Your feedback is needed to help develop inclusive practice within Archive Service Accreditation

ARA is a member of the Archive Service Accreditation Committee. In 2019 we raised the issue of a need to embed explicit support for inclusive practice within the Archive Service Accreditation standard. This was done with the aim of encouraging archive services to embed equality, diversity and inclusion across the breadth of their work: their organisational context, their collections and their stakeholder engagement

The Committee agreed that this was an area for further work and that updates would be needed across the three modules of the standard. This includes supporting archive services in their work to remove barriers to participation, reach new audiences and think innovatively to engage more, and different, people with their work and in their collecting practice.

As a result the Roadmap to developing Archive Service Accreditation: inclusive practice within the national standard for archives 2021-2024 was developed and launched in August 2021.

The Committee are now looking for more archive services to provide feedback on the proposed changes to questions regarding equality, diversity and inclusive practice in Archive Service Accreditation.

The feedback form can be accessed here. The deadline for submission of feedback is 31st January 2022.

A copy of the proposed questions, amended and additional guidance and feedback questions can be found here

Forthcoming Archive Service Accreditation Panel Dates:

Panel dates are for 2022 are now available here. If you are planning to make a first time application for Archive Service Accreditation then please contact accreditaion@nationalarchives.gov.uk if you have not already done so.

Volunteer to be an Archive Service Accreditation Peer Reviewer

The Archive Service Accreditation Scheme tests how far archive services meet the Accreditation Standard and helps organisations to make value-adding improvements to the services provided.

The Archives and Records Association would like to hear from archivists or those with experience in the archives sector who would like to join the pool of Peer Reviewers, becoming part of the teams which carry out onsite validation visits for Archive Service Accreditation in England.

Find out more about the role and how to apply here.