International Archives Day 9th June 2009

Did you know that today is International Archives Day? This is the 2nd International Archives Day ever held and 9th June was chosen because the International Council on Archives (ICA) was founded on 9th June 1948. Last year was the First International Archives Day, coinciding with the 60th Anniversary of ICA. For more information about this and the history of ICA, go to the Unesco Archives website. Over the last year the Archives Hub has had over 120,000 visits from over 184 countries. The map above gives an indication of international use. One of our contributors, Glasgow University Archive Services, is celebrating International Archives Day by launching an online resource highlighting the international scope and reputation of Glasgow University and its archive collections. The exhibition, searchable by region, will demonstrate the involvement of Scottish businesses on the development of the world economy and the influence that University of Glasgow and staff and students have had on the development of education around the world and on the history of many countries. To go to the resource please see the following link: http://www.gla.ac.uk/services/archives/collections/internationalarchiveday/ If you are interested in international archives you could try the following websites and blogs: Websites: ArchiveGrid: A subscription site where you can find historical documents, personal papers, and family histories held in archives around the world. European Archive: A freely available digital library of archives, with an emphasis on audio-visual materials. MICHAEL UK: MICHAEL aims to provide simple and quick access to the digital collections of museums, libraries and archives from different European countries. Unesco Archives Portal: a gateway to international archive collection websites OCLC WorldCat (Manuscript materials): nearly 1.5 million catalogue records describing archival and manuscript collections and individual manuscripts in public, college and university, and special libraries located throughout North America and around the world. Blogs: Archiefforum.be: An online community which aims to support students and young archivists in their studies and profession by peer help and advise. (Flemish language) ArchivesBlogs: a US blog which is a syndicated collection of blogs by and for archivists. @rchivista: Spanish language blog written by Paco Fernández Cuesta who works at the Archivo de la Real Chancillería de Valladolid: Deseronto Archives Blog: Deseronto Archives is located within Deseronto Public Library, Ontario, Canada Fototoria: German language blog on the history of photography, photo libraries and digitisation Sous la poussière: French language blog written by a Swiss archivist interested in archives and information technology. Yvette 2.0: Yvette Hoitink works at the Nationaal Archief, the National Archives of the Netherlands. Dutch language blog.

Esther Rantzen eat your heart out…

On 3rd October 2008, I attended the “Finding Archives Day” at The National Archives. I was very excited, I’d never been to The National Archives before and in fact had only really seen it on “Who do you think are?”, so I couldn’t wait to get there in person. As a trained librarian who has been working for the Archives Hub for only a year, I find this whole new world of archives faintly mysterious and fascinating. A little like one of the dark arts. As I walked into the building I realised that I had probably built it up in my mind a little too much. It’s a very large building and has a ‘lake/pond/water feature’ and some nice ducks, but it wasn’t quite as magical as I had anticipated. In fact it seemed pretty similar to the British Library. Functional and doing pretty much what it says on the tin, so I suppose I started my day off a little disappointed. The day for me was to be a mixture of ‘being on’ and learning. I was going to attend the sessions and in between I would be able to demonstrate the Hub to delegates. The day was opened by CEO Natalie Ceeney who explained that they’d had the idea to showcase all the good work that goes on at the National Archive and that this was hopefully to be the first of many such days. She also said that there were 600 National Archives staff, I was quite stunned. There are only 5 of us on the Archives Hub team…but as she went on to describe what some of this good work was and what the day was going to be about, I realised that TNA does…a…LOT. We kicked off with Alex Ritchie giving us an introduction to the National Register of Archives and the annual accessions exercise. The NRA was established in 1945 and is the UK’s oldest archival network. I was fascinated to learn that overseas archives contribute to the NRA and then I thought about it and was a little shocked by how this is actually quite an obvious source of archives considering the amount of emigration from the UK there has been historically. Since 1945, the NRA has made great progress especially since the advent of the Internet, and now has 310,000 index entries and 96,000 links to online finding aids and will obviously continue to grow. Anthony Smith then gave us a demonstration of how to use the NRA to find family and estates papers. Anthony commented that working with family and estates information isn’t simply about the history of the elite but is also a source of social history documenting the economic and political development of those who lived and worked within the estates system. We then had a coffee break and I got to chat to people about how great the Hub is and what a wonderful resource it is for archivists and researchers. After coffee we had an introduction to the Manorial Documents Register (MDR), from Liz Hart, and a description of the complexities of getting the Buckinghamshire and Berkshire MDR online from the project officer, Sarah Charlton. We then had lunch, which was also another chance for me to chat to delegates and show off the Hub. There was then the launch of “Bucks and Berks MDR Online”. This was celebrated with some specially created cupcakes, that I couldn’t help thinking might be a nice idea for a possible future launch of the Archives Hub re-brand – I had visions of chocolate cakes with Hub logos on. After lunch James Travers regaled us with tales of ‘Joe Public’ attempting to sell UK archive material on e-bay without realising that you need an export licence for material over 50 years old. I also was unaware that TNA monitored sales from the major auction houses and from specialist manuscript auctioneers. They provide archives with comparable price information and notify them of potential acquisitions and also make sure no-one is trying to illegally sell manorial documents. Ruth Crumey then went on to tell us about the wonderful new service ‘Your Archives’ which is currently in its beta version. Your archives uses the same software as Wikipedia and allows users to submit articles and comments that they have written about historical records held by TNA. These articles have links back to the relevant NRA records. As a huge advocate of enabling user generated content, I think this will add value to The National Archives site and the extra knowledge that users will add to the collections already exposed by The National Archives can only enhance the research experience. Amy Warner ended the day talking about current projects and future plans of TNA. Amongst other things Amy talked about being involved with the development of Archival Name Authority Files. Ro Cemm then explained about the NRA digitisation project where TNA have specifically targeted archives that did not have the resources themselves to digitise their finding aids. Amy also discussed how TNA want to pursue ways of making it easier to add new content the site and are hoping to take advantage of opportunities offered by new technologies with Google and People Australia. They will also be working on the development of a new Government Policy on Archives. So I could have sworn I knew what TNA did, but it turns out I had barely scratched the surface. A pretty magical place after all…

