There are no appointments on drop in days. If you are passing just drop in. There is a different theme each month with a small display.
Glenrothes 60th anniversary - 24 June at Archive Centre-, 10am-5pm and
30 June in the Kingdom Centre, Glenrothes
Maps and Plans 29 July-, 10am-7pm
Local trusts and charities 27 August –, 10am-5pm
Fife County Council’s ‘landscape maps’, 24 Sept. - 10am-7pm
Fife’s Facelift: (before and after photographs of schemes to remove coal bings) 29 October-, 10am-5pm
For more information contact Lisa Wood on 01592 583 352 or email Andrew.dowsey@fife.gov.uk
Thursday, 12 June 2008
Friday, 25 April 2008
Contact details
Just a quick reminder to SOAS members to keep their contact details up-to-date with the Society so that we can keep communicating with you all! It has come to light recently that some members' email addresses are no longer active. We'd be grateful if you could also pass this message on to colleagues or friends who are not yet signed up to the blog but who are SOAS members.
Many thanks,
Susannah Waters, SOAS Publicity Officer.
Many thanks,
Susannah Waters, SOAS Publicity Officer.
Wednesday, 23 April 2008
SOAS AGM 2008
The Regional AGM on the 8 March 2008 was preceded by a training event on the theme of Managing Work Placements. This was in response to requests for training in this area following Henry’s recent work experience questionnaire. Don’t say we never react to members’ requests! Henry Sullivan started by presented the results of the recent questionnaire (see previous blog entry!) and was followed by Stewart Fyffe, Enterprise in Education Co-ordinator, Dundee City Council places several hundred secondary pupils into placements each year. His entertaining presentation was useful in introducing records professionals to the purposes behind work experience placements. Stewart’s handouts are available on the Scottish Regions pages
Andrew Dowsey gave a presentation on his experience of placements through the New Deal initiative. These are individuals who are looking to develop key work skills and gain experience but who do not necessarily have any interest in archives or records. However, over a 13 week placement their output can be hugely beneficial to them as individuals. For the repository, it is a chance to gain staff to continue ongoing projects, such as catalogue Dean of Guild plans, and to finish off or start small projects. Concerns were raised over unsuitable candidates being foisted onto repositories, but Andrew’s own experience showed that the pre-placement process is very careful to find suitable individuals and that the repository can halt the placement, even after it has started, if it is not working. A lively activity followed where groups designed work placements for school pupils and New Deal placements and this generated a lot of useful discussion and sharing of experience.
After lunch, the focus turned to pre-course and on-course archive placements. Adele Redhead from the Glasgow IMP course and Caroline Brown from the Dundee course set out their ideas of what they consider to be suitable pre-course experience where quality over quantity was highlighted several times as well as reference being made to the FARMER guidelines! Adele also talked about the cataloguing placements undertaken by Glasgow students. It was great to have two Glasgow students give short presentations on their own placements, highlighting both the positive and negative aspects of their placements. Again these are available on the society's webpages. A useful discussion then ensued focusing on how the courses and repositories can help one another in order to provide better placements for students.
This was a useful day for those who attended and the speaker and discussions were both entertaining and informative. A huge thank you to the speakers who gave up their time to share their experiences.
David Powell. SOA,S Training Officer
Andrew Dowsey gave a presentation on his experience of placements through the New Deal initiative. These are individuals who are looking to develop key work skills and gain experience but who do not necessarily have any interest in archives or records. However, over a 13 week placement their output can be hugely beneficial to them as individuals. For the repository, it is a chance to gain staff to continue ongoing projects, such as catalogue Dean of Guild plans, and to finish off or start small projects. Concerns were raised over unsuitable candidates being foisted onto repositories, but Andrew’s own experience showed that the pre-placement process is very careful to find suitable individuals and that the repository can halt the placement, even after it has started, if it is not working. A lively activity followed where groups designed work placements for school pupils and New Deal placements and this generated a lot of useful discussion and sharing of experience.
After lunch, the focus turned to pre-course and on-course archive placements. Adele Redhead from the Glasgow IMP course and Caroline Brown from the Dundee course set out their ideas of what they consider to be suitable pre-course experience where quality over quantity was highlighted several times as well as reference being made to the FARMER guidelines! Adele also talked about the cataloguing placements undertaken by Glasgow students. It was great to have two Glasgow students give short presentations on their own placements, highlighting both the positive and negative aspects of their placements. Again these are available on the society's webpages. A useful discussion then ensued focusing on how the courses and repositories can help one another in order to provide better placements for students.
