Education, Sport and Culture Department Ministerial Report |
Subject: | Annual Report of the Archivist Under the Public Records Law |
Exempt Clause: | | Date: | 31 March, 2010 |
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Author: | Rod McLoughlin : Cultural Development Officer |
1. Background
Article 45 (1) of the Public Records (Jersey) Law 2002 requires the Archivist to prepare an annual report on the performance of her duties and those of the Jersey Heritage Trust under the Law, and on relevant developments during the course of the year since the appearance of the previous annual report. The attached report for 2009 has been prepared by the Archivist for presentation to the States.
2. Recommendation
The Minister is recommended to accept the annual report of the Archivist and to instruct officers to make arrangements for its publication in the States in accordance with the requirements of the above Law.
2009 Annual Report on the work of Jersey Heritage and the Archivist under the Public Records (Jersey) Law 2002.
Introduction
Under the Public Records (Jersey) Law 2002 (the Law) the Archivist is required to provide an annual report to the States of Jersey. The 2009 annual report gives details of the assessment of the Jersey Archive against national standards, the care of and access to public records, legislative work, records management work and work undertaken as part of the Children’s Care Home Inquiry.
National Standards
In July 2009 the Jersey Archive submitted an annual return to The National Archive self-assessment performance programme which was established in 2007. The programme assesses each archive against The National Archive Standard for Records Repositories with the intention of providing a ‘measure of overall service quality.’
The results of the self-assessment allow archive services and their stakeholders to make year on year comparisons and also to compare their level of service with other archives in the UK.
The 2008/2009 results for Jersey Archive were as follows:
Section scores are: | 2007/8 | 2008/9 | 2008/9 Position* |
Section 1: Governance | 67.5% | 78.5% | Top 11% |
Section 2: Collection and Documentation | 73.5% | 72.5% | Top 14% |
Section 3: Access and the User Experience | 43.5% | 56.5% | Bottom 48% |
Section 4: Preservation | 78.5% | 79% | Top 17% |
Section 5: Buildings, Security and the Environment | 84.5% | 84% | Top 9% |
Overall: | 66.5% | 72% | Top 20% |
* Position compared to 114 other archive services in the UK.
Key Areas of Change
The two key areas of improvement between the 2007/8 and 2008/9 self-assessment results were in the sections of Governance and Access and the User Experience.
Governance
The employment of a Records Assistant under the Children’s Care Home Inquiry has increased Jersey Archive’s scoring in the questions relating to total staffing numbers and budget increases.
In 2008 specific annual plans were introduced for Jersey Archive and the submission of the 2008 annual plan annotated with objectives achieved led to higher scores in this area. The revision and development of policies in 2008 and 2009 also contributed to an increase in points in the Governance section.
Access and the User Experience
This section is divided into questions around the user experience at the Archive, the provision of access to archival material through in person visits to the building and outreach activities in the community. Jersey Archive scores very highly in sections that relate to the user experience and service at the Archive but these scores are pulled down by opening hours, access and outreach projects.
In 2008/2009 the success of projects such as the What’s Your Story campaign and the Les Quennevais Family Trees exhibition has led to a 13% increase in our score in this area.
Areas for Improvement in 2010
Within current resources it would be difficult to anticipate that any major improvements could be made to these results in 2010. Indeed it is possible that the slight downward trend in the collection and documentation section will continue if Jersey Archive is unable to tackle the current cataloguing backlog.
Without significant increases in opening hours and the ability to devote more staff resources to community, education and outreach projects the Jersey Archive will continue to perform at level below the National average in the access and the user experience section of the assessment.
Archival Public Records
In 2009, 48 new collections from official bodies were transferred to the Jersey Archive under the Law. These collections contained over 6,500 individual items. All new collections have been fully accessioned, assessed by the Archive Conservator and placed in the strongrooms at the Jersey Archive to await cataloguing.
In 2009 25 cubic meters of records were transferred to the archive. If transfers continue at this rate the Jersey Archive repository will be full by 2017. The amount of cubic meters transferred has fallen slightly in 2009 from the 28 cubic meters transferred in 2008. The Archivist expects that this slight fall in cubic meters transferred will continue over time as many institutions have now deposited their older records and many future transfers will be made in a digital format. Space in the Jersey Archive repositories will continue to be monitored on an annual basis.
