Federation Of Family History Societies

Archives Liaison Survey - 2007

Thank you to those who completed the 23 forms we received for the survey we conducted towards the end of last year. Five of the replies were on paper, the remainder being submitted electronically. The initial analysis shows the following:

• 48% of societies have someone responsible for liaising with archives
• 59% meet regularly with keepers and/or users of archives
• 90% reported that laptops are allowed in some or all archives
• 78% reported that digital cameras are allowed in some or all archives
• 50% were unhappy with manning levels at archives
• 68% had noted a reduction in opening hours recently
• 61% were aware of backlogs in cataloguing records
• 56% were aware of local digitisation projects at their archives
• 91% can order material in advance of a visit
• 73% have been approached by their record office for help
• 65% have noticed funding problems
• 70% have archives which use the County Archives Research Network (CARN) ticket system
• 43% had not looked at the Archives Liaison pages on the FFHS website
• 77% of societies are working on projects for, or with the assistance of, local archives

The reduced opening hours and observed funding problems come as no surprise. The Museums, Libraries and Archives Council is having to reduce its costs by 25% as a result of last year's Comprehensive Spending Review carried out by the Government.

It is to be hoped that the newly formed All Party Group on Archives will improve the position of archives on the political agenda, and ensure that archives gets a larger "slice of the cake" allocated to museums, libraries and archives.