Our priorities for the next four years must focus on sustaining and maximising our value and impact as a national archive, and the value and impact of archives more widely. We have identified three key areas: Building the value of our Collection, Creating value through Connection and Sustaining value through Custodianship.
1. Building the value of our Collection
We will grow the collection, its accessibility and utility.
Over the next four years we will begin a new era in the history of our collection. We will be accessioning near-contemporary digital records at scale, bringing the Parliamentary Archives together with the archive of Government and completing the single biggest transfer in our history – the historical records of c10 million service personnel.
Key outcomes:
- Exponential year-on-year growth of the digital archive, underpinned by a new holistic service and support offer to government and the courts
- Completed transfer of the 15 linear km Parliamentary Archives collection with successful integration of the staff and services supporting it
- Completed transfer of around 10 million service personnel records, with an effective access service offer in place
- A new collection policy informed by inclusive archival practice.
2. Creating value through Connection
We will open up bigger and better opportunities to connect with the collection for everyone, everywhere.
Over the next four years we will develop further our ability to connect people with our collection in person, online and crucially, through education at all levels, research and scholarship. In each of these settings we will grow the number of people who encounter and benefit from the experience of archives.
Key outcomes:
- Increased in-person connections, promoting equity of access to our collections at Kew and across the country, with:
- an overall increase in visitors by more than 50%
- doubling of participants in our learning programmes
- a new regional learning programme, initially reaching up to 10,000 students per year
- a new touring exhibition programme
- Stronger online connections, making it easier for more people to encounter our content and offering them a more accessible and satisfying experience when they do, putting us on track for a ‘tenfold in ten years’ increase in visitor numbers to our digital services
- Growing connections in schools, with a 10% year-on-year increase on the 3.3 million connections we already make through our taught onsite and online sessions and through our online resources for teachers
- Greater global connections through widened access to collections of significant international interest, including those representing shared archival heritage
- Enhanced research connections, supporting more high-impact research especially where our collection has relevance.
3. Sustaining value through Custodianship
Ever mindful of our historic role, we will invest in the skills, capability and infrastructure needed to support our mission over the long-term.
Over the next four years we will continue to invest time, thought and resource into the long-term sustainability of our work and that of the sector we lead. This will include, in the first year, a completed business case for a new regional location to complement our Kew headquarters.
Key outcomes:
- A completed business case for and significant progress towards a second, regional location
- Sustainable infrastructure in place to support the growth of our collection as we become the archive of the state
- Upgraded legacy infrastructure to protect and sustain the collection
- Reduced preservation risk for digital public records wherever they are held
- A refreshed version of Archives Unlocked – the Government’s vision for archives.