Memorandum submitted by the National Council
on Archives (NCA)
The National Council on Archives (NCA) was established
in 1988 to bring together the major bodies and organisations,
including service providers, users, depositors and policy makers,
across the UK concerned with archives and their use. It aims to
develop consensus on matters of mutual concern and provide an
authoritative common voice for the archival community. Its members
include the Society of Archivists, the Royal Historical Society,
Archives Council Wales, the Association of Chief Archivists in
Local Government, the British Association for Local History, the
British Records Association, the Business Archives Council, the
Film Archive Forum, the Scottish Council on Archives, the Federation
of Family History Societies, the Consortium of University Research
Libraries, the British Library, The National Archives, The National
Archives of Scotland, the Public Record Office of Northern Ireland,
the Museums, Libraries and Archives Council and the Department
for Culture, Media and Sport.
The NCA welcomes the opportunity to give our
views to the Committee.
GENERAL POINTS
The NCA welcomes this new inquiry focusing on
collections and stewardship, which is at the core of archive services.
There is a central role for archives in providing evidence of
our past. Archives often contain information relating to individuals,
which makes them accessible to a wide range of users. In archives,
readers can expect to touch the original documents and are entrusted
with them, bringing history to life in a way that neither libraries
nor museums can hope to do. Yet few people realise that these
resources are open to them. This is partly an awareness issue,
which the NCA is tackling through its Archive Awareness Campaign,
and partly a resource issue.
The archive sector structure is very diverse,
including a wide range of different media, and covering every
aspect of human life and society. Archives are not libraries—they
contain original documents created by the normal day-to-day business
of life in running government, a business or any other endeavour.
As such they are the immediate, unmediated raw materials of history,
whereas when reading a published book, the author comes between
you and the facts of a past event. Without archives, how would
we know what actually happened in the past? They defend democracy
by enabling everyone to see and explore the documents of the past.
Archives are not museums because most of an archives' collection
will be two-dimensional, although many museums also keep archival
records which shed a different light on their collections. But
the biggest difference is that you will not just be allowed to
explore these original items, it will be expected.
An archive is an holistic service: in an ideal
archive service materials are identified as having historical
value, accessioned or acquired from the donating body, assessed
for physical condition and given active conservation if required
(as they will be from now on throughout their life in the archive).
They will then be catalogued with a description of their contents
to enable readers to find material relevant to their researches,
and stored in a filing system within an environment that preserves
them most efficiently. They will be brought out for consultation
by being ordered by the reader from the filing system, in much
the same way that books in large libraries, such as the British
Library are ordered for consultation from stacks. The materials
may be used to publicise the services of the archive, digitised
and published on the archives' website (if they hold the copyright),
used as the basis of workshops with local schools or outreach
to older people's homes, or put to a myriad of other uses.
Without good conservation, fragile documents
cannot be consulted and may crumble away and be lost altogether.
Without cataloguing, no document can be consulted. Without knowledgeable
and experienced staff, readers may not have the skills to locate
the information they are looking for, nor will the archive open
to readers at all. The business of an archive is the holistic
management of the life-cycle of the raw materials of history.
Since humans began forming civilized societies,
we have had an essential need to record and evidence our activities.
The basic use and purpose of archives is to communicate and co-ordinate
what we've done with other people and to future generations. Our
grandchildren will not thank us if we bury nuclear waste while
at the same time not keeping accurate records of where we have
buried it. We also have to keep records in order to prove and
justify our actions in law. With the advent of the Freedom of
Information Act as well as a raft of other legislation, this need
to create and preserve records, and archives (as collections of
records greater than the sum of their parts) as entire datasets,
has never been greater. This means that archives uniquely have
both an evidential, democratic and human rights importance as
well as a cultural value.
Family history may be big business, but there
are much more surprising uses of archival records. Dr Dennis Wheeler,
a research climatologist based at the University of Sunderland,
has been using the information recorded in the extensive collection
of ships' logbooks held in archives to help answer important questions
in the field of climatic change: one of the biggest environmental
issues of the twenty-first century. During the seventeenth-century
English ships were used to forge the links of an expanding Empire
that stretched from the Americas to the Orient. Each ship, and
often each officer (captain, master and lieutenant) on board that
ship, was required to maintain a daily logbook describing the
navigation, management and state of the vessel. Close attention
was also given to the weather of the day. It is estimated that
some 100,000 logbooks have survived, covering the world's oceans
and seas in a network of sea-born, albeit unintentional, meteorological
"observatories" that compare favourably with those that
exist today. What uses might we find for the huge number of datasets
created and deposited with archives in the UK and around the world
every day?
