Whilst excellent progress has been made over the last three years; we must continue to focus on developing and growing digital capacity within the archives sector. We become more resilient with greater digital capacity and are better able to serve our communities. Digital capacity:
- Safeguards the digital record
- Makes archives more sustainable
- Produces a wide, national community of practice
- Gets better outcomes for local and research communities.
This strategy will continue to build upon several of the successful workstreams delivered by Plugged in Powered Up, as well as developing new targeted support.
Continuing programmes include:
- Novice to Know-How (N2KH)
- Peer mentoring
- Digital Archive Learning Exchange (DALE)
- Supporting new routes into the sector (Level 7 Apprenticeships)
- More strategic promotion of existing digital resources
Areas of new targeted support:
The evaluation of Plugged In, Powered Up identified themes where there is work still to be done, which we will target with Our Digital Century. These centre on:
- Leadership: a focus on digital leadership, ensuring leaders are equipped with the necessary skills to lead and embed digital change within their organisation
- Sustainability: targeted work on the carbon footprint of archive services ensuring the necessary understanding of emission types and what activities contribute heavily to emissions
- Inclusiveness: working towards good practice on reducing digital exclusion so archives can serve their communities in the most inclusive way
- Evidence-based support: creating and delivering resources based on identified areas of need. This includes the continuation of already established programmes of support and the development of new support in key areas, including advocacy and leadership.