Archival culture in the 21st century: the impact of the Heritage Lottery Fund on perceptions of the roles and duties of the archive profession
The Project Explained:
The NCA and University College London (UCL) are running a British Academy funded research project investigating how Heritage Lottery funding and the strategic aims of the HLF have impacted upon archivists' perception of their professional duties.
Since 1994 the Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF) has become a major funder to the UK archive sector providing grants towards capital improvements, acquisitions, access and outreach activities but this research will look at questions such as:
- Whether archivists have been influenced by the HLF's 'heritage' framework?
- Have aims such as access, learning and participation had an impact of archivists' views of their core activities and are they understood?
- Has HLF influenced views on skills and career progression?
- And can any changes be attributed to HLF or other factors?
With the data you provide, the project will be able to contribute to:
- a better understanding of the training and workforce issues of the archive sector
- advocate for the needs of archivists among external funders, and
- support the work of the Archive Lottery Advisory Service of the NCA.
Many thanks to all those who contributed to our online survey earlier in the year and/or attended focus groups and our presentation at the 2007 Society of Archivists Conference.
Next Steps:
We are now writing up the project with the aim to publishing our findings in Summer 2008. We will be talking about aspects of the research project at the Society of Archivists conference in August 2008 and at the PSQG forum in November 2008.
