2007 Annual Report on the work of the Jersey Heritage Trust and the Archivist under the Public Records (Jersey) Law 2002.
Background
The Public Records (Jersey) Law 2002 under article 45, requires the Archivist appointed by the Jersey Heritage Trust to report to the States on the performance of the functions of the Archivist and the Trust under the Law and on any developments in the making, management and keeping of Public Records in the previous calendar year.
The Law sets out the principal duties of the Trust and the Archivist as follows:
Trust
- to receive archival public records
- to maintain a public records office
- to employ an Archivist and other staff with appropriate qualifications
Archivist
- to take Oath under the Law
- to appraise public records and survey their disposal
- to manage public records in the custody of the Trust
- to make public records available for the public to access
Archival Public Records
In 2007, 45 new collections from official bodies were transferred to the Jersey Archive under the Law. These collections contained a total of nearly 6,500 individual items ranging from volumes to files, photographs to film, paper to electronic. All new collections have been fully accessioned, assessed by the Archive Conservator and placed in the strongrooms at the Jersey Archive to await cataloguing.
[Please see appendix A for a full list of public records accessioned in 2008.]
The Jersey Archive currently holds approximately 200,000 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 under the Law. With current staffing levels this represents a 19.7 year cataloguing backlog, an increase of 1.1 years on the backlog of 2006.
In 2007, 5,300 items were catalogued by staff and 11,000 new items (both public and private records) were accessioned. These statistics show that with current staff levels our 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 2007 The Conservator spent 500 hours or one third of her time ensuring that all public records arriving at the Archive were cleaned and repackaged to ensure their long-term preservation. The Conservator is also responsible for a programme of active conservation of badly damaged items and in 2007 she repaired 7 items. The Archive currently holds over 300 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 2007 approximately 50,000 records were checked in stock taking week and found to be in the correct locations.
Public Access to Records
Under the Law the Trust is required to maintain a public records office and the Archivist to make the public records in her care available for members of the public to access. In 2007 the Jersey Archive was open to the public on 160 days of the year and 3,288 readers made use of the facilities. This is significantly less than half the year.
Approximately 63% of the population are currently in employment and for those who work full time access to the Archive is limited to 11 late nights in the year when the Archive is open until 7pm. To increase the number of days that the Archive is open to the public and also the access to records for individuals in employment would require increased staff resources.
The Archive also provides access to public records through its online catalogue and enquiries service. In 2007 staff answered over 1000 written enquiries by letter or e-mail. The catalogue received a total of 71,000 visits with an average visit length of over 30 minutes – a total of 35,500 hours spent looking at the catalogued descriptions of the public records the Archive holds on-line.
Public Services Quality Group
The Jersey Archive is keen to ensure that the views of readers who use the facilities at the Jersey Archive are heard. In November 2007 the Archive took part in the National Archive’s Public Services Quality Group questionnaire of users to Archives. Over a two week period visitors were asked to comment on the staff, facilities and services at the Archive, their cultural and ethnic background and their views on the importance of Archive Services. 98% of individuals classed the visitor facilities and staff at the Archive as ‘very good’ or ‘good’ with 44% of individuals classing the Archive opening hours as ‘poor’ or ‘very poor’. 82% of individuals believed that the single area in which the Archive needed most improvement was the current opening hours.
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 October 2007 the Archivist produced a new policy on closed records and guidelines for staff at the Archive setting out procedures to ensure that information, where possible, is made available to the public and where appropriate, is closed to public access for a specified period of time.
In November 2007 the Archivist reviewed 125 files that, after closure periods of 30 and 100 years, were due to be opened to public access in 2008. After review and consultation with the public bodies that created the records the Archivist recommended that 120 files be opened to public access on 1 January 2008 and 5 files should be closed for longer periods of time under Part 5, Article (a) of the Public Records Law – Unwarranted invasion of the privacy of an individual. The Records Advisory Panel agreed these recommendations on 10 December 2007.
