IHBC members involved in historic building research will be interested to know that new awards have been given to three archive services on Scotland, which join others in the UK in showing that they reach the high standard recognised by the Archive Service Accreditation.
The Scottish Government writes:
Three of Scotland’s archives have received recognition for the standards of their vital work to maintain Scotland’s important historical documents
This evening, The Cabinet Secretary for Culture, Europe and External Affairs, Fiona Hyslop MSP, will present certificates to the first three Scottish archives to attain United Kingdom Archives Accreditation.
The three archives receiving this award are Falkirk Archives, the main repository for Falkirk Council’s historic records; Lothian Health Services Archive, based at the University of Edinburgh, and the National Records of Scotland. The archives accreditation process has been created by archivists from across the UK. They acknowledge organisations that provide a high level of service to users, preserving collections in line with UK standards and who are committed to sustainable services and ongoing improvement.
Archive Service Accreditation is a UK-wide quality standard that offers a benchmark to gauge performance, recognises achievement and drives improvement within the archives sector. In Scotland, accreditation is overseen by the National Records of Scotland and the Scottish Council on Archives.
Fiona Hyslop, the Cabinet Secretary for Culture, Europe and External Affairs, said: ‘Good archives are essential to understanding the rich history of this country. They also support our hugely successful Scottish family history sector and ensure knowledge is available to future generations. I warmly congratulate the three archives on their success and their outstanding work to keep Scotland records safe for others. This government values culture and history and has strongly supported the archives and records sector, most notably in passing the Public Records (Scotland) Act, 2011.’
Tim Ellis, Chief Executive, National Records of Scotland, said: ‘Archives Accreditation will be a major tool to drive improvements across Scottish archives, so I’m delighted to accept this award on behalf of National Records of Scotland. I’m also very pleased on behalf of our colleagues in Falkirk Archives and Lothian Health Services, and look forward to further successful Scottish applications in the coming months and years.’
Dr Irene O’Brien, Chair of the Scottish Council on Archives, said:
‘Opening up the unique assets that are archives requires a laser-like focus on how that is to be secured. Achieving archives accreditation is a robust measure for services that succeed both in meeting user needs and ensuring efficient management of available resources. Accreditation of three services in Scotland marks out the path for others to follow.’
Find out more about archive accreditation