If the 21st century is the age of the knowledge
economy, archives truly are the powerhouse sustaining it.
1. Funding, with particular reference to the
adequacy of the budget for museums, galleries and archives, and
the impact of the London 2012 Olympics on Lottery funding for
their sector
There are a number of serious funding issues
to be addressed regarding archives. Archives in the UK are funded
from a number of different sources: local record offices and archives
are funded through their local authorities and the DCLG, The National
Archives is funded through the DCA, the MLA administers the DCMS
funding for archives development which is not ring fenced, unlike
that for libraries and museums (which also may be funded through
their local authorities (see point 1.a below)). Regional
Film Archives suffer from an even more complex funding structure
outlined in the NCA's and the Film Archive Forum's evidence submitted
to the previous inquiry "Protecting, preserving and making
accessible our nation's heritage". This lack of joined-up
thinking at central government level has led to the present position
where no one government department feels responsible for the archives
sector in the UK. As a consequence, the sector lacks a prominent
champion to help raise its profile and represent the broad range
of its interests with central government.
1.a In a written answer to a Parliamentary
Question (number 63290, Hansard Column 648W, 18 April 2006),
Mr Lammy, Minister for Culture, reported that in 2005-06, the
DCMS spent £299.4 million on their sponsored museums and
galleries, £40.1 million on regional museums, £8.6 million
on local libraries and yet just £0.3 million on archive development:
around one thousandth of the total spend on museums. The same
written answer confirmed that over the period 2001-06, the DCMS
total spending on museums and galleries has risen by over 30%,
with the MLA spend on regional museums increasing by over 143%,
while that for archive development has been completely static.
This funding position is in stark contrast to the public value
placed on history, historic documents and archival materials that
relate directly to them and their interests or locality. A piece
of research recently commissioned by the NCA investigating the
burgeoning area of community archives has estimated that the number
of community archives in the UK reaches certainly into the many
hundreds and quite possibly into the thousands. This grassroots
movement demonstrates the massive desire not just to be passive
"consumers" of archival heritage but a great appetite
to be engaged in the preservation and celebration of archives.
Such activity encourages social cohesion, a sense of place, skill
sharing and the raising of aspirations through local community
endeavours, for instance, there has been a movement in the Welsh
valleys to record the experience of the communities around the
pits by the communities themselves. Similarly, Sheffield ex-steel
workers, ambivalent towards the depiction of their community in
the films "The Full Monty" and "Brassed Off"
decided to set up a community archive telling of the closure of
the steel works from their point of view. Many of these community
groups look to their local record offices for support and expertise
but because of local government budget cuts, the archivists in
local authority archives do not have the capacity to help (see
point 1.b below).
1.b The NCA are extremely worried that some
local authorities have drastically reduced the budgets of record
offices and county archives over recent years, putting both the
collections and public access to them at risk. A number of record
offices have had to reduce their opening hours as a result of
annual budget cuts, and in one instance, a retiring County Archivist
was replaced by a student archivist as a one-person service. As
The National Archives explain in their evidence to this inquiry,
the local record offices provide one of the main areas of public
access to historical documents. If the UK is truly serious about
Caring for our Collections, the enormous backlog of cataloguing
of archival holdings (without being catalogued, items in collections
are inaccessible) and the drastic shortage of conservators to
care for them are two of the biggest problems to overcome. In
the report of "Protecting, preserving and making accessible
our nation's heritage", the Committee acknowledges that the
greater responsibilities placed upon local authorities should
be recognised with greater resources. However, unless some of
this additional funding is ring fenced for archives, the NCA is
doubtful whether it will be directed in accordance with the Committee's
desires. Two of the main reasons for the development of this situation
are the statutory standing of archives and exclusion of archives
from the Comprehensive Performance Assessment. Archives, unlike
libraries, are not a statutory service, and central government
is issuing mixed messages to local government with The National
Archives and the Museums, Libraries and Archives Council urging
councils to deliver high quality services and the Department for
Communities and Local Government resisting calls for a clearer
statutory foundation for local archive services, even though this
has had support from local authorities themselves (see
the evidence of The National Archives for further details on the
present situation). Archives unlike libraries are not yet included
in the Comprehensive Performance Assessment, which necessarily
means that the temptation for local councillors is to divert their
ever-decreasing funding to those activities which do. Action to
rectify these anomalies would be very welcome.
