1 Apologies for absence

Clare Connor (Libraries North West); Alan Crosby (BALH); John Gurney (HMC); John Hodgson, (SCONUL); Jonathan Pepler (NW County Archivists Group), Treasurer; Dawn Routledge (Resource); David Stoker (Merseyside Archivists Group),); Frances Thomson (CURL and NW Regional Library System); Caroline Williams (LUCAS)

2 Minutes and Matters arising

The minutes of the meeting of 13 May were agreed as a correct record, and signed.

The following matters arising were raised

2.9.2 Although it had been intended to discuss the Regional White Paper at this meeting, it had not been included on the agenda, as there was felt to be more pressing business which had to be addressed. The Paper is available on the DTLR website (www.regions.dtlr.gov.uk), and it was agreed that the key sections (4.39 to 4.44) most relevant to Heritage and Culture would be circulated with papers for the next meeting.

2.6.2 It was thought that a follow-up meeting on the LUCAS snapshot project was being arranged by Resource for sometime in July.

2.92 Civil Registration reforms. The timetable now appears to be slipping, with the Consultation paper unlikely to appear in the autumn. Janice Taylor (JT) suggested that it might be possible and appropriate for NWRAC to lead a project to scope the scale of the potential impact, and it was agreed that this could be discussed at a future meeting, once the Consultation Paper had appeared.

6.5 Regional Film Study. Jim Grisenthwaite (JG) reported that at a meeting on 8 July with Alice Morrison (Chief Executive of NW Vision) it was proposed to arrange a meeting with Chris Watson (Chairman of NWFA) and other interested parties to discuss the matter of film archives in both Merseyside and Cumbria.

3 Single Regional Agency (SRA) for the North West

Ian Taylor (IT) reported that the new Constitution for the SRA was almost ready and that it had been approved by the Charity Commissioners. Detailed regulations were now in development, which would address the more detailed mechanics of the process. It is proposed that the SRA Board would comprise 3 representatives of each domain, nominated by the RAC, Libraries NW and the NW Federation of Museums and Art Galleries. There would also be a further 6 individuals selected on the basis of skills, ability to contribute, and interest in the sector. Operationally, Resource are revising the Business Planning process, and this should be clearer by the end of August. Plans for 2003/4 and in outline for 2004/5 and 2005/6 will have to be submitted by January 2003.

It appears that the baseline budgets for the SRAs will be based on population with an added in element for deprivation factors. This should benefit the NW Region. Future staffing issues are still to be resolved, and this led on to some discussion of the creation of a Shadow Board to be able to make firm decisions. This will require the agreement by the various domain based bodies for their nominees to the shadow board to be able to exercise delegated powers, and this would require a formal agreement at a future RAC. On the question of terms of office, it appeared that members might be able to serve for two consecutive 3-year terms before standing down for at least a one-year gap.

It had been hoped that the minutes of the NWMLAG would have been on the northwestarchives.com website by now, but this had proved difficult (the site has no space left on it, as it now contains reports on the recent regional seminars on access and collections management). In the meantime, JT would email copies of the minutes to members of the RAC who may not have seen them.

The matter of the Shadow Board will be discussed again at the next RAC, when it was intended to finalise the names of the Domain representatives.

4 North West Sound Archive – future possible developments

Bruce Jackson (BJ) introduced the papers circulated prior to the meeting (Copies appended to the minutes). In order to assist with progressing Theme1 Objective 7 of the Regional Archive Strategy – to make facilities for specialist media available and accessible – the Council of the North West Sound Archive (NWSA) had looked at various options which might enable them to extend the area of operation in cover Cumbria and Cheshire. NWSA was determined that expansion must not be achieved at the expense of the present funders and users of their service. It had felt it appropriate to bring its thinking to the RAC for discussion prior to making any direct representations to possible funders. The RAC was supportive of the principle of extending operations, and doing this through the agency of the NWSA, and also accepted that the idea of expanding on a basis of simple buy-in on an ad-hoc basis was not realistic. However, it was agreed that in the present climate it would be difficult to engage potential local authority funders.

The idea of using external project funding as a lever was recognised as being worthwhile, and it was suggested that this could be most fruitfully explored by looking into the possibility of seeking HLF Project development funding to investigate the scale of the issue, and suggest possible courses of action. JT and BJ would investigate the possibilities, and seek to initiate discussions with HLF on this.

5. Archive Development Officer – progress report

JT had produced a newsletter, giving an update on the various projects in hand.

This would be circulated by the end of the week, and would be sent to all 142 identified archive repositories in the region, and also to Museums, libraries PRO, Resource etc.

