Federation Of Family History Societies

The National Archives (TNA) - Proposed Changes

 

The proposed closure on Mondays and introduction of car park charges have resulted in some strongly worded opposition in the form of letters to The Times and The Daily Telegraph. Perhaps inevitably, they seem to be written from a narrow, distorted perspective and some of the writers delight in looking down on family historians.

While the loss of one day in six is to be regretted, it should be remembered that there was a time in the past when access to the archives was only from Monday to Friday. TNA is to be congratulated on recognising the value to users of retaining Saturday opening and staying open late on Tuesday and Thursday. Closing on Saturday would have saved more money than closing on Monday.

Car park charges are never welcome unless you are not a motorist, but it is not unreasonable to expect users of the car park to pay towards the cost of the provision of this facility. It remains to be seen whether the cost will be acceptable.

Where we, as family historians, share common ground with other users of TNA is in a desire to see the retention of the specialist knowledge gained over years of experience. If lost, this could not be regained easily, if at all.

There has been a suggestion that the proposed changes are linked to TNA 2020 - a strategy exercise designed to look into the feasibility of retaining TNA at Kew. The basis for the exercise is said to be linked to the digital delivery strategy, linked in turn to a perceived continued downward onsite user trend and - more importantly - TNA's identification of the fact that the plant in Q1 (the old building) will not meet government CO2 emission targets within 5 years. This will apparently form the justification for closing Kew, as the capital injection to bring the site to standard is around £2m. Furthermore, space for newly accessioned documents will start to run out.

If the above is true, it is important that we are given an honest and full explanation so that a true appreciation of the situation is possible. In the current economic climate it is clearly necessary to cut our coat according to our cloth. However, it is important for TNA to put all its cards on the table if we are not to suspect sleight of hand.

Roger Lewry
FFHS Archives Liaison

21 July 2009