1.c The UK archives sector welcomes the
opportunity to draw in new audiences because of the activity surrounding
the 2012 London Olympics. We are especially excited by the inclusion
within the Cultural Offer of a structured community archive of
experiences before, during and after the Olympics and the regeneration
that will accompany it. This community archive will document the
people's experience of the Olympiad and its benefits for future
generations, while also being a valuable activity in itself for
those involved. But for this to happen, the reminiscences, photographs,
blogs, webpages, news items, oral history and many other materials
that will make up this archive must be deposited with a custodian
archive with enough capacity to preserve it and make it accessible.
We are concerned at the possible effects of the non-Olympic Lottery
funds being diverted to the Olympics. Because of the lack of significant
funding, many archives look to the Heritage Lottery Fund as their
only viable source of any development money. Should this source
be diverted, it would be disastrous for many archive services,
and would expose the sustained underfunding of the archive sector
at a time when it would be at its most embarrassing with all the
world watching us. Archives do not want to let the team down.
1.d The collections in UK archives, libraries
and museums require investment in their preservation and conservation
care in a sustainable way or we will lose them. These collections
are important because they are the legacy of previous generations.
If we are to ensure their survival as a legacy to future generations
as well, there is a need for investment in appropriate building
stock to ensure their care. The evidence presented to the Committee
by The National Archives explains this in greater detail. There
is very little funding for conservation, cataloguing, or any of
the core requirements of collection care. What core funding archives
have is often completely swallowed up by the priority of ensuring
access to the collection and staff costs. Few archives have even
a part time conservator on their staff, and must rely on general
preservation measures to care for their collections. But the facilities
for even this minimal acceptable level of care are uneven between
archives: few archives have BS5454 quality storage facilities.
There is a need to increase the supply of archival and conservation
skills to ensure preservation of collections for the future: the
reduction in funding for bursaries is a problem for training institutions
and we encourage the government to review this policy. Regarding
paper conservation the picture is precarious, but regarding digital
preservation (that is ensuring that electronic documents and other
articles such as spreadsheets, photographs, emails and other digital
objects) the situation is critical. CD-ROMs have an estimated
life expectancy of 10 years before they degrade physically or
their encoding becomes unreadable. Similarly, hard drives and
servers have to be updated and migrated regularly to ensure that
they are accessible and their contents readable. The challenge
of electronic media is not just for film and sound but increasingly
for conventional archives, personal papers, and websites. Even
within central government, The National Archives is finding that
there are few well-embedded procedures for the care of digital
objects. Within the both the House of Commons and the House of
Lords, it is official procedure that all digital documents are
printed out for filing, which is neither economic, efficient nor
environmentally friendly. Hardly any local authorities have any
facilities or procedures for archiving digital materials, which
now include electoral rolls, planning applications and social
services files. Obviously, the preservation of these materials
is of legal and democratic importance, but there is no funding
earmarked to tackle the problem, at local, regional or national
levels (see point 3.f below).
1.e As well as the under provision and under
co-ordination of core funding streams, there is a lack of non-core
funding streams available to archives apart from the Heritage
Lottery Fund. In the last twelve years, the Heritage Lottery Fund
has awarded a much needed and very welcome £100million to
archives. But this sum should be compared to the over £2
billion awarded to museums and built heritage over the same period.
2. Acquisition and disposal policies with
particular reference to due diligence obligations on acquisition
and legal restrictions on disposal of objects
2.a Most archives services have no acquisition
budget at all. The vast majority of archives are held as gifts
or on indefinite loan with the local record offices. In recent
years, as interest in accessing historic materials has grown exponentially,
in accordance with economic laws so has the monetary value of
the materials on the open market. Entire archives, often of much
greater research value since they bring their historical context
with them, are now appearing for sale, often for sums much greater
that the entire annual budget for the whole local record office.
Most worryingly, owners of collections deposited by their ancestors
are now more likely to withdraw the collection for sale, or ask
the record office for a commercially set sum to acquire them.
The need for such action often arises not through greed but because
of Inheritance Tax, and the Acceptance In Lieu of archive materials
has eased such situations. Where Acceptance in Lieu is not an
option, there is a consequent risk of collections being broken
up to sell off piecemeal, which destroys much of their research
value. Individual pieces are regularly offered on eBay. There
is also the ever present risk of materials being sold abroad,
or being sold at all when it is illegal to do so. Although the
National Advisory Service of The National Archives carries out
limited monitoring of the markets, they are under resourced to
monitor the majority of such activity. The irony is that the sums
required to assist in the acquisition of archival materials are
insignificant compared to those needed to meet similar crises
in the national art or museum collections, many of which seem
to concern works which are not British in origin, are not as integral
to the UK's cultural story, nor do they add to the understanding
of the United Kingdom's past in the same way that even moderately
important archives do.