JT also drew attention to the northwestarchives.com website, and asked RAC members to encourage wider use of this, particularly the email list, as it could then be used for the wider and faster dissemination of information.

JT also commented on the following:

LOGJAM – 25 repositories had expressed an interest in involvement, and an initial meeting had been held in early July. A project board would be established, and a project officer appointed for a fixed period.

Archive Awareness event – an initial meeting had been arranged in London on 29 July at the PRO to "brain-storm" the development of the event, which would take place in 2003, possibly in June. The aim of the event would be to "raise the profile of archives and increase understanding of their value to new audiences through a range of activities and co-ordinated promotion. This could tie in with the RAC proposal for an Archives Festival in June 2003. JT and BJ would be attending the meeting.

Regional Agency Skills Sharing Fund – this is a Resource Funded project, which might enable the RLASU to develop archive awareness training, and contribute to the Archive Awareness event.

The LOGJAM project will be funded from within the Resource grant to the NWMS, and may be carried out either by a consultant or an appointee. It will be influenced by the earlier Collections Mapping Project.

6 Other Regional Issues

JG reported that the NCA had issued a slightly revised draft Constitution for the RACs. The only significant revision related to the number of co-options allowed on each RAC, which was now increased from 5 to 10. This was to address issues which had arisen in some RACs. While noting the change, it was agreed that there was no immediate need to increase the number of co-options in the North West. BJ was asked to clarify the status of the new document. [This was done subsequent to the meeting, and the situation is that the RAC should formally endorse the new Procedural Regulations at a future meeting, if they are happy to do so].

BJ reported that Jonathan Pepler (JP) had been approached by Chris Parker enquiring whether there was willingness to run a fourth Archive seminar art Edge Hill College next year. After discussion it was agreed that it would be well worth proceeding with a further seminar to involve the academic community, and that the proposed date of 24 January be accepted. Chris Parker suggests approaching an academic who has recently completed a book on the research experience, and it was agreed that research and Adult learners could be the basis for the theme. Various suggestions were made for speakers, and BJ agreed to update JP on the discussion.

JG provided an update on the meeting which had recently taken place involving himself, BJ and Karen May, the newly appointed HLF NW Regional Development Manager. Karen was keen to attend a future RAC meeting to establish contacts, and provide a briefing on the new HLF Strategy and new schemes. It was agreed to ask her to attend the next RAC meeting.

JG provided an update on the current position with regard to the Archive Task Force. DCMS had now formally requested Resource to establish the Task Force and details on process and membership should be known by the end of July. The key themes are expected to be: Access for all (Online access and digitisation); A Sense of Community; Scholarship; Stewardship; and Robust frameworks for Service Delivery. It was agreed that, while all the themes were relevant, the last (Robust Frameworks) was of particular relevance to the NW Regions, and that steps should be taken to try and ensure that there was at least one member form the region on the Task Group set up to look in detail at this theme. Resource would be informed of this view (JT). This stage was not likely to be reached until about the end of the year, following a period of extensive consultation in the autumn. It was expected that the RACs would have a key role to play in organising the consultations.

There was some initial discussion of the likely impact of the recently announced decision to integrate HMC into the PRO to form a "National Archive". Little was yet clear beyond the indication that the Private record responsibility would remain distinct within the new structure, and that a single inspection regime would probably result. The action could be seen as an indicator that the Government is taking the archive agenda seriously, and could affect the content of the proposed national archive legislation.

8. Budget Report

On behalf of the Treasurer, BJ reported that currently the RAC has balances of £2283.16. A further instalment of £2340 is expected shortly from NCA towards costs for 2002.3, with a further £785 to follow. In addition a total contribution of £2500 towards A2A cost is expected in two instalments of £1875 and £625

8. Any Other business

   8.1It was noted that Rochdale MBC had now advertised for an archivist.

   8.2 Oldham had now appointed Roger Ivens as archivist.

   8.3BJ informed the meeting that Brenda Smith (BS) had written to inform him that she was standing down as the FFHS representative on the RAC, as it was now the policy of that organisation that their RAC representatives should be members of their national Executive Committee. As yet there was no suggested nominee, and BJ would contact FFHS if no name was forthcoming over the next few weeks. It was agreed that BJ write to BS to thank her for her contribution to the RAC’s development and activities.

   8.4IT reported that Liverpool City Library and Record Office had been successful in its bid to HLF for money to catalogue and conserve the Hardman Archive. The bid had been supported by the RAC, and it was worth stressing that such support was available for future bids, and that JT as Regional Archive Development Officer would be involved in the assessment process.

   8.5KM reported that Bury had now received stage 1 approval from HLF for a joint Museum and Archive development at Moss Street in Bury.

9. Date of next meeting