This was a useful day for those who attended and the speaker and discussions were both entertaining and informative. A huge thank you to the speakers who gave up their time to share their experiences.
David Powell. SOA,S Training Officer
Tuesday, 8 April 2008
Offering Culture through Archives
Society of Archivists - Archives for Education and Learning Group
Annual Conference and AGM 2008
Wednesday 18 June 2008
10.00am – 5.00pm
Venue: Arnolfini, Bristol
SoA Members £50 / Non-Members £60
(this includes a full buffet lunch and wine and nibbles after the AGM)
Bookings are being taken through the Society of Archivists office and
payment should be made directly to them.
Contact details are as follows:
Society of Archivists, Prioryfield House, 20 Canon Street, Taunton,
Somerset, TA1 1SW
Tel: 01823 327030
Fax: 01823 271719
societyofarchivists@archives.org.uk
The conference theme relates to the Government’s recent announcement of a
Cultural Offer, which aims to provide all children and young people with 5
hours of culture a week. A detailed programme will be available soon.
The conference will explore the idea of a cultural offer for children and
young people. It will consider the impact of such a concept on the
heritage sector and on its relationship to the education sector, with
specific reference to the archive domain.
As a sub-theme, other sessions will look at specific examples of how
archives can be used to inspire creative learning. The day will conclude
with the Annual General Meeting of the Archives for Education and Learning
Group.
Keynote address:
Joe Hallgarten, Operations Manager for the Youth Culture Trust and
Education Director of Creative Partnerships.
With a background in teaching and educational policy and research Joe has
been closely involved with the proposal for this DfES/DCMS pledge. He is
now working for the Youth Culture Trust, which is a new body created to
implement the Cultural Offer for DfES and DCMS. Joe will explain the
background to the Cultural Offer and how it relates to existing
initiatives.
Annual Conference and AGM 2008
Wednesday 18 June 2008
10.00am – 5.00pm
Venue: Arnolfini, Bristol
SoA Members £50 / Non-Members £60
(this includes a full buffet lunch and wine and nibbles after the AGM)
Bookings are being taken through the Society of Archivists office and
payment should be made directly to them.
Contact details are as follows:
Society of Archivists, Prioryfield House, 20 Canon Street, Taunton,
Somerset, TA1 1SW
Tel: 01823 327030
Fax: 01823 271719
societyofarchivists@archives.org.uk
The conference theme relates to the Government’s recent announcement of a
Cultural Offer, which aims to provide all children and young people with 5
hours of culture a week. A detailed programme will be available soon.
The conference will explore the idea of a cultural offer for children and
young people. It will consider the impact of such a concept on the
heritage sector and on its relationship to the education sector, with
specific reference to the archive domain.
As a sub-theme, other sessions will look at specific examples of how
archives can be used to inspire creative learning. The day will conclude
with the Annual General Meeting of the Archives for Education and Learning
Group.
Keynote address:
Joe Hallgarten, Operations Manager for the Youth Culture Trust and
Education Director of Creative Partnerships.
With a background in teaching and educational policy and research Joe has
been closely involved with the proposal for this DfES/DCMS pledge. He is
now working for the Youth Culture Trust, which is a new body created to
implement the Cultural Offer for DfES and DCMS. Joe will explain the
background to the Cultural Offer and how it relates to existing
initiatives.
Friday, 4 April 2008
Bill launched to create a Scottish National Register of Tartan
On Tuesday 25 March Jamie McGrigor MSP launched a Member’s Bill to create the first ever publicly owned Scottish National Register of Tartan.The Register will work with Scotland’s tartan experts to draw together information about tartan designs held in private hands to create a Register on a statutory basis, that will be independently held, publicly accessible and sustainable.
The Register will also help promote and preserve tartan, provide a focal point for tartan and genealogical research and interest in tartan design and production. Working with the tartan industry in Scotland, the Register will provide a springboard to promote the expertise, quality and value of the Scottish tartan industry.
The National Archives of Scotland will create and maintain the Register, with input from tartan and tartan industry experts in Scotland. The Keeper of the Records of Scotland will act as Keeper of the Register of Tartans, overseeing the Register and the registration of new tartan designs.
