PSQG Quality Forum 2009
PUBLIC SERVICES QUALITY GROUP
The fourteenth annual quality forum for archives and local studies at The National Archives, Kew, was held on Wednesday 4th November 2009
The Value of Volunteering
This year, the Public Service Quality Group (PSQG) Annual Quality Forum considered the ever-increasing importance of the work volunteers undertake within archive services. Pressure on record offices to be creative in the way they deliver services and meet growing user expectations has never been greater. Working with volunteers can be immensely rewarding for all concerned, and can have a huge impact on the services a record office can offer.
The morning session was introduced by Caroline Sampson, Warwickshire County Record Office, and the afternoon session by Geoff Pick, Head of Learning and Access at London Metropolitan Archives and Convenor of PSQG.
The key-note speaker was Louise Ray from the National Council on Archives, talking about the recently published NCA report ‘Volunteering in Archives’: Volunteering in Archives.
Insights from the perspective of the record office, the volunteer and the volunteer agency were given respectively by:
Simon McKeon (Bexley Local Studies & Archive Centre): The Value of Volunteering - An Archives Perspective.
Anne Langley (Warwickshire County Record Office): The Value to Volunteers.
Joanne Fitton (Bury Archives Service): The Value of Volunteering - The volunteering agency's perspective.
The afternoon sessions focussed on more practical matters. Chris Reed (Volunteering England) highlighted the resources available for those planning or reviewing an existing volunteer programme: Volunteer Toolkit - Where to find advice, guidance, pro-forma documentation etc.
Delegates then chose to join one of four discussion groups to look at different aspects of volunteering in more detail:
Overcoming barriers to using volunteers
Working with and learning from other sectors
Raising the profile of volunteering in archives beyond the record
office
Further training requirements
The day concluded with an update on PSQG activities and a short business meeting.
PSQG is part of the National Council on Archives and focuses on access and service delivery issues in the archives sector.