2.b Increasingly, archives are expected
by their parent bodies to generate their own income. Archives
services whose holdings include materials deposited on indefinite
loan often do not hold the copyright to those materials and are
thereby prevented from using their collections commercially in
that way, and even when the archive owns the materials themselves,
they still may not own the copyright. While deposit has had great
success over the years in securing large parts of documentary
heritage of local communities which would otherwise have been
lost, agreements between the depositors and the place of deposit
usually state that the items can only be consulted within the
local record office or archive. The complexity of copyright law
in this area is currently being examined by The Gowers Review
and the NCA looks to The Review for clarification on this issue.
2.c More than curators in museums, librarians
and archivists must be aware of choosing items to include in their
collections whose cultural value justifies their retention, but
the responsibility on archivists is greater because they are dealing
with unique original materials. This is a highly specialised skill,
but only one such among many required by qualified archivists.
The point to be made is that archivists and archive services are
not passively trying to acquire and preserve ever more material
but to develop their value and interest to meet the needs of their
readers and to widen and develop their readership and their engagement
with readers.
3. The remit and effectiveness of DCMS, the
Museums, Libraries and Archives Council and other relevant organisations
in representing cultural interests inside and outside Government
3.a As well as the local record offices,
there are cathedral and diocesan archives, charity archives, business
and industrial archives, community archives and a host of other
physical and virtual archives relating to specialist interest
groups, black and minority ethnic groups, faith groups, single
issue groups and others. Obviously, each player in the archives
sector in the UK has a viewpoint that differs slightly from others
in its focus. The NCA attempts to bring together all these voices
to present a united view and to make sure that common themes are
shared and emphasised. This pattern is reflected in the activities
of other organisations and members of the Council. Despite the
best efforts of the Museums, Libraries and Archives Council, with
a discretionary budget of £300,000 per annum, supporting
this sector appropriately is impossible, and their remit is unclear.
As stated before, the ultimate responsibility for sections of
the archives sector rests with different central government departments.
The NCA is concerned that the main vehicle for co-ordination of
activity between these departments, the Inter-Departmental Archives
Committee (IDAC) has recently been "downsized" and many
of its powers and responsibilities reduced or annulled, particularly
the recommendations from the Archives Task Force report (see
point 3.b below). This action has obviously sent out negative
messages to the archives sector concerning the value central government
places on archive development, and reduced the ability of individual
central government departments to take action on issues affecting
their own remits.
3.b Following on from the successes of the
Renaissance in the Regions programme for museums and the Framework
for the Future programme for libraries, MLA commissioned a large
scale analysis of what priority actions were needed to begin to
develop the UK archive sector to its full potential. "Listening
to the Past, Speaking to the Future: the Report of the Archives
Task Force" was published in 2004 and submitted to central
government. The proposals would have united archival provision
and access throughout the UK through the development of a single
online entry point to all archival holdings throughout the country,
and a programme of modernisation of service structure, investment
in archive staff skills and the creation of innovative and exciting
partnerships. The DCMS accepted all of the Report's recommendations,
but despite the relatively modest, value-for-money requirement
of £11.96 million over three years (compared to the over
£100 million awarded to Renaissance and £13 million
awarded to Framework, both additional to core funding), no money
at all was allocated to developing archives' vast potential as
cultural assets or even to secure the conservation of these existing
publicly owned materials for the immediate future. Some of these
key actions were taken on by the MLA's partners but without additional
funding. Monitoring of their progress was allocated to IDAC, but
even that has now disappeared. The NCA calls on the DCMS to take
the excellent start of the Archives Task Force Report, update
it and support the achievement of its vision. There has been little
evidence of positive support for the archives sector from DCMS
since the publication of the Government's policy on archives (which
came from the Lord Chancellor) and the commissioning of the Archives
Task Force. Indeed, in our experience there is a lack of understanding
of the archives sector at DCMS with archives appearing very low
on the departmental structure. As a minimum we would like to see
the creation of a post with responsibility for archives (with
the word "archives" in the title) within the DCMS hierarchy,
at the same level as that for libraries and museums, and that
the DCMS can be seen to take their responsibilities for archives
as seriously as those for museums and libraries, evidenced by
provision for consistent and sustained core funding, and parity
of prominence for archives on their website.