Please see appendix A for a full list of public records accessioned in 2009.
Cataloguing
The Jersey Archive currently holds a over quarter of a million public records, 70% are fully catalogued and accessible for members of the public to research. The remaining 30% are waiting to be catalogued before they can be made available to the public. With current staffing levels this represents a 21.8 year cataloguing backlog, an increase of 0.4 years on the backlog of 2008.
In 2009 6,995 items were catalogued by staff an increase of 40% on the number of items catalogued in 2008. This increase is due to the help of a student volunteer and a newly implemented cataloguing programme which focuses staff resources on cataloguing once each week.
In 2009 7978 new items (both public and private records) were accessioned. These statistics show that with current staff levels the cataloguing backlog will continue to grow on an annual basis.
Public records currently held at the Jersey Archive are kept in an environmentally controlled secure strongroom which is monitored for temperature and humidity by the Conservator on a daily basis.
In 2009 the Conservator spent 226 hours ensuring that all public records arriving at the archive were cleaned and repackaged. The Conservator is also responsible for a programme of conservation of badly damaged items. In 2009, due to a reduction in the Conservators hours, this work was outsourced and an external firm repaired 21 items. The archive currently holds 468 items in an unusable condition that are in need of active conservation work.
Each year the Jersey Archive completes a stock take to ensure that public records are located correctly in the strongrooms and that none have been misplaced during the year. In 2009 approximately 50,000 records were checked in stock taking week, one was misplaced and is currently being searched for, the rest have been found to be in the correct locations.
Public Access to Records
In 2009 the Jersey Archive was open to the public on 161 days of the year and 3,398 readers made use of the facilities. The Archive also provides access to public records through its online catalogue and enquiries service. In 2009 staff answered 1,267 written enquiries by letter or e-mail. The catalogue received a total of 88,000 visits with over 10,400 visitors searching the archives for over 20 minutes.
In 2009 the Jersey Archive took part in the Public Services Quality Group of the National Council on Archives’ survey of visitors to UK archives. The survey is completed over a two week period and asks members of the public to rate the services provided by each archive.
Jersey Archive performed well when compared against other archives in the UK with the overall service provided rated by 69.5% of the public in the highest ‘very good’ category against the National average of 54.7%.
In common with previous visitor surveys the public identified the opening hours of the Jersey Archive as the area in which they would like to see the most improvement with 84.5% of respondents selecting opening hours when answering the question ‘Which areas is it most important for this archive to improve?’. 43.4% of members of the public answering the survey placed the archive in the lowest ‘poor’ or ‘very poor’ categories when asked about opening hours.
The need for increased public access to the records at the Jersey Archive has been highlighted in previous annual reports to the States. The findings of the National Archive self-assessment, the Public Services Quality Forum and the popularity of the 12 open Saturdays throughout 2009 has shown that the Archive still needs to improve in this area to meet national standards and public expectation.
Closed Records
Under the Public Records Law any information produced by a public body is closed to public access for 30 years unless it has been previously available, e.g. published reports. The Records Advisory Panel, appointed under the Law, has the ability to approve recommendations from the Archivist for longer closure periods on records of a sensitive nature, e.g. Children’s Services or Hospital records.
In 2009 the Archivist reviewed 43 record series that are currently closed to public access for over 30 years. Recommendations on closure periods were discussed with public institutions and approved by the Records Advisory Panel at their quarterly meetings.
In November 2009 the Archivist reviewed 205 files that, after closure periods of 30, 75 and 100 years, were due to be opened to public access in January 2010. After review and consultation with the public bodies that created the records the Archivist recommended that 201 files be opened to public access on 1 January 2010 and 4 files should be closed for longer periods of time. Three additional closures were made under Part 5, Article (a) of the Public Records Law – Unwarranted invasion of the privacy of an individual and one under Part 5, Article (q) of the Law - Prejudice the consideration of any matter relating to immigration, nationality, consular or entry clearance cases. The Records Advisory Panel agreed these recommendations on 14 December 2009.
