Listening to the Past, Speaking to the Future

ForewordThe Museums, Libraries and ArchivesCouncil (MLA) was invited by theDepartment for Culture, Media andSport to establish the Archives TaskForce to: “…carry out an in-depthanalysis and review of the state of theUK’s unique and diverse archives.”During its deliberations, the Task Force held eight meetingsand consulted over 700 people and organisations togather opinion from those working within archives andfrom groups and individuals working independently(often voluntarily) to create, maintain and interpretarchival collections on every topic imaginable. In addition,the Task Force received evidence from a wide range ofexperts and active archive users.Our report also includes detailed recommendations onways to modernise public sector archives and to developthe skill sets and expertise of professional archivists inall areas. The Archives Task Force believes this reportcould help transform our archives and revolutionise theway they are accessed and used.I am grateful to all members of the Task Force for theirunflagging energy and commitment to achieving a reportwhich could make a real impact. Thanks, too, go to theteam at MLA who undertook the data gathering and pulledthe findings together. Special thanks to the individuals,groups and organisations who contributed time, passionand wisdom to the compilation of this report.3We have found a rich and diverse tapestry of archiveactivities, exploring, revealing and underpinning thehistories of these Islands and, equally important,preserving the present for the future. The commitment ofthe archives profession to what they do and the passionof those using archival records for research, for business,to support a programme of learning or for personal interesthave encouraged the Task Force to make very clearrecommendations for widening access to new audiences.Archives have something for everyone and we believe ourprimary duty is to present the means to help every student,every would-be family historian, and every communitygroup wishing to celebrate and record its own history andculture to benefit from this unique store of knowledge.Mark WoodChair, Archives Task ForceWe therefore propose in our report a major new initiativeto help people from all parts of the population to accessarchives more easily and to enable archives to play agreater role in education. Our plan is for an ArchivesGateway, an electronic pathway and guide which will openup the whole archives world to wider use. The Gatewaywill identify and map public, private, business andcommunity archives and allow users of all ages to find thecollections or content they seek quickly and easily.