February 2006
National Council on Archives: News February 2006
- The Council met on 25th January 2006 at the London Metropolitan Archives. The next meeting of the Council will be on 27th April at the National Archives of Scotland, Edinburgh.
- Lucy Fulton presented a report on the work of the Archives Awareness Campaign. Over 540 activities were registered on the website in 2005. A short story competition for 7-11 year old children on the theme Victorian Voices involved 40 schools: the competition results will be announced in March. National media coverage, often triggered by a local archives story such as eccentric names from Cornwall Record Office, continued at a high level. Highly successful public debates had been held at the British Library and in Glasgow. A regional media training event for archivists was held in Birmingham. 2006 has two themes: spring sees a second series of "Who Do You Think You Are?" on BBC2 and a new theme for this autumn will be announced soon. Themes for 2007 (freedom and liberty) and 2008 (communities) have been agreed.
- NCA officers changed. Liz Hallam Smith stepped down as Chairman in view of her elevation to a new role at the House of Lords; Jonathan Pepler was elected in her stead as Chairman and Geoff Pick as Vice Chairman. The Council warmly thanked Liz for all her achievements for NCA and wished her well in her new post.
- The Council approved the annual review and accounts. The new strategic plan was also approved and will be published through the website. NCA has six strategic priorities over the period 2006-2009: advocacy and strategic co-ordination, marketing and publicity for archives, funding and fund raising for archives, research and development, supporting and developing community archives, and support for sector wide issues.
- The report of the Policy and Development Officer highlighted the lack of revenue and stabilization funding for film and sound archives, several of which faced imminent crisis. Some project funding is forthcoming. An NCA conference presenting evidence of the value of archives will be held on 21 February in Birmingham. Parliamentary lobbying has continued, with a briefing paper sent to MPs and Peers and an on-line petition supporting better funding for archives attracting over 2,500 signatures so far.
- The Archive Lottery Adviser's report noted the impact of the Olympics 2012. HLF will not launch a dedicated Olympics grant programme but will welcome Olympic-related projects in other programmes. TNA is planning a survey of archives of sports bodies. Giving Value and A Guide to Giving Value have been launched and widely distributed, to MPs and other stakeholders, and are available from ncaonline.org.uk.
- Community Archives Development Group (CADG) is now affiliated to NCA and is currently developing a vision for community archives. It plans to commission research into the impact of community archives to be carried out over the summer.
- Public Services Quality Group (PSQG) is leading a pilot of 3 performance indicators (on volunteers, value for money and user satisfaction) for the Comprehensive Performance Assessment in 2006. The national visitors survey will take place in February/March 2006 and a pilot of online visitors in June. The Access Standard in its final form will be published through TNA's website in the summer.
- Member bodies reported on current activities.
For further information contact Elizabeth Shepherd, e.shepherd@ucl.ac.uk.
