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Contact us
Tuesday, 30 June 2009
If you have any questions about the development of the strategy in Scotland or suggestions then please contact Kiara.
Kiara King (Ballast Trust Archivist)
Kiara.King@glasgow.ac.uk
Status of Business Archives in Scotland
Wednesday, 24 June 2009
The state of business archives within Scotland is arguably stronger than elsewhere in the UK. Scotland has been at the forefront of collecting and promoting business records in the UK for many years. This is primarily because since 1977 the Business Archives Council of Scotland, the National Archives of Scotland and Glasgow University have funded a Surveying Officer to work with businesses, listing their records, promoting their archives as business assets and, where necessary, undertaking rescue work.
Scotland has taken a holistic approach to collecting archives. As well as collecting the core corporate records of companies, the accompanying technical records such as plans, drawings, photographs and process information are also collected. The appraisal of such records has been time consuming but has left Scotland with rich collections.
There is limited legislation in the UK requiring business records to be retained. It is positive that even without legislation there is a wealth of business archives held by collecting repositories in Scotland. However, implementation of the National Strategy for Business Archives in Scotland will help to improve and formalise existing practices for the care and management of business archives and ensure that Scottish support of business archives continues.
What is a National Strategy for Business Archives?
A National Strategy for Business Archives in Scotland makes recommendations for business archives in the public and private sectors in Scotland. It complements the National Strategy for Business Archives (England and Wales) due to be published by The National Archives in July 2009 and adopts the goals set out in that strategy. A draft version of the English and Welsh strategy is available here.
The strategy will:
- raise the profile of business archives
- promote their value to business and researchers alike
- establish effective networks and partnerships between businesses and archivists
- increase awareness of business archive collections
- improve access to business record collections
- improve the capability and status of business archivists and business collections
About this blog
This blog will provide information about the development of a National Strategy for Business Archives in Scotland. It will also be used to provide general updates about Business Archives in Scotland.
This blog will be written by David Powell, the Surveying Officer for the Business Archives Council of Scotland and Kiara King, the Ballast Trust archivist.
We welcome any comments or suggestions.
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