To support ongoing dialogue on collecting issues, the Scottish Council on Archives has convened a working group comprised of bodies representing national, local authority, university, business and private archive collections. Initial meetings served as a forum for the discussion of challenges arising around collecting and constructive approaches to addressing them. As a non-collecting body, it was agreed that SCA would be an appropriate facilitator of communication and information exchange. It was also agreed that SCA would co-ordinate a wider consultation and develop a collecting policy framework. (More information on the Collecting Policy Framework Working Group can be found here.)

This draft framework has initially been informed by feedback from collecting bodies who principally collect archive material. Input was gathered through a consultation workshop with representatives from 35 archive collecting institutions. There is an acknowledgement that the collecting landscape includes organisations who do not exclusively collect archive material. It is intended that the further development of the framework will involve input from museums, libraries, galleries and community archives.

SCA is now inviting all organisations throughout Scotland who collect archive material to provide input and comment on this draft framework. The collecting policy framework is intended for all organisations who collect and hold archive material across Scotland. This includes local authority archives, business archives, university archives, private archives, health archives, community archives and archive collections held in libraries, museums and galleries.

To read the draft framework, click here.

Please submit feedback or questions on any aspect of the draft framework to v.brown@scottisharchives.org.uk or on 0131 535 1361 by 28 June 2019