We are pleased to announce that that Phase 2 of the second Review of Archive Service Accreditation is now underway.
In April 2024 the Archive Service Accreditation Committee met to discuss the recommendations from Phase 1 Review of Archive Service Accreditation (PDF, 0.23 MB) and agreed a way forward based on these recommendations outlined in the report (PDF, 0.23 MB)
Since April 2024 we have been incorporating these agreed changes across in the standard and its associated documentation, working with external contractors to implement the recommendations of the first phase of the review.
We now plan to test these revisions to the standard in early spring 2025.
The proposed changes are as follows:
- Embedding Inclusive Practice: Requirement 1.1 Mission Statement has been broadened to become 1.1. Mission and Values and other smaller changes have been introduced across the standard, including some new questions within the supporting documentation. The revisions look at inclusive practice in the context of the archive service and how it is embedded across the delivery and development of the service.
- Stakeholders and their experiences: Language will be clearer and more consistent in section 3 of the Standard (Stakeholders and their Experiences) and with less repetition. There will be greater opportunity to explain how an archive service engages with its different communities .
- Digital preservation delivery: The risk management element of analogue and digital collections in requirement 2.4.3 Collections Care Procedures has been separated out to reinforce risk management more generally. DPC RAM has been included in 2.4.3 as an alternative to NDSA levels of Digital Preservation for applicants to complete in this section.
- Environment sustainability: There is a new open question in requirement 1.3 Forward Planning that asks applicants to demonstrate how the archive service is planning change in this area. The Committee will regularly review this area as practice, evidence and guidance develop.
We are planning to recruit a range of archive services to test the proposed changes to the standard and its supporting documentation. This will ensure that any change are appropriate for all archive services who are eligible to apply for Archive Service Accreditation.
Piloting the proposed changes to the Standard will take place from February 2025 to early April 2025.
At the moment we expect to publish the revised standard and supporting documentation during 2025. The first archive services will apply under the revised standard at least six months after the publication of the revised documentation.
Changes across the standard, guidance and application form will take into the different types and sizes of archive service that might apply for accreditation.
Full details of the agreed changes are included in the Minutes of the Annual Archive Service Accreditation Committee Meeting April 2024 (PDF, 0.11 MB).