| Why are we planning changes?
The next few years will be challenging for NAS. Like the rest
of the public sector, we expect budget reductions from next
year. At the same time, we need to deal with the new generation
of electronic records and serve increasing numbers of online
customers. We have to rebalance the organisation to meet the
new challenges. We also have to keep down our costs, which are
mainly for staff.
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Doing research onsite
We have 3 search rooms today: one at West Register House (WRH), plus
the Historical and Legal search rooms at General Register House (GRH).
From early next year we plan to centralise access to historical documents
in a single search room at GRH. We also expect that within the next
year or so most legal searches will be carried out through the Registers
Direct service operated by Registers of Scotland. Once that happens
we will integrate legal searches with historical access.
Having one location for onsite searches will make security/reception/search
room supervision easier. Our policy on access to records will not
change and preservation of records remains a key concern. WRH will
still be used for storage. Working with our conservation experts,
we will move some records to make sure the most popular are nearest
to where they can be seen. We will also enhance our online catalogue
to show which records need to be ordered in advance. We will make
greater use of digitisation to allow access to records at WRH and
in Thomas Thomson House. The next few months will be about planning
what is to happen from 2011 onwards.
Getting copies of records
We are trying out self-service photography of records at WRH. As long
as there are no restrictions on copying the record, you can use your
digital camera (no flash, tripods or moving images allowed) to photograph
the records at your reading desk, or at the dedicated camera stand
equipped with lights. Early results are positive and we hope to make
this a permanent facility in the new consolidated search room.
Tell us what you think
I welcome views from readers past, present or future. In particular,
which records should be stored close to the proposed new single search
room at GRH? Which records should we digitise next? Write to me at:
National Archives of Scotland, 2 Princes St., Edinburgh EH1 3YY, or
email to business.management@nas.gov.uk
George P Mackenzie
Keeper of the Records of Scotland
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