Archives for Education and Learning Group Conference

Engage, Share, Participate: Widening Learning and Access to Archives through Social Media - Monday 13 June 2011

The National Records of Scotland, HM General Register House, Edinburgh EH1 3YY

This conference is intended for archivists, librarians and other heritage sector professionals charged with using their collections to support education programmes. Speakers from the archives and museums and galleries sector will share their first-hand experience of using social media to enhance users’ participation and engage with communities.

Presenters will include:

• Alan Muirden, Education and Outreach Operational Manager, Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments of Scotland

• Ruth Honeybone, Conservator, and Laura Brouard, Assistant Archivist, Lothian Health Services Archives, University of Edinburgh

• Dr Jan Merchant, Assistant Archivist, Perth and Kinross Council Archives

• Gary Brannan, Archivist, and Catherine Taylor, E-services, West Yorkshire Archives, Wakefield

• Gail Durbin, Head of V&A Online, Victoria and Albert Museum, London

• Jo Pugh, Education Technical Officer, The National Archives, London

The day will consist of a mixture of presentations and will give you the opportunity to share ideas and interact with colleagues.

Cost: £65 members, £80 non-members, including tea/coffee and buffet lunch

Please visit www.archives.org.uk for bookings.

Thanks

Emma

Emma Peattie

Archives and Records Centre

West Lothian Council

9 Dunlop Square

Deans Industrial Estate

Livingston

EH54 8SB

Tel: 01506 773772

Managing Preserving and Protecting Digital Assets, 25 March 2011

Dear Members,

Please click here for a provisional programme for our next meeting which will be a joint event with the Information & Records Management Society, Scotland held at the Mitchell Library, Glasgow. Registration shall start at 9:30am with the meeting running from 10:00am-4:10 pm. This shall be an ideal opportunity for you to meet with your fellow colleagues, network and discuss common issues.

The theme of the day shall be Managing, Preserving and Protecting Digital Assets: the 'why' and the legal consequences. Speakers will include Dr James Currall, Director of Information Strategy at the University of Glasgow and there shall be the opportunity for discussion of the issues raised in the breakout sessions.

Please note this event replaces the ARA Scotland meeting which was previously scheduled for the same date in Perth.

We hope to see you there!

Kind regards
Juline

Juline Baird
Secretary
Archives & Records Association, Scotland

ARA(S) Update

ARA Scotland meeting 8 December

In spite of the weather conditions the ARA Scotland meeting on the 8th December at the Centre for Research Collections went ahead.

The meeting was held at the Centre for Research Collections at Edinburgh University Library. The Centre houses the University’s Archives and Special Collections and also the Lothian Health Service Archive. Grant Buttars, Deputy University Archivist gave us a tour of the fantastic new facilities - something to be envious of! We were shown research areas and behind the scenes - in particular a seminar room with a view into the stores to allow staff to show case treasures to visitors and provide materials for teaching.

The rest of the afternoon included an advocacy discussion where members benefited from sharing experiences of work they had been involved in. Jenny Hunt from the National Archives of Scotland also gave us an update on the progress of the Public Records (Scotland) Bill. This was followed by the business meeting.

Many thanks to Arnott, Kirsty and Grant for hosting and providing lunch and tours!

Please look out for emails with details of our next meeting which will be a joint training event with RMS Scotland.

Best wishes

Juline Baird

Alison Fraser

After 35 years as county archivist, and then principal archivist, in Orkney Alison Fraser retired on 7 October 2010. The position in Orkney was Alison’s second archivist post after graduating from Glasgow University, the first being registrar of the Western survey of the National Register of Archives (Scotland) based in Glasgow. Alison has been at the forefront of every advance in Orkney Archives over the years, not least the design and move into a new building in December 2003. The staff of Orkney Library & Archive have all enjoyed working with Alison and wish her a long and happy retirement. Her knowledge of the collection will be greatly missed by them and users alike.

Orkney Islands Council Director of Education and Leisure Services Leslie Manson said: “The archive is well known throughout Scotland and I thank Alison for her dedication and enthusiasm which has helped the service secure this reputation. The council’s vacancy management policy precludes the filling of posts which don’t absolutely need to be filled right away. The future of the post will be considered alongside all management posts as part of the budget exercise and no decisions have yet been made. We shall be putting in place temporary measures to ensure that the library and archive service continues to address users needs as well as possible”.

Best wishes

David Mackie
Photographic Archivist
Orkney Library & Archive
44 Junction Road
Kirkwall
Orkney
KW15 1AG

Lothian Lives - Showcasing Local Council Archives

* Did you know that Edinburgh’s citizens were gripped by terror in the wake of the French Revolution and Napoleonic Wars, and that the authorities began recording the movement of Edinburgh’s so-called “aliens”?

* Did you know that aliens visited West Lothian again in the 1970’s, during the highest period of extra-terrestrial sightings in the UK’s history?

* Did you know that the Midlothian Archives hold a Dalkeith Doctor’s travel diary written in the last phases of the British Raj?

* Did you know that one of the heroes of the 1854 ‘Charge of the Light Brigade’ lived in Dunbar, East Lothian?

The Lothian Lives project is a joint initiative of the City of Edinburgh, East Lothian, Midlothian and West Lothian council archives. The project is part of a U.K. wide archives awareness campaign and aims to shine a light on the rich holdings of local council archive collections. Funded by the Scottish Council on Archives, the project is the first time council archives in Edinburgh and the Lothians have worked together to bring Scottish archives to life using the web.

For more information on the above stories and to discover lots more visit us at www.lothianlives.org.uk


Kind regards,
Frances

Frances Woodrow Archivist
Library & Museum HQ Dunbar Road Haddington EH41 3PJ
01620 828229

Business Archives Strategy consulation

Dear colleagues,

The Scottish Council on Archives is pleased to announce the public consultation phase in the development of a National Strategy for Business Archives in Scotland.

Lead by the Business Archives Council of Scotland and the Ballast Trust with the support of the National Archives of Scotland, the strategy shares the same goals as its counterpart, a National Strategy for Business Archives (England & Wales), but addresses the challenges of business records within a Scottish context.

We invite archivists and informational professional, users, business persons, lawyers, liquidators and anyone else with a connection to or interest in business records to respond to the consultation. Naturally, we want to hear from those in Scotland but we are also keen to hear from those elsewhere in the UK and abroad, recognising the fact that business doesn't recognise national or international borders.

The draft strategy and response forms can be accessed at:
http://www.gla.ac.uk/services/archives/bacs/nationalstrategyforbusinessarchives/

You may wish to follow the progress of the strategy via the blog:
http://businessarchivesscotland.blogspot.com/

The deadline response date for the strategy is Friday 28 May 2010.

Best wishes,

Becky Penneck

Events and Administration

Scottish Council on Archives
0131 535 1362
www.scoarch.org.uk

Results of Career Survey

Are you interested in how your career progression and salary banding compares with others in the record-keeping profession?

A survey undertaken earlier this year in relation to the profile of the record-keeping profession in Scotland, identified differences between the salary levels and experience of archivists and record managers. Records management roles typically required more on the job experience and commanded a higher salary, whereas archives roles were more often filled by staff earning in the lowest pay scale.

The variations of salary scales in the local authority, higher education and business sectors showed that roles in universities and businesses were generally better paid than those in local authorities. There was not enough data from the survey to allow for meaningful analysis of pay banding and experience levels within the sectors.

The questionnaire addressed job vacancies advertised in the last 12 months, finding that these were evenly split between those which required a professional qualification in archives and records management and those that did not.

Read the report or download it here

Susan Fisher
SoAS Careers Officer