Archive Services, Access and Preservation module (RM50001)

In Archive Services, Access and Preservation, we will be utilising professional UK and International standards and best practice, to study the complex balancing act of making unique archives available to users, whilst ensuring their preservation. We will consider the services users require, explore barriers to access, and discuss how we can facilitate and increase use. We will review the best ways to promote our collections, looking at websites, digitisation, outreach, publicity and educational activities. We will examine immediate and potential threats to the preservation of archives and consider practical ways in which these can be removed. Finally we will consider resource management, how best to manage time, staff and other resources to ensure that our responsibilities to users, archives and managers are met. Throughout the module we will be mixing theory with practice, looking at not just what we do but why we do it and looking at how standards and guidelines can best be applied in practice.

• Users and access: providing services to users; users and their needs; access restrictions and regulations; legislation
• Outreach: reaching a wider audience; publicity and promotion; online resources; outreach and inreach strategies;
• Preservation: identifying risks to archives; responses to ensure protection of archives; storage requirements of different media; preservation policies
• Management: staff, resource and time management; policies and procedures; measuring performance

Tutors

Jessamy Carlson, Clare Wood, Pamela McIntyre, Melinda Haunton, Hannah Little