Legislative Work
The Archivist attended meetings concerning draft Freedom of Information legislation with officers and members of the Privileges and Procedures Committee (PPC) throughout 2009. As a result of these meetings the Archivist consulted with The National Archive, Information Policy Consultant and Data Protection Officer and made recommendations to PPC in response to a white paper circulated for comment in October 2009.
Records Management
In 2009 the Archivist produced an appraisal policy for Jersey Heritage. The appraisal policy is a key document in the archive’s work with modern records under the Public Records Law. Effectively through appraisal it is decided which records should be kept and for how long to meet the requirements of the organisation, government accountability and the expectations of researchers and other users of records. The policy outlines the process of appraisal and allows States administrations and members of the public to see the guidelines that archive staff use when deciding whether or not to preserve modern records for future generations.
Many States administrations now store key archival records, such as admission registers, land transactions and Royal Court registers in a digital format. Our digital heritage is at risk of being lost to posterity. Contributing factors include the rapid obsolescence of hardware, software and storage media and a lack of preservation strategies. Jersey Archive already holds some computer tape from public institutions from the 1960s/1970s that is unreadable due to hardware obsolescence.
In response to this issue the Archivist has produced a digital preservation policy which aims to preserve and provide continued access to digital material and to advise depositors of the process and format for transfer of archival digital records to the Jersey Archive.
Appraisal of records leads to the production of retention schedules for departments to follow. In order to comply with The Law signed off schedules should be agreed with the Archivist and put in place in each administration. In 2009 the Archivist has continued to work with administrations to ensure that schedules are compiled and signed off. This is however a time consuming task and with current resources at the Jersey Archive will take several years to put in place. In 2009 the Archivist agreed signed off retention schedules with 2 public institutions and put in place a generic retention schedule for all 12 parishes.
Records Advisory Panel
The Records Advisory Panel met on four occasions in 2009. In December 2009 the terms of the original Panel members expired. Recruitment for new panel members was managed by Jersey Heritage in conjunction with Education, Sport and Culture and with the advice of the Appointments Commission. On 11th December 2009 the new panel members were sworn in and held their first meeting on 14th December.
The Archivist wishes to thank both the retiring and current members of the Records Advisory Panel and the staff at Jersey Heritage for their support in 2009.
Children’s Care Home Inquiry
In May 2008 the Archivist was asked by the Chief Minister’s Department to prepare a paper outlining additional resources required to secure historic information for a potential Committee of Inquiry into Children’s Care Homes. In September 2008 the request for additional resources went before the States of Jersey and a Service Level Agreement was signed in December. Under the agreement Jersey Heritage has agreed to appraise, catalogue and index records from key departments over a two year period. A member of staff has been appointed to assist with this work.
In 2009 the Archivist and Records Assistant have appraised over 6,400 files from key departments identifying any links to Children’s Care Homes and making recommendations for disposal. Nearly 3,000 records have now been transferred to the Jersey Archive. The Records Assistant has continued to answer departmental and Police enquiries throughout 2009.
2010
In 2010 the Archivist plans to continue to work with States Administrations to produce signed off retention schedules. At current staffing levels the Archivist aims to produce 3 signed off schedules by the end of the year. Archive staff will also continue to work under the Children’s Homes SLA to appraise and identify records in key departments.
The Archivist will continue to highlight the need for greater staffing resources to enable Jersey Heritage to carry out it’s functions under the Public Records Law and to meet The National Archives Standard for Records Repositories.
Conclusion
The 2008 Archivist’s report to the States of Jersey highlighted recommendations made by Dr Norman James of The National Archive who visited the Jersey Archive to assess the service against BS5454: Recommendations for the storage and exhibition of archival documents (2000) and the wider ranging Standard for Records Repositories (2004).
Dr James’ conclusion, that ‘The Trust is conducting archival operations efficiently, but there is a growing gap between the responsibilities imposed on the service and its ability to meet them within the current financial settlement.’ is still true at the end of 2009.
Dr James’ key recommendations, made in September 2008, are also still applicable:
· That the proper implementation of the Public Records (Jersey) Law, 2002 is impossible with current staffing levels.
