Archives+
In April 2012 there were eight separate organisations providing archival and genealogical services within Manchester. Archives+ wanted to change the traditional model of local authority archive services, to provide new ways into archives. Most of the services were accessed by a small number of people, most through traditional means. The existing audience was predominantly made up of people who identified as white, aged over 55, and were mainly regular users, with only 20% using them for the first time. They were mostly driven by a need to find a specific piece of information and the majority of this information was related to family history.
This project wanted to concentrate these archival resources and services in one location, explore new ways of using and interacting with archival materials and develop and deliver a targeted programme of learning and outreach activity which aimed to bring new audiences to the archives in new ways.
The National Lottery Heritage Fund (NLHF) funded project aimed:
- To create a new public face for Manchester’s heritage offer, bringing together archive partners and providing signposts to other heritage resources and sites.
- To provide unique opportunities to discover, share, celebrate and create the stories of Manchester’s history and communities.
- To enable people to feel that they’ve made a connection with Manchester and its history and been influenced by the experience.
- Create a strong sense of place, rooted in welcoming the complexity and multiplicity of stories that together make the history of Manchester and shape the way we are today.
- To deliver the project using innovative design solutions and cutting-edge technology and to ensure input from the widest possible range of co-creators.
- To bring targeted new and expanded audiences to Archives+ through marketing and the provision of exciting and innovative activities and resources.
- To use the power of heritage as a catalyst for lifelong learning.
- To demonstrate that archives are for everyone, regardless of age, gender, disability, sexuality, religion or any other factor.
The results of embedding audience development in the project and responding to its results included:
- Visitor numbers increasing from 15,000 to 1.2 million (partly achieved by moving into Central Library)
- The age of people engaged in the Archives+ activity programme is far wider and more evenly spread.
- Peaks in the age of engagement with archives were at aged 6-10 years and 26-59 years, rather than over 55 years old.
- 67% described their ethnicity as White, compared to the previous almost 100% White audience previously.
- Increased numbers of families (22,090) and young people (19,125) engaging with archives throughout the project.
- People participating in the project reported a range of impacts including increased confidence and awareness of using archives, developing new skills, pride in Manchester and enjoyment.
Finally, audience development plays a key role in the Archive Service Accreditation process.
Marx Memorial Library
The team at the Marx Memorial Library in Clerkenwell, London was considering how to reach new audiences and had a long list of potential groups to target. They secured a grant from National Lottery Heritage Fund to work with external consultants on an Audience Development Plan, which included consultation with audiences and an action plan.
The consultation included a mix of methods:
- Survey sent to existing mailing list
- Survey sent to teachers
- Ideas Lab (focus group with active work involved) with teachers
- 1:1 in-depth interviews with university academics
- 1:1 depth in-depth interviews with community group leaders and venues nearby
- Focus group with local community
- A series of events at the library with feedback on potential opportunities with community gatekeepers, other cultural venues, and local people
The team process included:
- Situational analysis of who engages with the service now, and who is missing – where is the potential
- Defining target audiences
- Consultation and testing with target audiences
- Analysing results and planning actions
- Agree audience development objectives
- Deliver and review
Recommendations for the team to put into practice included:
- Ensure consistency in tools and feedback questions, with regular analysis
- Make content relevant to audience – more activism and issues, less political theory
- Start with one or two new audiences and build from there
- Co-create content with the audience
- Build in progression routes
- Be strategic in your partnerships
- Develop a tactical marketing plan
- Long term: develop capacity and physical access
The National Trust for Scotland
The National Trust for Scotland was undertaking a major review and development of its archive service, which involved several strands of work. At the same time the organisation was recovering from the pandemic, resulting in employing many new staff and undertaking new work. Although the service had a good profile within the organisation, they knew that the service could support more areas of the business.
The main focus for the service was an internal rather than an external audience. As the service sought to develop a new strategy for the service, the staff team knew that they needed to engage with a wider set of staff. Target audiences were departments (not staff due to staffing changes) that had traditionally used the archive heavily and departments that could be using the archive more but were non-users. The team began by setting up a working party of regular users to act as a sounding board for their strategy development. This party comprised regular users of the service and other stakeholders within the service which met three times and fed back on their needs of the service.
The archive service next sought to engage with non-users within the organisation. Staff and volunteers of the organisation are based at 80 sites and often work from home, making direct consultation difficult. It was therefore decided to provide a range of opportunities to engage with the strategy development consultation, providing deeper engagement on each occasion.
An online survey was developed to reach the widest possible audience and targeted users and non-users. The survey asked about current experiences of using the service, the future use of the service and discussed how the service could support the work of each department. This was followed up with a presentation on the history of the archive and discussion on its future strategy at a regular online staff information session.
Finally, the team created a meet the archivists session at headquarters. This was a drop-in display and consultation session, timed for a day where many staff were visiting the office. Based in the staff canteen, the team displayed archives and asked consultation questions. Archive recipes were used to make cakes and biscuits which were available to staff. This was successful in introducing the collection and service to new staff that were unaware of the service. Discussions at the stall led to new projects and new accessions. Most promisingly the consultation gathered suggestions for the strategy and highlighted the priorities that the strategy needed to deliver for the business.
Alongside this focused audience development work the National Trust for Scotland archive service were undertaking a project to review the physical archives held in the organisation’s offices and sites. In this project archivists engaged with each department, undertook a records survey and discussed recommendations on retention, disposal and transfer to archives. Seeing collections development in action and being able to question archives staff was very beneficial to developing audiences for archives in the organisation.
As a result of both targeting audiences in the strategy development and engaging with audiences in the physical archives review, the services has:
- Raised its profile
- Successfully increased understanding of its work and holdings
- Developed collections
- Identified new projects and ways that the service can support core business