Archives Sector Development leads the archives sector by providing services and guidance on all matters relating to the creation, management, care, and use of records and archives and all strategic issues arising from this.

We aim to support all custodians of records, including publicly funded archives services, private owners and those with responsibility for caring for archive collections, and the records management community with a range of services and written guidance to enable these activities to flourish.

We are responsible for the delivery of the government policy 'Archives for 21st century'.

We do this by:

• developing national standards in consultation with partners
• developing leadership and the workforce, including diversification of skills and volunteering through partnership working
• providing advocacy and promoting best practice in the sector along with partner organisations
• leading the development of collection strategies across the archives sector
• developing and promoting opportunities for online access and digitisation projects
• providing advice and guidance on:
• standards and best practice
• acquisitions, deposit agreements and developing collection policies  
• managing digital preservation
• funding opportunities
• improving access to services
• inspecting both public and private repositories
• supporting private archives through the discharge of the HMC warrant through advice and survey work
• sales monitoring
• providing advice on acceptance in lieu and making recommedations to the Captial Taxes Office under the conditional exemption scheme
• maintaining online resources Manorial Documents Register and National Register of Archives and providing advice on these to the public
• working closely with the Lord Chancellor's Advisory Forum on Historical Manuscripts and Academic Research

Discover more about the development of the new Archives Accreditation scheme and participate in its development.

In the course of 2011-2012 the strategic functions of the Museums, Libraries and Archives Council (MLA) in relation to archives will transfer to The National Archives, as the MLA closes. Find out more about this transfer.

Archive sector updates

'Archive Sector Update' is a free online newsletter from The National Archives for all those interested in archive sector issues. Read the latest update below, and see previous archive sector updates in our 'publications' section.

We hope that you find the stories informative. This newsletter is for you and about you, so if have stories, feedback or any ideas for future issues we would like to hear from you. You can contact us by emailing asd@nationalarchives.gsi.gov.uk.

Read the latest issue of Archive Sector Update (PDF, 0.00Mb)

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The National Archives, Kew, Richmond, Surrey, TW9 4DU. Tel: +44 (0) 20 8876 3444. Contact us