· That public access be improved and the cataloguing backlog stabilised through a package of measures, ideally moving back to the previous staff establishment of 11.
· That an infrastructure of departmental information managers within each States administration and the appointment of a permanent records manager on the staff of the Jersey Archive is imperative if the Archive is to carry out its duties under the law.
Despite the improvements made by Jersey Archive in The National Archive self-assessment of 2009 the fundamental issues of cataloguing backlogs, public access and implementation of records management still remain unanswered.
Without the resources to increase public access through opening hours and a reduction in the cataloguing backlog we are not responding to the needs of present and future members of the public who wish to have access to archival material. We also risk the continued preservation of our written cultural heritage through a lack of resources for records management.
Linda Romeril
Head of Archives and Collections
Jersey Heritage
1 March 2010
Appendix A
List of Public Records transferred to Jersey Archive in 2009
Public Institution | Accession Number | Accession Description |
Chief Minister's Department | JA/1583 | Chief Minister's Department additional deposit, includes; filing relating to Jersey's relationship with the European Union, Home Office meetings, international relations and nuclear energy, c 1970-2002 |
Children's Service | JA/1654 | Brig-y-Don Collection, includes; minutes, accounts, reports, admission cards, newspaper cuttings, photographs and plans, c 1932-2009 |
Customs and Immigration Service | JA/1531 | Customs and Immigration Service additional deposit, includes; case files of smuggling, c 1960s-1980s |
d'Auvergne School | JA/1538 | d'Auvergne School deposit, includes; St Mark's School and La Pouquelaye School admission registers, c 1947-2005 |
Economic Development Department | JA/1574 | Economic Development Department Collection, includes; posters, sample tickets and publicity for the Channel Islands lottery, c 1967-2000s |
Education Sport and Culture Department | JA/1557 | Education, Sport and Culture Department additional deposit, includes; Public Instruction Committee minutes, c 1946-1951 |
Education Sport and Culture Department | JA/1602 | Education Department additional deposit, includes; Don Westaway Council minutes, Children's Sub-Committee minutes, staff and pupil statistics, GCSE analysis, Jersey Instrumental Music Service, childminder and foster carer applications and reports on playschemes and nurseries, c 1930-1998 |
Education Sport and Culture Department | JA/1605 | Education Department additional deposit, includes; files and photographs relating to clubs, youth clubs and associations, education reports to the States of Jersey, reports on foster children and parents, minutes of committees and newspaper cuttings, c 1912-2003 |
Education Sport and Culture Department | JA/1620 | Education Department additional deposit, includes; ESC Directorate files and correspondence, minutes, reports and photographs, c 1948-2005 |
Environment Division | JA/1520 | Rural Economy additional deposit, includes; reports relating to the States Farm, imports and exports, various agriculture acts and the Island Development Plan, c 1921-1980 |
Haute Vallée School | JA/1539 | Haute Vallée School additional deposit, includes; St Helier Boys' School and d'Hautrée School admission registers, c 1952-1994 |
Hautlieu School | JA/1619 | Hautlieu School Collection, includes; newspaper cuttings, photographs, log books, visitor books, sports fixtures and results, punishment books, correspondence, plans, programmes, newsletters and magazines, c 1930s-2000s |
Hautlieu School | JA/1624 | Hautlieu School additional deposit of a cd of admission register information |
Jersey College for Girls | JA/1632 | Jersey College for Girls Collection, includes; filing and general correspondence relating to the school, c 1960s-70s |
Jersey Harbours | JA/1626 | Jersey Harbour News magazine, Summer/Autumn 2009 |
Jersey Heritage Trust | JA/1534 | Jersey Heritage Trust additional deposit, includes; JHT Director's Diaries, c 1997-2003 |
Jersey Heritage Trust | JA/1581 | Jersey Heritage additional deposit of sound recordings made during the Jersey Cow and Surfing oral history projects, c 2005-2009 |