Image credit: George Mackenzie and Jamie McGrigor MSP at the reception to mark the introduction of the Tartan Bill © Crown copyright: NAS
Friday, 7 March 2008
Work Experience – at what level should the Society of Archivists get involved?
In September last year I as the Regional Careers Officer decided to look into what work experience was being provided in Scotland for those who wanted to find out about a career in record keeping and archive conservation. It has taken awhile but I have finally got round to compiling and reporting on the results of a questionnaire I sent round to 56 services across the country. The results were much as I expected, with lots of ‘ad-hocery’ going on, a lack of conservation and records management opportunities and the dominance of university record keeping services in providing what opportunities were available. However some of the responses for the last question on what the Society could do to improve work experience opportunities in Scotland were surprising. Only two respondents said they saw no further role for the Society (I expected more) whilst a number saw it acting as clearing house for volunteers, linking them to work experience providers and even providing them with a basic level of training, or a general induction day. These were ideas I have never thought possible considering the way the Society is run. Yet it is obvious from the questionnaire’s results that record keeping services could do with some level of support in providing work experience. In the report I have suggested the less demanding ‘training the trainer’ path, which will have a clear test case at this year’s AGM in Dundee (8 March), but I would be interested in hearing from more people about what they think is feasible or appropriate for the Society to do, and whether other bodies should be helping out too?
The other project I have finally managed to finish was the region’s very own careers leaflets. I have deliberately gone for a combined record keeping approach to ensure that career choosers realise right from the start that archives and records management are intrinsically linked. It is a departure from the established leaflets but one that I think is justified in getting across how we view our domain as opposed to how others pigeon hole what we do into either cultural heritage or information management.
Finally I should point out that my first post here as Regional Careers Officer will be my last, as I stand down at the AGM but I am sure my successor will be adding content here soon enough. The post is the only one of its kind in the Society at the moment and I have found it rewarding and valid work that I believe should be replicated across all the regions – that is if they can find people to volunteer…
Henry Sullivan, SOAS Regional Careers Officer
The other project I have finally managed to finish was the region’s very own careers leaflets. I have deliberately gone for a combined record keeping approach to ensure that career choosers realise right from the start that archives and records management are intrinsically linked. It is a departure from the established leaflets but one that I think is justified in getting across how we view our domain as opposed to how others pigeon hole what we do into either cultural heritage or information management.
Finally I should point out that my first post here as Regional Careers Officer will be my last, as I stand down at the AGM but I am sure my successor will be adding content here soon enough. The post is the only one of its kind in the Society at the moment and I have found it rewarding and valid work that I believe should be replicated across all the regions – that is if they can find people to volunteer…
Henry Sullivan, SOAS Regional Careers Officer
Thursday, 6 March 2008
THE PHILOSOPHY OF THE ARCHIVE
The Centre for Archive and Information Studies at the University of Dundee, is holding an interdisciplinary conference, 'The Philosophy of the Archive' to be held in Edinburgh on Thursday April 10th and Friday 11th April 2008. This conference is part of a Royal Society of Edinburgh project 'Investigating the Archive: an interdisciplinary enquiry into the concept and role of archives'.
This conference will be relevant to theorists, archivists, philosophers, historians, literary historical critics and other discipline specific scholars, with the aim of encouraging debate and developing a critical understanding of these issues. In particular, we see this seminar as breaking down barriers between academic disciplines and challenging the insularity that sometimes characterises those working with archives.
Keynote speakers include Verne Harris, Head of Memory for Justice Programme, Nelson Mandela Foundation, South Africa and Professor Terry Cook, University of Manitoba, Canada and Dr Elizabeth Shepherd, University College, London.
The programme and registration form are available at: www.investigatingthearchive.org
This conference will be relevant to theorists, archivists, philosophers, historians, literary historical critics and other discipline specific scholars, with the aim of encouraging debate and developing a critical understanding of these issues. In particular, we see this seminar as breaking down barriers between academic disciplines and challenging the insularity that sometimes characterises those working with archives.
Keynote speakers include Verne Harris, Head of Memory for Justice Programme, Nelson Mandela Foundation, South Africa and Professor Terry Cook, University of Manitoba, Canada and Dr Elizabeth Shepherd, University College, London.
The programme and registration form are available at: www.investigatingthearchive.org
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)