. Over the past five years or so, funding available for manuscripts and archives in universities has increased due to non-formula funding for specific projects such as the Follett programme, and more recently the joint funding councils' Research Support Libraries Programme. However, the spread is very uneven and very little of these resources have been applied to corporate archives, tending instead to be disbursed on collections generated by individuals and rare/printed books/pamphlet collections. Assuming the proposed 'root and branch' review of archives in Great Britain comes to pass, it should not therefore assume that archives in universities are in any better position than those in other parts of the archives sector. A further point for consideration is that there is to be no successor to the current RSLP funding programme. Finally, whilst welcoming the intention to focus on the special role of archives in relation to education, training and public profile, the fundamental role purpose and value of archives must not be forgotten. Many archivists in Scottish universities are trying to come to terms with the widespread implications of the Data Protection Act 1998 and an impending Freedom of Information legislative regime which will depend on the development of records management services, which have largely not been present hitherto. Without an adequate focus on such development there is a very real danger that the (increasingly) digital archives of tomorrow will not survive and effectively access to them will be denied. SUSCAG will be pleased to provide any further information and to participate in discussion as required. ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++