Why sustainable?
Archives of all types must have the necessary funding and conditions to remain integral in the future.
Archives are found in a wide range of organisations, from local authorities, universities and museums to charities, businesses and historic houses. However, despite varying operating and funding models, every type of archive faces resourcing constraints.
Archives epitomise resilience by preserving records beyond the lifetime of the individuals or communities that created them. To maintain this vital work, archives themselves must be financially sustainable.
Archives must be environmentally sustainable too, as there can be no future for archives if there is no future for our planet. Many archives have already started reducing their environmental impact. Others
are contributing positively to the environmental challenge by documenting the impacts of climate change and providing historical data and knowledge to inform national action. However, there is more work to be done to guarantee a sustainable future for archives.
Why now?
Archives in many institutions already operate with lean staffing models and struggle to deliver their existing mission. Budget pressures in all types of organisations and a reliance on short term project funding jeopardise the sustainability of many services.
These financial challenges demand new ways of working, entrepreneurial approaches and focused investment. This is a vision for growth, and securing additional resources by maximising grant opportunities, generating income and partnership working is vital to its success.
The Government will continue to support The National Archives as the sector lead for England, embedding this commitment within The National Archives’ strategy and enabling greater capacity for development.
Although environmentally sustainable solutions can come with significant costs, addressing the challenge of climate change requires action. Solutions can include moving towards energy efficient management of physical collections or mitigating the impact of the burgeoning carbon footprint that new digital records represent. Learning from the progress of other organisations, archives will develop more robust frameworks and long-term strategies that seize opportunities to reduce their environmental impact.
What next?
In collaboration with partners, archives will:
- advocate effectively to their parent organisations and funders outside of the archive sector to secure appropriate and long-term resourcing
- find innovative ways to generate income and leverage the economic potential of records while maintaining the integrity of collections
- work in greater partnership regionally as well as locally, rather than in silos, potentially pooling resources
- develop new strategies to minimise their environmental impact now, including making storage more energy efficient
- produce new guidance on environmental standards and contribute to environmental research and education