The many responses received not only revealed that community archives are thriving with groups from the Shetlands to Dumfries, Tiree to Peterhead, recording and celebrating their local stories, but that there was a keen demand for training opportunities.
Working in partnership with National Records of Scotland, SCA organised an initial workshop in Edinburgh in February. The free workshop with NRS experts offering practical guidance on the handling, storage and environment of documents and photographs, followed by presentations on cataloguing, digitisation and digital preservation. It ended with a question and answer session, where participants could ask about specific issues affecting their own collections. The workshop proved very popular and the feedback from participants again emphasised that there was high demand for this type of training opportunity for volunteers and enthusiasts recording their communities.
SCA and NRS are delighted to now be collaborating with archive services across the country to bring the workshop to as wide an audience as possible. Our host archive centres include Inverness, Aberdeen, Oban, Hawick, Perth, and Stornoway. The workshops are also kindly being supported by Historic Environment Scotland and are free to attend.
Each workshop will include hands-on practical training with conservators, guidance on cataloguing and digitisation, plus insights into basic data protection and copyright legislation, and explain how local archive services can provide support to community archives. Each workshop is tailormade for a local audience, thanks to the contributions of our hosts and their local knowledge.
The workshops will also allow participants to meet other like-minded people in the same area working on other local heritage projects. The workshops are an opportunity to meet the experts, ask questions and debate the needs of community archives, and provide plenty of inspiration. The workshops are for anyone working or volunteering with community archive and heritage groups, and no prior knowledge is necessary.
The workshops will take place at 09:45-16:00 in:
Inverness, 11 September 2019
Aberdeen, 2 October 2019
Oban, 23 October 2019
Hawick, 13 November 2019
Perth, 12 December 2019
Stornoway, 26 March 2020 – book here