Issue - meetings

For the Select Committee to receive an introduction to Hampshire Archives and Records.

The Committee received a presentation providing an introduction to Hampshire Archives and Records (Item 8 in the Minute Book).  The presentation was introduced and the recent visit in November to the Hampshire Record Office by the Select Committee was highlighted.

In relation to the archives service, Members heard that this was one of the largest archives services in the United Kingdom, and had achieved Archive Service Accreditation since 2018.  Officers explained the move towards digital access of archives through the contract with Ancestry, and sources of income generation for the archives service were highlighted which included venue hire and ticketed events.  Members heard details about the Council’s Record Management Service, and it was explained that work was ongoing with IT to explore digital retention instead of paper, but there were challenges such as ensuring digital records could be accessed successfully in 100 years’ time. 

The presentation also highlighted the Hampshire Archives Draft Strategy, and close partnership working with other services such as the library and registration service was noted.  Slide 10 of the presentation provided a breakdown of the expenditure of the Archives and Records service, and it was heard that the majority of expenditure was premises related and employee costs.  Funding received by the service was also highlighted, and it was heard that £80,000 of funding had been received from the Archives Trust for the cinescanner.  Details of the Income Generation Strategy were explained, and the opportunities to generate income were set out at slide 11 of the presentation which included receipt of royalties from Ancestry, providing professional consultancy and the potential to explore membership and partnership arrangements. 

In response to Members’ questions, it was noted that:

·        Digitisation of records is expensive, and priority is given to those records which are the most popular.

·        In relation to the future of the Hampshire Records building, this would be examined as part of the Hampshire Archives Strategy

·        A voluntary contribution of £4,000 is asked of depositors annually.

·        A challenge for digitisation is to ensure systems used are accessible in the future, and this will be explored and developed as part of the Hampshire archives strategy. 

The Committee thanked Officers for the informative presentation and noted the update.