We are still providing a service and point of contact for the archive sector during the pandemic. You can find statements relating to Archive Service Accreditation, Places of deposit, maintaining collection safety and our funding programmes below.
Collaborating with the Archives and Records Association (ARA)
In response to the Covid-19 pandemic, we are working together with the Archives and Records Association (ARA) to support the record-keeping sector in as many ways as possible. As part of our annual grant to the ARA, we have provided additional funding to help the ARA set up a Covid-19 support hub. Both partners are also helping to fund the creation and launch of the History Begins at Home project. Read the full statement about this collaboration.
Covid-19 Archives Fund
Our Covid-19 Archives Fund has provided support for short-notice work to secure vulnerable analogue and born-digital records across the United Kingdom. The fund was open to the benefit of archives at risk that might otherwise be dispersed or lost without intervention. It particularly focused on records not protected by legislation (such as charity and private records), acknowledging that archive services might struggle to respond to collections at immediate risk due to limited resources. The Records at Risk Fund builds on the experience of the COVID-19 Archives Fund and is a collaboration with the Archives and Records Association (ARA) and the British Records Association (BRA).
Find out more about our Covid-19 Archives Fund
Find out more about the Records at Risk Fund
Archive Service Accreditation
The Archive Service Accreditation partners and governing committee have issued a statement recognising that the current circumstances are exceptional, and want to reassure all award holders that reduced service due to the pandemic will not affect accreditation status. Although the programme remains open, issues of safe travel, site closures and the business change implications of the pandemic can affect the ability to assess any new applications for Archive Service Accreditation. Any archive services intending to apply for Archive Service Accreditation are advised to contact their home nation assessor body before making an application. For any enquiries, particularly for archive services in England planning a new application during 2022, please get in touch via accreditation@nationalarchives.gov.uk.
Archives Revealed/Collaborate and Innovate
We understand that many projects funded as part of Archives Revealed or Collaborate and Innovate may be disrupted due to the COVID-19 outbreak, either by staff absences or temporary closure of archive services. We want to be as helpful as possible during this period of disruption. Therefore – if you are experiencing disruption to ongoing projects we would like to reassure you that we will be as flexible as possible. Please let us know if you need to extend your project completion date, delay the start of your project, or delay reporting on project progress for a period of time.
We have also extended the application deadlines of both Archives Revealed and Collaborate and Innovate. For the latest deadlines, please visit each funding stream’s respective webpages. For any enquiries, please contact us at archivesrevealed@nationalarchives.gov.uk or candi@nationalarchives.gov.uk
Maintaining the safety and security of collections
The preservation of unique archive collections remains an important task, and we are aware of the impressive steps being taken by organisations and their staff to ensure that collections continue to be safe and secure during the coronavirus outbreak. It is essential to maintain this within a changing situation as teams return to site.
There are a number of precautions that can be taken:
- regular on-site checks should be maintained as far as possible if there is no continuous presence at the site. This should include outstores and digital storage if this is not hosted remotely. Archive services should, nevertheless, be mindful of government guidelines on safe travel and gradual return to work as appropriate
- establish links and working arrangements with site security and facilities management teams, as well as IT providers where necessary
- ensure alarms are functioning and monitored (smoke/fire, intruder, leak), with appropriate response procedures. Continue to check that detection and alarm systems are working, remain connected with the right agency and elicit a response when necessary
- monitor the performance of Building Management Systems remotely where possible
- update the emergency response plan regularly as staffing arrangements and access to sites change over time
- raise awareness within the parent organisation of risks and mitigation
- maintain contact with third party storage providers and assess the suitability of their procedures, including security and business continuity arrangements. Providers should also inform archive services of any changes in circumstances
We recognise that there may be limits on the ability of archive services and their staff to undertake these precautionary measures and suggest that other means of ensuring security are explored. For example, establishing whether the organisation’s provider of security services can make periodic checks on an unattended building, and informing the local police force if the archive facility has been locked and is unattended, passing on key-holder contact details. Restrictions will change over time and measures should be reviewed when relevant.
In this context, The National Archives does not support the removal of records from dedicated archive facilities for the purposes of homeworking. The principal purpose of an archive service is to preserve and protect the integrity of collections and maintain an unbroken custodial history in the public interest. There are numerous risks associated with the removal of records to unsuitable locations. In addition to the issue of security, risks include loss or damage due to fire, flood, pests, mis-handling, dissociation and environmental conditions. There are also implications for the security of sensitive information, and removal may be contrary to deposit or similar agreements, grant conditions and insurance provision.
Public records and documents subject to Manorial and Tithe Rules should not be removed from approved places of deposit without the approval of The National Archives or the Historical Manuscripts Commission Secretary.
Digital collections
Automated checks on the integrity of digital records should continue in order to offer oversight of collections’ security and viability. This may be an opportunity to consider your policies and practice around digital collections, both in terms of remote access to digitised and born-digital files and also whether processes around digital files (e.g. sales, licensing, accessioning) could benefit from further automation. You may wish to experiment with new tools and approaches and make thoughtful and considered decisions about expanding your social media activity and shifting how you explain and explore collections into online spaces, either through your existing channels or new ones.
Places of Deposit
Places of Deposit for public records are appointed to hold specific record classes in agreement with their parent authority under Section 4 (1) of the Public Records Act (1958). We recognise that places of Deposit have closed or reduced services for a period of time as a result of public health guidance or an individual organisation’s own risk management decisions. We wish to reassure archive services that this will not affect appointment as a place of deposit. Visit our Information for Places of Deposit webpage for more about the transfer, loan and treatment of public records at this time.
Coronavirus updates for government departments
The National Archives has produced advice and guidance for government departments, arms-length bodies other organisations covered by the Public Records Act. Taking the form of Frequently Asked Questions, this advice and guidance will be kept up to date and may be of interest to places of deposit and other archives.