Listening to the Past, Speaking to the Future

Developing Archives and Audiencescreate an unappealing impression, and often offer poorfacilities for effective stewardship of collections. Whilstrecognising the significant investment made by some localauthorities in archives over the past ten years (for examplethe recent Essex Record Office), current levels of supportby those responsible for managing local services must bemaintained. An overall uplift in core funding wouldradically transform UK archives. As an aspirational goal,capital investment in the order of £30–£50 million forupgrades of premises over the next five to ten years wouldrevitalise archives for all.Increasingly, new archive buildings, may be funded bygrant support from the Heritage Lottery Fund or by localauthorities. Many have been developed in partnership withother public services such as museums, exhibition spaces,cafes and meeting rooms. The locations of these centresare acting as a catalyst for renewal in areas of regenerationand can provide opportunities for employment, trainingand learning for local people. Good examples include theSurrey History Centre, Norfolk Record Office (and the EastAnglian Film Archive), The Women’s Library and theYorkshire Film Archive (sharing accommodation with TheCollege of York St. John, a higher education learningcentre). The 2001 Survey of Visitors to British Archives bythe Public Services Quality Group found that for 87% ofusers, visiting the archive was their main purpose forvisiting an area, and while there 29% ate out locally, 36%used local shops and services and 18% visited otherplaces of interest, supporting local economic growth.Developing IT TrainingIT training opportunities at Glasgow University Archives Service arehelping unemployed people back into workDriving Licence) training. By creating work placements forstudents who have completed their ECDL course, GUASprovides a career stepping-stone from basic IT training toarchives work.So far, through 15 work placements, the scheme has ledto three graduates becoming archivists. Angie Thomsoncomments, “The GUAS placement has allowed me tochange my career path in a direction that I knew I wantedto go but could not see how to get there.”The scheme also benefits GUAS by bringing new talentinto the archives services. Says Director of GUAS, LesleyRichmond, “We can provide the training and experiencethat people require to apply for professional trainingopportunities, while the archives profession gains newrecruits who bring ‘real’ experience of record creation andmanagement.”37Over the last 25 years, Glasgow University ArchiveServices (GUAS) has been involved with variousgovernment-funded initiatives to provide a range of ITtraining opportunities. These have largely been aimed atlocal unemployed people, including university graduates,who can benefit from new skills learned in a workplaceenvironment.A recent development centres on the University ofGlasgow’s in-house Universal Training Solutions team,which provides facilities for ECDL (European ComputerTourismAs the UK’s sixth largest industry, tourism is a crucialcomponent of the country’s economy. VisitBritain, theorganisation that markets Britain to the rest of the world,estimates that the volume of inbound tourism will increaseby 3.3 per cent in 2004, taking the total number of visitorsto 25.5 million. The value of inbound tourism is forecast togrow in 2004 to £12.3 billion.