Legislative Work
In October 2007 the Archivist sent comments to the Privileges and Procedures Committee concerning the Draft Freedom of Information Law and its impact on the Public Records (Jersey) Law 2002.
Appraisal of Public Records
In her 2006 annual report under the Law the Archivist highlighted the lack of funding available to the Jersey Heritage Trust to ensure that the Trust and Archivist’s responsibilities to appraise and supervise disposal of public records under the Law were fully met. Additional funding has not been forthcoming in 2007 and therefore work on the appraisal, scheduling and disposal of public records has been largely reactive.
In 2007 the Archivist met with the Head of Administration at Education Sport and Culture and colleagues from the Education Psychology Service and Information Compliance at Health and Social Services to discuss and agree retention schedules for records produced by Primary and Secondary Schools. Schedules have been agreed and will be taken to ESC’s senior management team to be signed off in 2008.
Staff at the Archive also met with Public Health to discuss their records filing structure and Children’s Services to discuss retention schedules and file storage. The records located in the Emergency Planning bunker were surveyed and recommendations for retention sent to the Emergency Planning Officer.
Staffing
In June 2007 Linda Romeril was appointed as the new Head of Archives and Collections for the Jersey Heritage Trust. On 1 October she officially replaced Sue Groves, the previous Archivist and was sworn in as Archivist at the Royal Court on 5 October 2007. Mrs Romeril has worked as an archivist with the Jersey Heritage Trust since 1997 after qualifying with a Masters Degree in Archive Administration from the University of Wales, Aberystwyth. Mrs Romeril is a Registered Member of the Society of Archivists.
The Trust currently employs 3 other professional staff at the Jersey Archive, two Archivists and one Conservator and 2 full and 2 part time support staff.
Panel
The Records Advisory Panel met on four occasions in 2007. The current members of Panel were sworn in on 12 December 2003 and are appointed for a period not exceeding 6 years. The current Panel members terms are therefore due to expire in December 2009.
The Archivist wishes to thank Sue Groves, the members of the Records Advisory Panel and the staff at the Jersey Heritage Trust for their support in 2007.
Conclusion
The Jersey Heritage Trust continues to care for archival public records which are produced as part of the business of Government and as such form the written and oral cultural heritage of the Island.
The Archivist and her staff continue to work hard to ensure that these records are accessioned, catalogued, re-packaged, stored in the correct conditions and made available for members of the public to view.
However, the Archive does suffer from lack of funding to reduce the cataloguing and conservation backlogs (19.7 and 30 years respectively), to increase accessibility to public records through longer opening hours and to ensure that modern records are appraised and that the correct information is kept for future generations.
2008
In 2008 the Archivist aims to send a questionnaire to all official bodies to assess current progress under the Law. Questionnaires will be followed up by detailed interviews with individuals from each official body to identify programmes of work that need to be put in place to ensure that the functions of the Law are met. This assessment should establish a list of priorities and timescales for future work.
The first quarter of 2008 has already seen a greater cubic quantity of public records deposited at the Archive than in 2007.
The Archivist will also investigate and report to Education Sport and Culture on the additional staff requirements needed to start stabilising cataloguing and conservation backlogs, increase archive opening hours and work with modern records.
