Agenda and draft minutes

Apologies were received from Councilors’ Kay and Smiles.

To receive any declarations of interest.

There were no declarations of interest received at this point in the meeting.

The minutes of the Joint Archives Committee meeting held on 6 April 2021 were submitted and approved as a correct record.

The Archives Manager will present the budget update to the Committee.

The Joint Archives Manager provided an update to members on the outturn of the 2021-22 revenue budget for Teesside Archives.

The Manager advised that at present the Archives had not been opened to the public during this financial year. In terms of spending, some money had been spent on conservation storage and therefore trying to ensure that documents are protected.

A member queried the moving costs discussed and that this would be recovered by the sale of the building. This was confirmed.

AGREED- That the budget be noted.

The Archives Manager will provide a verbal update ot the Board.

The Archives Manager provided the Committee with an update on the Archives.

Building move

Following a period of negotiation, the National Archives gave permission for the project to go ahead on the proviso that an upgraded area was created within the storage facility in Spennymoor for the Public Records. This work has now been carried out by Restore, and the different categories of records are being stored in the appropriate conditions. The archive service staff have carried out a lot of work on the stock to prepare for the move, by improving packaging and labelling of the archives. This was agreed and staff from Restore/Harrow Green have barcoded and started to move the stock. The Manager outlined that she was extremely impressed with the service. The work began in September and seems to be running more or less to schedule and was due to be finished in November.

The Design Service have prepared plans for the space for the archives in the Dorman Museum and the tender documents have been approved. Work was due to be completed before the end of the year, but there was a  delay due to having to wait for planning permission, and programming building works around activity in the museum that means the work will not be completed until the middle of 2022.

Engagement Activity

Working with museums has been beneficial for the service as there are lots of opportunities for partnership working, improved training for archive staff. The service will have the opportunity to become more outward facing and work directly in all 4 boroughs. The Community Engagement officer has been able to start carrying out activities in person, rather than relying on virtual activities. She has been involved in events and activities in all 4 boroughs and was now starting to see an increase in demand from schools. Staff have become more involved with colleagues in museums and are looking to work collaboratively going forward.

Born Digital records

The service has continued to make progress in this area, with staff having completed fairly extensive training. Extensive work to sort out resources that are in digital and born digital format has been carried out and a digital asset register has now been created.

The service was now working with the consultant, Information Governance and IT to procure a forensic workstation that will allow for the safe receipt of records and for their safe storage.  The service will start to work with the Information Governance teams across all 4 boroughs to take in records in born digital format as a key action once the workstation is installed and the service is settled into its new home.

The next steps will be making a list for the public of what is available and providing public access. This will require further work and some financial investment.

Collections

There has been a pause in the receipt of new collections, partly due to the pandemic, but also because of the move. One exception to this is the expected deposit  ...  view the full minutes text for item 21/5

Any other urgent items which in the opinion of the Chair, may be considered.

No Items.