3.c The NCA welcomes the role of TNA (National
Advisory Services) in monitoring collection policies of individual
archive services. However the gaps in the coverage of collection
policies lead to risks to parts of our documentary heritage, for
instance national organisations and businesses which fall outside
remit of local offices, but do not fall within the collecting
policies of the national institutions.
3.d There are entire sections of archive
provision that attract no public financial support, but which
contribute significantly to the heritage enjoyed by the UK public.
The Business Archives Council has recently entered into a partnership
with The National Archives to employ a Business Archives Development
Officer, but his task is enormous compared to a single post's
time with no budget. Other sectors do not enjoy even the luxury
of one post to assist their development. Within central government
there is at present very little evidence of consideration of the
vast potential public value hidden in such collections. For instance,
the British Gas Archive contains valuable records of industrial
heritage that once belonged to the public, but are now privately
owned by a commercial body that does not see its preservation
as a business priority. Consequently, it has been at risk for
some time, but due to the pressure brought to bear by the Business
Archives Council, the threat may be receding. does not see its
preservation as a business priority. Consequently, it has been
at risk for some time, but due to the pressure brought to bear
by the Business Archives Council, the threat may be receding.
We believe that the Goodison Review recommended tax relief for
businesses for money spent on care of archives. There are a number
of points that specifically concern corporations. The review recommends
that tax relief should be available to corporations which gift
pre-eminent objects or archives to the nation. Additionally,
the douceur arrangement which at present is available to
private individuals who offer items for sale to a museum and galleries
should, it suggests, be extended to corporations. The review also
notes "The risks to important business archives are particularly
acute. Many companies conserve their archives professionally .
. . other companies are more careless about these important historical
records" and recommends that the Inland Revenue should issue
a statement of practice making it clear that companies can include
the care and conservation of business archives, and the costs
of providing access to them, in their costs before the calculation
of corporation tax.
3.e The NCA would like to draw the Committee's
attention once more to problems of the public regional film archives.
Although there has been progress since the "Protecting, preserving
and making accessible our nation's heritage" inquiry, with
the development of the embryonic National Strategy led by the
British Film Institute, there is still a need to clarify the responsibilities
and funding streams within the UK's custodians of audio-visual
heritage. For instance the British Film Institute has been allocated
the strategic responsibility for the regional film archives by
the UK Film Council, but without any transfer of funds to assist.
The need for adequate and sustained funding for the realisation
of the devolved national collection of audio-visual heritage media
is now urgent to make a success of the agreements made recently
between the regional film archives and the BFI to form a federation
of partners. Without this funding, not only will the opportunity
this initiative offers be lost, but the collections of the public
regional film archives themselves will continue to degrade beyond
reprieve.
3.f The NCA would like to record its concerns
about the National Preservation Office which appears to be unclear
as to its remit, and whose profile has diminished significantly
over recent years. The mechanism to provide national advice on
preservation in collections already exists in the NPO, but the
reasons for its ineffectiveness are unclear. The NCA welcomes
the "Collections Link" initiative of the MLA, which
aims to provide a one-stop library of collection care advice and
a tailored advice helpline for museums, libraries and archives.
However, we are unclear how this initiative dovetails with the
NPO and other bodies such as The National Archives who appear
to have the central government remit for digital preservation,
but who are yet to issue any useful advice on the subject for
smaller archives.
3.g Despite the problems of digital preservation,
we welcome the positive role of IT in opening up archive access
to new audiences. Much excellent work has been done at The National
Archives in digitising census records and most recently the Domesday
Book. However, the impact of these achievements is marred by the
fact that The National Archives was under resourced to an extent
where these digitisations are not complete and contain mistakes.
Similarly, when the 1901 Census went live online, the server crashed
under the weight of over one million hits per hour. The NCA trusts
that The National Archives has been properly funded to make a
smoother success of the launch of the 1911 Census.
3.h Although MLA of all the central government
departments and agencies has taken the most responsibility for
the archives sector, there is still a lack of archives representation
or expertise on the MLA Board at national or regional level. It
would be unthinkable that a Board member of the MLA Council would
not know what the British Library or the British Museum were,
but a Board member admitting without shame that they didn't know
what The National Archives was has been witnessed in the recent
past. MLA sees its role as primarily about promoting government
policy objectives in the sector rather than representing the sector's—and
more particularly the users'—interests within government.
For instance, the parity of prominence of archives with museums
and libraries on the MLA partnership's websites is as much an
issue as with the DCMS. This seems to the NCA to be evidence of
the confusion regarding such a responsibility within central government.
It is worth reiterating a statement from the
report of the previous inquiry: "Once destroyed, heritage
assets cannot be recreated".
27 September 2006
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