Linda Romeril
Head of Archives and Collections
Jersey Heritage
03/03/2008
Appendix A
Depositor | Accession Number | Accession Description |
Customs and Immigration Service | JA/1246 | Customs and Immigration Department General Filing, 1950s - 1990s |
Education Sport and Culture Department | JA/1306 | Education Sport and Culture additional deposit, includes; Constables Accounts, St Marks'/La Pouquelaye Amalgamation, Committee of Inquiry (MFA) and Youth Hostel - 24, St Mark's Road, 1960s - 1990s |
Harbours Department | JA/1240 | Harbour's Department-additional deposit of tide tables and sketches and plans of development at the Harbour, 1966-1998 |
Health and Social Services Department | JA/1267 | Public Health Department; Medical Officer of Health Reports, 1889 - |
Health and Social Services Department | JA/1321 | Jersey General Hospital; Accident and Emergency Admission Registers, c 1956-1995, Minor Operation Register, 1987 and GP Admissions, 1995 and 2000-2002 |
Jersey Airport | JA/1249 | Reports from the Jersey Airport relating to two air accidents, the machinery of the States of Jersey and a contract for a new radar, 1963-1999 |
Jersey Heritage Trust | JA/1226 | Jersey Heritage Trust Collection additional deposit of the proposal for the ENVELOP[p]ES Exhibition, 2003 |
Jersey Heritage Trust | JA/1244 | Overseas Trading Company, original orders, employment papers and tomato factory plans and drawings, c.1930s - 1950s |
Jersey Heritage Trust | JA/1257 | Jersey Heritage Trust additional deposit of the Liberation 60 Project correspondence, filing and images, 2005 |
Jersey Heritage Trust | JA/1259 | Jersey Heritage Trust additional deposit. Copy of Emigrants from Jersey, The Cod and the Gaspé Coast by George F Le Feuvre, c.1970s |
Jersey Heritage Trust | JA/1301 | Certificate from the RNLI to Reginald J Nicolle, 1949 |
Jersey Heritage Trust | JA/1334 | Jersey Heritage Trust additional deposit, includes; copies of newscuttings and dvds relating to visits to the Trust's sites, c. 2000s |
Jersey Heritage Trust | JA/1336 | Jersey Heritage Trust additional deposit, includes; press cuttings regarding the Jersey Heritage Trust, comment books from Jersey Heritage Trust sites, limited edition prints of Hamptonne by Wayne Audrain, posters, sound recordings, videos and cds, 1993-2005 |
Jersey Heritage Trust | JA/1341 | Jersey Heritage Trust additional deposit, includes; annual reviews, leaflets, interpretation notes and the proposal for the Maritime Museum, c 1982-2004 |
Jersey Heritage Trust | JA/1342 | Jersey Heritage Trust additional deposit, includes; transparencies and photographs of Jersey buildings originally taken by Robin Briault, c 20th-21st century |
Jersey Library | JA/1287 | Statement signed by Baron de Rullecourt concerning the desertion of three men from the Corps of the Volunteers of Luxembourg of which he is the commanding officer, 16/10/1780 |
Jersey Library | JA/1346 | Miscellaneous Papers from the estate of the late Ian Monins, includes; permits from the Occupation, programmes of events, papers from schools, invitations, tickets, correspondence, posters and calendars, c. 1911-1990s |
Jersey Meteorological Department | JA/1269 | Jersey Weather and Climatological Report, 2003 |
Jersey Telecom | JA/1290 | Jersey Telephone Directories, 2004 - 2007 |
Jersey Tourism | JA/1329 | Jersey Tourism additional deposit, includes; scrapbooks, newscuttings, brochures, publicity photographs, videos and sound, c. 1960s-2000s |
Jersey Tourism | JA/1337 | Jersey Tourism additional deposit, includes; posters, videos, photographs and a file regarding Jersey Royals, c. 1990-2004 |
Judicial Greffe | JA/1222 | Judicial Greffe additional deposit, includes; Family Division - Matrimonial Causes files [Numbers: 551-600, 700-799, 950-1099, 1200-1212, 1214-1216, 1218-1526, 1528-1549] and registers, Orders in Council, Proclamations, Centeniers Reports, German Orders, Cause Civiles and Petty Debts Registers c.1880 - 1980 |