Creating a well-used resource for the arts and humanities

Log Analysis of Internet Resources in the Arts and Humanities (LAIRAH) was ‘a study to discover what influences the long-term sustainability and use of digital resources in the humanities’ based at University College London’s School of Library Archive and Information Studies. It undertook deep log analysis of the resources made available through Intute (previously Humbul and Artifact), as well as the Arts and Humanities Data Service (AHDS) portal. One of the key findings that drew my attention was that the title of the resource is important in take up, that it should be clear and unambiguous, and that the scope and content of resources must be made very clear. (And so say all of us on the Archives Hub team). Whatever the context, titles are absolutely crucial, and maybe becoming more so, as there is so much information out there and users will often use the title as the only indication of whether the resource is worth actually looking at. There was evidence that user testing is highly valuable, with the most well-used projects often being those that carried out user testing, as well as ensuring that there was effective dissemination of information about the resource. It is surprising how few projects carry out systematic user testing and surveys. Maybe this is largely a problem of a lack of resources, as it would seem likely that most information professionals would want to ensure that their users are fully on board and consulted. But maybe it is partly an indication that we can easily get bound up with our own plans and priorities, and become less user-focused. I also can’t help thinking that attempts at user surveys often fail because it is difficult to actually get people to participate in them. The fact that ‘few projects realised the importance of ensuring their resource remained sustainable’ is maybe surprising. I was under the impression that sustainability was moving more towards the forefront of thinking when setting up projects, but maybe not…and maybe this is largely down to the fact that sustainable projects require a funding model that has long term maintenance and updating built in, which is not the norm. It may be that the AHDS was seen as a safe home for the future of many resources, but the fact that the Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC) is ceasing funding for the AHDS illustrates one of the problems of preservation for the long-term. (AHDS are currently looking to ‘to develop a strategy for the future direction…that ensures this expertise remains available…for the long-term’.) The findings of the project suggested that around 30% of digital resources remain unused, which is disappointingly high, though apparently comparable to the number of scientific articles that remain un-cited. The recommendations of the report are well worth reading, particularly the recommendations listing the components of a well-used resource, which act like a checklist, and if more widely adhered to may help to increase use of said under-used resources. As well as said titles, user testing and dissemination, there is the importance of making server logs available (subject to confidentiality), keeping full documentation, having an interface that is designed for a wide variety of users and is actively maintained and updated, having staff with subject expertise and having good technical support. Ending my blog on a positive note, the report makes the point that information resources, including libraries, archives and research centres ‘have not been replaced by digital resources’ and that both require continued funding.