Jersey Heritage Trust | JA/1586 | Oral history recording and musical recording of Barbara Kendall Davies and photograph of a Victorian child, c 19th century-2009 |
Jersey Heritage Trust | JA/1591 | Jersey Heritage additional deposit of a sound recording of Stuart Abraham for the Surfing Oral History Project, c 2009 |
Jersey Heritage Trust | JA/1599 | Jersey Heritage additional deposit, includes; sound recordings of Christopher Davies and David Ferguson for the Surfing Oral History Project, c 2009 |
Jersey Heritage Trust | JA/1608 | Jersey Heritage additional deposit, includes oral history recordings of David Gainsborough Roberts, Bridget Murphy and John Huelin, c 2009 |
Jersey Post | JA/1662 | Jersey Post publication relating to the stamps of 2009 |
Jersey Telecom | JA/1584 | Jersey Telecom additional deposit, includes; telephone directories and photographs, c 1924-1980 |
Jersey Telecom | JA/1616 | Jersey Telecom directories for 2009 |
Jersey Tourism | JA/1543 | Jersey Tourism additional deposit, includes; publicity material relating to Jersey, c 2000s |
Judicial Greffe | JA/1553 | Judicial Greffe additional deposit, includes; legitimacy petitions and matrimonial files, c 1949-2006 |
Judicial Greffe | JA/1558 | Judicial Greffe additional deposit, includes; orders in counsel, c 1980-2006 |
Judicial Greffe | JA/1606 | Judicial Greffe additional deposit, includes; matrimonial case files, c 1999-2008 and legitimacy petitions, c 1978-1995 |
Registrar of St Brelade | JA/1647 | St Brelade Registrar's Collection, includes; registers and certificates of birth, marriage and death, c 1842-2006 |
Parish of St Helier | JA/1634 | Cemetery Records of the Parish of St Helier |
Parish of St Martin | JA/1621 | St Martin parish rate list, 2009 |
Parish of St Martin | JA/1642 | Parish of St Martin additional deposit, includes; correspondence from during the occupation, papers relating to public lighting, plans and a report on the fishing industry, c 1936-1967 |
Parish of St Peter | JA/1660 | Parish of St Peter additional deposit, includes; rates schedules, roads committee records, licences and registrar records, c 1807-2001 |
Parish of Trinity | JA/1546 | Parish of Trinity additional deposit, includes; rates returns, welfare files and driving licence applications, c 1994-2008 |
Planning and Environment | JA/1600 | Planning and Environment Collection additional deposit, includes, copies of reports, plans and strategies created by the Department, c 1980s-2000s |
Rural Economy | JA/1525 | Rural Economy additional deposit includes; minute books of the Agriculture and Fisheries Department, show booklets, magazines and awards, c 1961-2000 |
St Martin's School | JA/1637 | St Martin's School deposit of admission registers, c 1950-1982 |
St Martin's School | JA/1649 | St Martin's School deposit of log books, c 1900-2001 |
St Saviour's School | JA/1630 | St Saviour's School Collection, includes; admission registers, school log books, photographs, plans, visitor books and accounts, c 1890-2005 |
States Greffe | JA/1533 | States Greffe additional deposit, includes; States Committee Papers and tax agreements, c 1980-2008 |
States Greffe | JA/1569 | States Greffe additional deposit of tax agreements, 2009 |
States Greffe | JA/1579 | States Greffe additional deposit of a tax agreement with Australia, 2009 |
States Greffe | JA/1614 | States Greffe additional deposit, includes minutes of the States of Jersey and tax agreements, c 2007-2009 |
States Treasury | JA/1535 | States Treasury additional deposit, includes; Financial Services Directorate Filing, c 1980s-2000s |
States Treasury | JA/1549 | States Treasury additional deposit, includes; Finance and Economics Committee agendas and minutes, c 2001-2005 |
Superintendent Registrar | JA/1530 | Additional deposit from the Superintendent Registrar Collection, includes; announcement of marriages, c 1996-2002 |
Treasury and Resources | JA/1578 | States of Jersey Treasury and Resources Department Financial Report and Accounts, 2008 |
Viscount's Department | JA/1611 | Viscount's Department additional deposit, includes; coroners notebooks, inquest files and inquest transcripts, 1914 - 1979 |
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