Judicial Greffe | JA/1238 | Judicial Greffe additional deposit, includes; Family Division - Matrimonial Causes files [Numbers: 800 - 949, 1100 - 1199, 1550 - 1599, 1776 - 1830], 1960s - 1970s |
Judicial Greffe | JA/1251 | Judicial Greffe additional deposit, includes; Family Division - Matrimonial Causes files [Numbers: 1600 - 1710, 1740 - 1775, 1831 - 2510], Trademark Files, Degrevement and Jury List, 1936 - 2005 |
Judicial Greffe | JA/1288 | Judicial Greffe additional deposit, includes; Family Division - Matrimonial Causes files [Numbers: 1702 - 4085 not inclusive], 1974 - 1984 |
Judicial Greffe | JA/1307 | Judicial Greffe additional deposit, includes; Family Division - Matrimonial Causes files, 1984 - 1989 |
Judicial Greffe | JA/1310 | Judicial Greffe additional deposit, includes; summing-ups, privy council appeals, remise papers, deeds of arrangement, presumptions of death, papers regarding the computerisation of the Public Registry and lists of Acts of Parliament, c. 1932-1988 |
Judicial Greffe | JA/1318 | Draft Royal Court Registers, c 1965-1972 and Notes D'Audience with the Bailiff, Deputy Bailiff and C J Le Quesne, c 1950-1964 |
Judicial Greffe | JA/1319 | Judicial Greffe additional deposit, includes; Fideicommis Records, c 1890-2006 and Royal Court Journals c 1990-1995 |
Judicial Greffe | JA/1328 | Judicial Greffe additional deposit of Matrimonial Causes files, 1988-1992 |
Judicial Greffe | JA/1347 | Criminal Prosecutions and Appeals Index, 1979-1981 |
Law Officers' Department | JA/1297 | Law Officers' Department additional deposit; licences granted under the Licence (Jersey) Law, 1974, 1974 - 1999 |
Office of the Lieutenant Governor | JA/1272 | Lieutenant Governor's Archive additional deposit of photographs of past Lieutenant Governors, 1868 - 2006 |
Office of the Lieutenant Governor | JA/1343 | Lieutenant Governor Archive additional deposit, includes; papers of the Receiver General, c. 1950-2004, naturalisation papers, c. 1946-1997 and papers relating to Royal celebrations, c. 1980s |
Parish of St Helier Registrar | JA/1352 | Registers recording deaths in the Parish of St Helier, 1850-1968 and samples of birth, marriage and death registration documentation, 1986-2005 |
Parish of St Saviour | JA/1295 | St Saviour's Parish Archive additional deposit, includes driving licence lists, port d'armes, accounts, correspondence, welfare papers and photographs of Parish events and Lillie Langtry, c.1870 - 2001 |
Planning and Environment | JA/1230 | Outsize ½ tone positive enlargements of aerial photographs taken by the Ordnance Survey of Jersey, c.1970s - 1980s - this is not a complete set of the whole Island |
Planning and Environment | JA/1320 | Planning and Environment additional deposit, includes; photographs of Kensington Place, c 1968 |
Property Holdings | JA/1345 | Files relating to bunkers, forts, towers and magazines and the Land Office Section, c. 1959-1984 |
St John's Parish | JA/1245 | St John's Parish Records additional deposit, includes Parish Assembly Minutes, Rates and Electoral Lists, 1675 - 1974 |
St Luke's School | JA/1283 | Admission Registers from St Luke's School, 1884 - 1963, St Mary and St Peter's School, 1879 - 1936, St James' School, 1949 - 1983 and St Luke's School Newsletters, 1990s - 2000s. |
States Greffe | JA/1348 | Minutes of the States of Jersey, 1999-2006 |
States of Jersey Fire and Rescue Service | JA/1274 | States of Jersey Fire and Rescue Service Records. Minute books giving a daily record of the Fire Service's activities, 2002 - 2003 |
States of Jersey Treasury | JA/1299 | States of Jersey Treasury Financial Report and Accounts, 2006 |
Viscount's Department | JA/1278 | Viscount's Department; inquest verdicts, 1887 - 1945 |
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